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Fukushima

I don't believe that "it" is going to get that far like a Chernobyl.

They started pumping sea water to cool it down. However, pumping sea water

is them saying "game over" on this plant. The salt from the water will kill it all together.

It will never be workable again.
 
Chernobyl was a graphite reactor. Graphite does (and did) nasty things when it burns.

The Fukushima units are boiling water reactors. They won't burn like Chernobyl did but the situation remains serious.

I've been keeping up with the news (off and on) by reading World Nuclear News. They seem to have a good grasp on the facts without the breathless sensationalism of other news sources.
 
Chernobyl was a graphite reactor. Graphite does (and did) nasty things when it burns.

The Fukushima units are boiling water reactors. They won't burn like Chernobyl did but the situation remains serious.

It's also worth noting neglectful policy and procedure in Chernobyl led to explosive breach of the containment vessels, essentially throwing material every which direction. Because of venting and the fact the Fukushima explosions much noted by the media were allowed to occur outside of containment vessels, containment is by and large still intact.
 
Chernobyl was a graphite reactor. Graphite does (and did) nasty things when it burns.

The Fukushima units are boiling water reactors. They won't burn like Chernobyl did but the situation remains serious.

....that, and if memory serves me, Chernobyl blew during a test where many of the safety features were intentionally defeated, with the core running quite a ways outside of normal limits. As I recall reading, the Fukushima plants were idled prior to the catastrophy. Yes, this is a serious situation but from what I've seen it's not what the ratings chasing media is making it out to be.

I'd hate to see this be held against the nuclear power industry as a whole. Frankly, I think those 30+ year old reactors held up pretty darn well, all things considered.
 
Chernobyl was a graphite reactor. Graphite does (and did) nasty things when it burns.

The Fukushima units are boiling water reactors. They won't burn like Chernobyl did but the situation remains serious.

....that, and if memory serves me, Chernobyl blew during a test where many of the safety features were intentionally defeated, with the core running quite a ways outside of normal limits. As I recall reading, the Fukushima plants were idled prior to the catastrophy. Yes, this is a serious situation but from what I've seen it's not what the ratings chasing media is making it out to be.

I'd hate to see this be held against the nuclear power industry as a whole. Frankly, I think those 30+ year old reactors held up pretty darn well, all things considered.

I think you are right about the intentional disabling of the safety features. I remember hearing about that quite some time ago.
 
I didn't intend to hold out Chernobyl's reactor type as the main contributing/differentiating factor but good points all the same.

I too am concerned that the nuclear power will suffer from negative, under-informed public opinion. A lot of folks could judge it as bad technology without considering that it's devilishly difficult to engineer anything to withstand an M8+ earthquake without critical failure. But maybe something beneficial can be learned from failure mode analysis of this event.
 
it's devilishly difficult to engineer anything to withstand an M8+ earthquake without critical failure. But maybe something beneficial can be learned from failure mode analysis of this event.


I don't think anybody can disagree on this point. When you consider it survived an earthquake approximately 7 times the intended design threshold pretty much intact, somebody's done something right. Design it to anticipate a 9.0 and somebody will just come along with a bigger, better earthquake with go-faster stripes. Then again, the backup generators and automated shutdown were functioning as designed until the ocean decided to swallow the generators. Seems to me the ocean has done more damage than any reactor could do. Somebody needs to boycot the ocean.
 
The news stations rarely get infomation correct for technical issues. Try this LINK. The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is working with TEPCO and generally have the most accurate info.
 
Fugg all this technical shit. 50 men volunteered to die to save their country men. God bless 'em.

Doc.
 
Fugg all this technical shit. 50 men volunteered to die to save their country men. God bless 'em.

Doc.

I just read about that. Talk about guts.

Wow. That's dedication to the job and their countrymen. I hope they all make it out alive without any life-threatening radiation exposure.

Whether they live or die, successful or not, they should be honoured.
 
Fugg all this technical shit. 50 men volunteered to die to save their country men. God bless 'em.

Doc.

I just read about that. Talk about guts.

Wow. That's dedication to the job and their countrymen. I hope they all make it out alive without any life-threatening radiation exposure.

Whether they live or die, successful or not, they should be honoured.

That's not even a possibility. The fact is, they're all going to die.

Doc.
 
A side note

A couple of links on a new type of reactor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/348

Many advantages and India has built one.
 
Fugg all this technical shit. 50 men volunteered to die to save their country men. God bless 'em.

Doc.

I just read about that. Talk about guts.

Wow. That's dedication to the job and their countrymen. I hope they all make it out alive without any life-threatening radiation exposure.

Whether they live or die, successful or not, they should be honoured.

That's not even a possibility. The fact is, they're all going to die.

Doc.

That all depends on the type of radiation they might be exposed to. From my understanding, the decay isotopes from this type of fuel being used release mainly alpha particles. Alpha particles are dangerous if inhaled, but are more manageable than gamma radiation. That isn't to say that gamma radiation isn't an issue, however, it presents less of an issue.
 
Fugg all this technical shit. 50 men volunteered to die to save their country men. God bless 'em.

Doc.


Amen to that. I just saw a piece on them this AM, very brave people. Godspeed to them.
 
Fugg all this technical shit. 50 men volunteered to die to save their country men. God bless 'em.

Doc.

I just read about that. Talk about guts.

Wow. That's dedication to the job and their countrymen. I hope they all make it out alive without any life-threatening radiation exposure.

Whether they live or die, successful or not, they should be honoured.

That's not even a possibility. The fact is, they're all going to die.

Doc.

That all depends on the type of radiation they might be exposed to. From my understanding, the decay isotopes from this type of fuel being used release mainly alpha particles. Alpha particles are dangerous if inhaled, but are more manageable than gamma radiation. That isn't to say that gamma radiation isn't an issue, however, it presents less of an issue.


I hope you're right, but all the "experts on TV" that I've seen say they're going to die and they know it. There has also been a call out to the retired nuke community for volunteers to replace the original 50.

Doc.
 
A side note

A couple of links on a new type of reactor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/348

Many advantages and India has built one.

I've been looking for anyone mentioning the thorium reactor in the news, but it is completely absent. Apparently solutions don't sell enough ads or attract enough viewers. Brave New World!

Apparently Thorenco is working with LBNL to create a portable Thorium reactor which generates 15 megawatts while also generating steam hot enough to use in useful processes like desalination or shale oil extraction. When the fuel is spent in 10 years, you can swap out the core.
 
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