Comments on: So, Are We Talking “ZOMG MELTDOWN!” or What?

By: Clearing the Browser Tabs – Radioactive Death Monday Edition

Clearing the Browser Tabs – Radioactive Death Monday Edition — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:11:47 +0000

[...] the USS Ronald Reagan has steamed through A GIANT RADIOACTIVE CLOUD, OH NOES! The article quotes the ubiquitous Robert Alvarez, who seems to be everywhere on this story even though, as best I can tell, his big claim to nuclear [...]

By: Manji88

Manji88 — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:54:30 +0000

The only place I've found information on the nuc plants that is worth a damn thing is on Japan's NHK. NHK is a true news channel, a disseminator of information, not the "news as combination entertainment and contact sport" channels we have over here. However, if you don't understand Japanese, it's not much help to you. What boggles my mind is that NHK has been announcing much of the information CNN and such keep claiming "we don't know." CNN can't afford to hire a J-E translator to scribble down some of the official announcements and pass them along to the newsroom? A spokesman from TEPCO had a presser on NHK and announced the decision to cool the first reactor with borated seawater several *hours* before CNN and Fox even began to mention it. Add to that the grossly misleading screen crawls I've been seeing, and it's no wonder people are expecting Chernobyl x6. My favorite: "Explosion at nuclear plant in meltdown." Of course it was a *hydrogen* explosion, outside of the containment, and meltdown only means the fuel rods are partly exposed and bits of them are beginning to break down resulting in the Cs and I release. But Joe Sixpack is going to read that as "A-bomb plus China Syndrome." And the "experts" they had on have ranged from clueless to biased to lame. I can honestly say that If they called me I could have done better than all but one of the people I've seen, especially with my information from the NHK.

By: Right On Cue: Democrats Want Us “Put the Brakes” on Nuclear Power

Right On Cue: Democrats Want Us “Put the Brakes” on Nuclear Power — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:20:57 +0000

[...] Want Us “Put the Brakes” on Nuclear PowerOne of the things I didn’t mention in this post (which earned the much-coveted Instalanche), was the sneaking suspicion I had that the shoddy [...]

By: analysist

analysist — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:08:52 +0000

Because of the failure of the diesels, back up electrical power has been brought on site. They are talking about cooling with borated seawater (the boron absorbs neutrons). Note, the fuel is only 5% enriched U235 and can not cause a nuclear explosion. The heat from the plant is decay heat;i.e., the by products of burning the fuel.

For full disclosure, I work in the nuclear industry analyzing BWRs. But I am in the dark also.

Sorry I had to cut this up because it was too long.

By: analysist

analysist — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:08:12 +0000

The plant is a GE Boiling Water Reactor (BWR). That means its normal operating pressure is 1000 psi or 69 bar. The containment is inside a regular building. BWRs operate at half the pressure of a PWR. Usually what happens on a LOCA is that there is a pipe break that starts depressurizing the plant. Because the coolant is at about 525 degrees F and 1000 psi, the coolant flashes to steam and there is choked flow at the break, slowing the fluid down a little. The fluid blows down into the containment building. There is an external tank that starts feeding water into the vessel above the core using HPCI and HPCS (high pressure core spray). Since it is expected to loss off site power, emergency diesels start to provide power to the pumps. When the tanks are empty, a suction is taken on the containment and the water is recycled.

By: analysist

analysist — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:07:31 +0000

I have been searching for news with little success. This is what I read on the IAEA news site. The overheating of the reactor was bedause the High Pressure Core Injection system (HPCI) did not initiate because the Emergency Core Cooling Sysytem (ECCS) deisel generators did not start because they were flooded. Initiation of HPCI implies that there was a loss of coolant accident, but I have not read anywhere that that is what happened. On another site I read that the water level had dropped 90 cm below the top of the fuel. This could cause some fuel rods to rupture, releasing CS and Iodine. A ruptured fuel rod is a long way from the core melt of Three Mile Island. But again, not enough information to assess. But again, that doesn't make good headlines.

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:24:04 +0000

Darcy, thank you for posting that link. I was going to do so in an update, but you saved me from it!

Thanks to the rest of you for what's shaping up to be a pretty good conversation. If this is your first visit here, feel free to poke around at some of my other posts and comment freely!

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:43:05 +0000

Now here comes a 12 foot wave of water pouring across the site. The containment buildings aren't going to budge, being damned close to mountains. But if water gets into the generators… Or even just contaminates the diesel fuel… Waterlogged generators and contaimated fuel oil do not work particularly well. Even if the generators haven't been physically smashed.

Mind you, I'm just taking an educated guess here. It could very well be that the generators weren't as well protected to save a few bucks, and were left out in the open. I guess we'll find out long after everything is said and done.