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Why Did Control Rods Drop? – Mysteries increase at North Anna Dominion: North Anna Reactors Won't Restart Until Safety Assured , Dominion Virginia Power said Friday it won't restart the two nuclear reactors at its North Anna Power Station rattled by the Aug. 23 earthquake until the company is convinced it is safe.
The plant about 11 miles from the central Virginia epicenter of the 5.8-magnitude quake was shut down within seconds of the tremor that shook tens of millions along the East Coast. Officials at the Richmond-based company said the damage was only cosmetic and the plant is safe. Damage ranged from small buckles and cracks in tile floors in one of its technical buildings, to bolts of large metal parts that transfer power from transformers to the electrical grid and into homes. www.whsv.com

@Edano , I shall watch the documentary again. Also, there is a distinction between control rooms (every unit has got one of those) and the command and control center in the earthquake-proof building. My understanding is that you can read reactor parameters and control the reactors from this center and the crew withdrew to this location.

Hosono promotes radiation reducing technology

Japan's nuclear crisis minister says the government may develop technology to cut radiation and the volume of waste from the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Goshi Hosono told reporters on Tuesday that reducing the volume of nuclear waste will be very important in the decontamination process.
He said there will be no progress in that process unless irradiated soil can be temporarily stored in the contaminated area.
He said it is not fair to nearby residents to leave such waste for long periods, so a storage facility will have to be created in Fukushima prefecture for the mid-term. www3.nhk.or.jp

@Majj , thanks for the North Anna news. We live less than 40 miles from the site and appreciate any info. As more reports come in, though, the story becomes more confusing. I thought loss of off-site power initiated a reactor scram. Also, what happened to the crack in the containment? No mention of that.

Anyone seen this: youtu.be Conclusion

The multimodal empirical evidence reviewed above demonstrates that (a) plumes of steam, (b) thermal hotspots, (c) explosive forces and (d) a steam-like mushroom cloud all correspond with vectors whose origins converge around the lid of a large container of boiling water known as the containment vessel. Additionally, instrumental measurements show that pressure within the containment vessel dropped suddenly with the explosion (consistent with an explosion from the containment) and that the day before the explosion, water levels failed to rise in the reactor for a long time despite in-flowing water (consistent with water flowing out of the reactor and pooling in the containment vessel). Finally, given the presence of fire in two of the explosive plumes (Figures 4 and 6), the explosion in the containment probably initiated secondary explosions of hydrogen gas accumulated in both containment-vessel space and the upper-deck space above the containment vessel. iangoddard.com

60% Of Tohoku Food Firms Feeling Impact Of Nuclear Disaster: Poll e.nikkei.com

He started blogging with the quake, before the tsunami or Daiichi, so it's a really interesting time capsule of shifting priorities as well as the Japan impact.

He's in Japan, so times JST

@all Stepped in to slightly amend a comment that I made earlier in the day. On offset, my comment appeared to condemn "Big Industry" and their role in nuclear power. Driving home this afternoon, I caught a bit on NPR that put things into perspective and did a better job vocalizing my position than even I could. After Nuclear Mishap, Japan Debates Energy Future
by Frank Langfitt

"Japan's powerful nuclear energy industry is betting that the public will forget, and that fear will give way to economic realism." www.npr.org So, this begs the question....how to overcome the economic realism of the situation?