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Chain Reactions Reignited At Fukushima

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the someone-explain-the-science dept.

mdsolar writes "Radioactive byproducts indicate that nuclear chain reactions must have been burning at the damaged nuclear reactors long after the disaster unfolded. Tetsuo Matsui at the University of Tokyo, says the limited data from Fukushima indicates that nuclear chain reactions must have reignited at Fuksuhima up to 12 days after the accident. Matsui says the evidence comes from measurements of the ratio of cesium-137 and iodine-131 at several points around the facility and in the seawater nearby."

2 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Whack-a-mole by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    More and more I see the attempt to design and operate Nuke plant as a very dangerous game of Whack-a-mole. Operator error, Wham, Design error, Wham, Maintenance failure, Wham. Earthquakes. Wham. Tsunamis, Wham. Terrorism, Wham,

    and, what do we do with the waste for the next 20,000 years? Wham, Wham, Wham, Wham........

    Miss one time, game over.

    Kurt

    And operating a coal plant is akin to all the moles poked out of their holes and looking at you while you shrug and say "working as intended."

    --
    "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
  2. It might be worse than that. . . by JSBiff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The decay heat, which is 7% of 1000 MW"

    IIRC, the reactors were 1000MW *electrical* output. Because of thermal efficiencies of steam generators of around 35%, I believe that means the thermal output of each reactor would have been about 1000/.35 ~= 2800 MW thermal energy.

    So, instead of 7% of 1000MW = 70MW, I think you're looking at 7% of 2800 = 196MW.

    That's a LOT of heat to get rid of, even if it is a small percentage of the 2800MW full output.