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Further Updates On Post-Tsumami Japan
DarkStarZumaBeach points out a frequently updated page from the International Atomic Energy Agency with updates on the situation at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, which reports in terse but readable form details of the dangers and progress there. The most recent update says that the plant's Unit 2 has been re-wired for power, and engineers 'plan to reconnect power to unit 2 once the spraying of water on the unit 3 reactor building is completed.' Read on for more on the tsunami aftermath.
Reader srwellman writes "A large plume of radioactive smoke is heading from Japan to the West Coast of the US. Officials claim the plume is not dangerous."
dooms13 suggests (by way of The Register) that the disaster in Fukushima is nonetheless a demonstrated triumph for nuclear safety: "If nuclear powerplants were merely as safe as they are advertised to be, there should have been a major failure right then. As the hot cores ceased to be cooled by the water which is used to extract power from them, control rods would have remained withdrawn and a runaway chain reaction could have ensued – probably resulting in the worst thing that can happen to a properly designed nuclear reactor: a core meltdown in which the superhot fuel rods actually melt and slag down the whole core into a blob of molten metal. In this case the only thing to do is seal up the containment and wait: no radiation disaster will take place, but the reactor is a total writeoff and cooling the core off will be difficult and take a long time. Eventual cleanup will be protracted and expensive."
Something to contemplate while the rescue effort continues: imscarr writes "The coastline of Japan has drastically changed since the earthquake & tsunami. New bays have formed and many areas are completely flooded. These interactive before-and-after images show you the magnitude of devastation. Other photos here."
Adds reader madcarrots: "The Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB), a unit of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), directed by Professor Michel Andre, has recorded the sound of the earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, March 11. The recording, now available online, was provided by a network of underwater observatories belonging to the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and located on either side of the earthquake epicenter, close to the Japanese island of Hatsushima."
dooms13 suggests (by way of The Register) that the disaster in Fukushima is nonetheless a demonstrated triumph for nuclear safety: "If nuclear powerplants were merely as safe as they are advertised to be, there should have been a major failure right then. As the hot cores ceased to be cooled by the water which is used to extract power from them, control rods would have remained withdrawn and a runaway chain reaction could have ensued – probably resulting in the worst thing that can happen to a properly designed nuclear reactor: a core meltdown in which the superhot fuel rods actually melt and slag down the whole core into a blob of molten metal. In this case the only thing to do is seal up the containment and wait: no radiation disaster will take place, but the reactor is a total writeoff and cooling the core off will be difficult and take a long time. Eventual cleanup will be protracted and expensive."
Something to contemplate while the rescue effort continues: imscarr writes "The coastline of Japan has drastically changed since the earthquake & tsunami. New bays have formed and many areas are completely flooded. These interactive before-and-after images show you the magnitude of devastation. Other photos here."
Adds reader madcarrots: "The Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB), a unit of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), directed by Professor Michel Andre, has recorded the sound of the earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, March 11. The recording, now available online, was provided by a network of underwater observatories belonging to the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and located on either side of the earthquake epicenter, close to the Japanese island of Hatsushima."
Of the technological terror you've created.
Above all, don't pat yourselves on your (so far) only minimally irradiated backs. It's not over yet, not by a long shot. And while defense in depth has worked to a significant degree I will be you those engineers responsible for siting ALL the backup generators seaward of the reactors are having second thoughts. As are the geologists who suggested that a 5 meter tsunami was as large as need be covered for, despite pretty clear geological evidence of 30 meter waves in the past and the longstanding knowledge that specific wave heights vary with a large number of variables.
Why the hell nobody thought of putting a 30 meter wall in front of a reactor complex is beyond me. No, you don't have to seal the whole coast - just in front of those glowing things.
Nature will yet throw us something unexpected. Bet on it.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Nice straw man and projection, dude (or dudette). But you're projecting a no-nuke agenda. What I do have is a no-regulatory-capture agenda. I have this quaint notion that regardless of industry if you deliberately shave your safety margins to the point of causing a BP Macondo or other disasters of that scale, you should go to jail for a significant portion of your life. Without the fear of jail these disasters will continue to happen, at least in the US. I imagine in China some folks got bulletized.
The Fukushima meltdown didn't have to happen: Japan Nuclear Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports, Accidents. I've read other reports of non-functioning standby diesels in US-based boiling water reactors. Do you really think it's any better here or whereever you live?
The current business as usual culture where you can gut safety margins in favor of profits, and collect and keep huge cash bonuses during the years that go by until the blowup happens, make nuclear power untenable. Nuclear energy accidents destroy land for centuries. By contrast even the gulf of mexico will mostly recover in my lifetime, though I won't be eating any food from the gulf for a decade.
And yes, I cheerfully acknowlege that scary fusion reactor that's irradiating me multiple frequencies every day. I'll walk on the shady side of the street.
Remain calm! All is well!