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Third Blast At Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant
iamrmani was one of several people reporting updates on the Fukushima Nuclear plant that has been struggling following last Friday's disaster. A third explosion (Japanese) has been reported, along with
other earlier information. MSNBC has a story about similiar reactors in the US. We also ran into a story which predicts that there won't be significant radiation. But already Japan is facing rolling blackouts, electricity rationing, evacuating the area around the plant, and thousands dead already.
They were planning to build two new reactors onsite, # 7 and #8. They'll probably end up with new ABWRs to replace the old clunkers. Note that a single ABWR outputs as much power as three BWR-3s or two BWR-4s so yanking three 40 year old dinosaurs does not necessarily mean they need to build three new ABWRs to take their place... My guess is they'll get one.
I admire your optimism and enthusiasm for nuclear power, but I seriously doubt they'll build anything nuclear near Fukushima. Ever. Again. Having experienced two nuclear bombs with six digit casualties the Japanese know exactly what exposure to excessive radiation means. Despite all the claims of the pro nuclear lobby, the plant operators in Fukushima do not have this under control at all.
I'm hardly on their board of directors but most likely instead of adding 2 new ABWRs they'll probably simultaneously build the currently planned two, decon the old units 1 / 2 / 3 and build a nice new ABWR on top of the old site of 1 / 2 / 3.
Call yourself lucky that you are not on their board as the whole disaster unfolds before everybody's eyes. This is a story which started with an earthquake and a tsunami which then turned into a long drawn story of inability and technical failure. I read "backup generators couldn't be connected" and "pressure gauge malfunction" and "level gauge most likely off but nobody knows for sure" and "pumps which were supposed to cool the core failed". Anyone telling me that this is under control must be completely delusional at this point. Let's just hope this gets resolved before anything really nasty happens at the (by now) three molten reactor cores.