ScribbleLive

@Nancy do you mean on the waLL TO the left of the doors

@fitter I saw an explanation last night about the hydrogen going up like a flame backing up into a torch tank. Don't remember who or where I read it but thought it was an interesting analogy considering some of these possible work factors your talking about. I can see how work equipment could have contributed to igniting the hydrogen

Real men use Gaff tape! Look it up.

@Ralph Unger LOL, used to work in theatre, Gaff tape is forever. We have a roll of "submarine" tape from the army. It is decades old and the glue is still good. Tuff stuff.

But! it has no water resistance.

My idiot buddies use Goof Off to clean cables, I use water and soap. Morons.....

@fitter I am starting to wonder if that is the case. Maybe the patched the age cracks in the reactor vessels with duct tape? I have had a few cars held together with duct tape in my day. :-)

@Nancy have to try ond find pic, i belive its a "safety/instrucional poster" we have to post them... no one reads, hand/visual are more universal...

@Nancy Have taken pipe out of old hospitals..... the pipe support was wire wrapped around a beer bottle.... the rules were differt in 1935...

If gaff (gaffe(which means carpenter)) which is cloth tape with a sticky backing)it is always the backing or adhesive which is water permeable or a problem.

Other then the vaulted James Franco, the next candidate for renaissance man would be a stage hand. We have to learn computer controls and hydraulics and about 10 other fields to do our jobs.

Kyodo is reporting a strong EQ in Nigata- same area where the control panel fire was reported at other NPP. No tsunami warning issued

Carpentry and plumbing and elec work ...

@marie rich when my brother was a resident, he was observing a brain surgery and had to fix the drill for them

@fitter when I used to backpack, I'd take along some superglue to use in liue of stitches- it was an old trick. But now I understand the doctors use something much like that!

Kyodo News BREAKING NEWS: Strong quake hits Japan's Niigata Pref., no tsunami warning issued (01:09)

Smoke rises from control panel at TEPCO nuclear plant in Niigata
NIIGATA, Japan, April 17, Kyodo
Smoke rose briefly from a control panel at a nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast Saturday, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
...
english.kyodonews.jp

G.morning Dean but is not this a chatty thing instead of a techy thing?/

www.guardian.co.uk "Britain's farmers still restricted by Chernobyl nuclear fallout"

Latest draft, please email gloresis@gmail.com for input, note this is a draft.

Some quick facts about the Fukushima Family of Japannese nuclear power reactors. (NPR)

* All currently constructed reactors at Fukushima I (Dai-ichi) and Fukushima II (Dai-ini) use the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) design. en.wikipedia.org

* Reactors at Dai-ichi Units 1-5 use Mark 1 (MK-1) containment system, Unit 6 at Dai-ichi and all four units at Dai-ini use the Mark II (MK-2) containment system.

* Years in which the units were licensed is as follows:

Dai-ichi
Unit 1 1971
Unit 2 1974
Unit 3 1976
Unit 4 1978
Unit 5 1978
Unit 6 1979

Dai-ini
Unit 1 1982
Unit 2 1984
Unit 3 1985
Unit 4 1987

* Units 4-6 at Dai-ichi were shutdown for maintenence at the time of the accident. Unit 4 had it’s fuel rods removed and were placed in the Spent Fuel Pool. (SFP)

* The total amount of ‘live’ fuel at the time of the accident at Dai-ichi was 440 MT (this number is probably greater) including ??? new fuel

* The total amount of fuel stored in SFP’s at Dai-ichi was 1 760 MT according to TEPCO

* The total amount of radioactive materials at Dai-ichi is likely greater than 2200 MT

* Unit 1 of Dai-ichi was scheduled for shutdown on Mar. 26, 2011, about 2 weeks after the accident.

* The following is an except from the wiki concerning BWR"s:

“The two phase fluid (water and steam) above the core enters the riser area, which is the upper region contained inside of the shroud. The height of this region may be increased to increase
the thermal natural recirculation pumping head. At the top of the riser area is the water separator. By swirling the two phase flow in cyclone separators, the steam is separated and rises upwards towards the steam dryer while the water remains behind and flows horizontally out into the downcomer region. In the downcomer region, it combines with the feedwater flow and the cycle repeats.”

* Fuel Assemblies:
Pellets of sintered UO2 clad in Ziraloy (>95% Zr + ferrous metals) ~4 m length
90-100 rods per assembly
~208 Kg UO2 / assembly
400-548 assembly / reactor
Unit 1 contains 400 assemblies
Units 2-3 contain 548 assemblies
Normal water temperature in a BWR is about 285C
Pressure ~1000 psi
On Mar. 11 units 1-3 were in service
Unit 4 was undergoing an outage and had it's fuel removed
Units 5-6 were undergoing an outage and had fuel in their cores. The reason for the outage is not known. But the reactors had been down for some time.
The plants at Fukushima produced about 25% of Tokoyo's electricity.
The earthquake was the largest recorded in Japan in historical records (9.0). Geologists believe a similar event occured in 1700.
It has been said that the plants was designed for a magnitude 8.3 quake, or about 2.5 times less powerful than that experienced. Note that the magnitude of an earthquake is measured logrithimicly base 10. But the power is more linear and this has to do witth the type and structure of underlying sediments.
When an eathquake or some such other major event occurs, nuclear reactor are shut down or Scrammed.
To do this the control rods are fully inserted into the core to completely halt fission.
Units 1-3 were successfully scrammed.
Complete destruction of the back up power system occured. Partly due to the earthquake and totally desroyed by the ensuing tsunami.
Decay heat as a percentage of full power:
After scram 6%
After 1 day 1%
After 5 days 0.5%
Emergency backup to backup power provided by batteries is rated at 8 hours. Some reports state that power was only delivered for 1.5 hours.
Between Mar. 11-14 several things happened and we are not sure exactly when. The following shows some cause and effects:
When water levels inside the core drop the following occurs:
Half the core exposed Core heats but no damage
2/3 core exposed Cladding temp >900C and becomes brittle releasing fission products. Notably Cs, I, and Xe. Filtration systems if operational can scrub Cs and I. Xe is a noble gas and escapes.
3/4 core exposed Cladding >1200C . Hydrogen formation by the reaction Zr + 2H2O -> ZrO2 + 2H2. Unit 1 produces 300-600 Kg of H2 Units 2-3 produce 300-1000 Kg of H2 and the hydrogen is liberated into the drywell.
Cladding and steel begin melting at ~1800C
Fuel rods begin to break and the U-Zr eutechtic is reached at ~2500C
Unit 1 goes 27 hours w/o waterIn any case we're looking at prob a ton of H2
Units 2-3 go 7 hours w/o water.
The heigth of the Tsunami is estimated to be 14-15 m
The plants were designed for a 6.5 m wave
MT = Metric Tons = 1000 Kg
The amount of spent and live fuels are probably conservative
Construction of Units 7-8 was halted after the accident :)
Research on the amount of MOX fuel on site is being investigated