This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
"Fuel Rods Most Likely Melt[ed] COMPLETELY at Reactors 1, 2 AND 3 in the Early Hours of the Crisis, Raising the Danger of More Catastrophic Releases"
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is pulling the plug on continuous monitoring of the Japanese nuclear crisis because:
The conditions at the Japanese reactors are slowly stabilizing.
I hope they are stabilizing. But as I noted last month:
The
Japanese government and Tepco claim that the nuclear reactors are
"stable" and that radiation releases have subsided to low levels.But world renowned physicist Michio Kaku - who studied under atom bomb developer Edward Teller - told Democracy Now today:
***
The
situation is not stable at all. So, you’re looking at basically a
ticking time bomb. It appears stable, but the slightest disturbance—a
secondary earthquake, a pipe break, evacuation of the crew at
Fukushima—could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power
stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl.***
When
the utility says that things are stable, it’s only stable in the
sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails.
And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That’s the
situation now.***
TEPCO is like the little Dutch
boy. All of a sudden we have cracks in the dike. You put a finger
here, you put a finger there. And all of a sudden, new leaks start to
occur, and they’re overwhelmed.
The New York Times summarizes the real situation in a single sentence:
Tokyo
Electric in recent days has acknowledged that damage at the plant was
worse than previously thought, with fuel rods most likely melting
completely at Reactors 1, 2 and 3 in the early hours of the crisis,
raising the danger of more catastrophic releases of radioactive
materials.
- advertisements -
How many of us knew there was a solution to Bin Laden until the solution was actually implemented? Somewhere, very intelligent someones are workin on a solution to Fukishima. And we won't know about it until the solution gets implemented. Fixing this stuff takes time. Which is unfortunate for the folks badly affected by the leaking radiation.
It will be a little more than unfortunate this time next year when the first post-Fukushima babies are born. 80% of the babies now born in Fallujah where we conducted a "depleted" nuclear war are being born with massive birth defects, including without brains. Doctors have told the women to stop having babies.
Someone somewhere within the government is intelligently planning central government.
How has that turned out thus far?
How many of us knew there was a solution to Bin Laden until the solution was actually implemented?
Bin Laden was never a problem. He was a scapegoat, a patsy, a fallguy.
The real problem is still there and is getting worse.
I agree with everything except that Bin Laden was never a problem. Yes he was a problem. But I agree that Bin Laden was never the problem - he was only a symptom of the problem.
How many of us knew there was a solution to Bin Laden until the solution was actually implemented?
The solution has been implemented, has it? So where was I when the US pulled out of its 600+ overseas basis, stopped propping up pro-US dictators, stopped giving Israel weapons and a bottomless free pass in the UN? Cause THAT'S the solution to Bin Laden.
The solution has been implemented, has it?
Yes. They found Bin Laden's house. They entered it. They shot him dead. That solution. That is the story that is being told, and it is the one to which I was referring - to make this point: the guys figuring out how to make Fukishima better (not perfect) won't be sharing their thinking processes with us while they are trying to figure it out. That's an obvious point, not a controversial one. This conversation is not about Bin Laden.
"Fixing this stuff takes time."
I find your hubris a sad commentary on the times and our education system. Some things can not be "Fixed"...........
Your assumption; "very intelligent someones are workin on a solution.." is extremely naive.
From my comment above: Do you think that no one in the world sees Fukishima as a challenge? Do you think that no one anywhere in the world is working on a solution and hopes to be the one to figure it out?
Fukishima cannot be left as it is. A fix of some sort will be implemented. I'm not talking about being made perfect. I'm talking about being made less bad. And very intelligent someones are working on a solution. How is it naive to state that? It would be naive to claim that they will put Humpty Dumpty back together again. But I am not claiming that. I'm only claiming that things are being done about Fukishima right now, even tho it may look like no one is doing anything. I don't subscribe to the heuristic if I don't see it, it doesn't exist.
In my simplistic view, what most folks here are addressing and what you seem to be missing Dear Chap is the scale of this disaster and the transparent inability of the nuclear engineering 'community' to address it given that said industry has for a start left it to several thousand future generations of humans to deal with the tons of glowing nuclear poo that comes gushing out of its rectum year on year.
That is one example.
What worries me and many others is that the nuclear generation facility is like a car that has been built without brakes. First thing you are shown when you learn to drive a car or a locomotive is how to stop the damn thing. First thing you learn as a programmer is how to validate your data and escape on non valid. First thing you learn when designing a nuclear power plant is ... let me see ... oh don't worry about that, it could never happen.
This thing is too big. Chernobyl was too big and has NOT been tamed. This is bigger than Chernobyl and will not be tamed in less time.
It is a valid reaction to looming catastrophe to hope that something will stop it, but a longer term sustainable reaction is to accept reality and figure out an avoidance tactic.
I sincerely hope this helps and want to apologise to the other posters here for stealing bandwith.
Misitu, Peru.
I don't disagree with anything you've said. They just were not the topic of discussion. My very simple, and narrowly-focused, point is that I'm certain folks are working on a way to reduce or stop the release of radioactivity, even though it looks like no one is doing anything. That point takes nothing at all away from the points you've made above.
are you friends with a guy named leo?
I would be if the geography was right. I think he takes a no-nonsense approach to his analytics and chooses to be cheerful rather than grumpy. I admire his choice to be optimistic. I don't think he is blind to the reality of what is going on. I think he is exercising courage and perserverance to look for the good stuff when the good stuff has been so overwhelmed by all the bad stuff. Plus, I love Greek food.
Great analogy since we all know Bin Laden is responsible for 911 and know that with the problem "solved," we are safer, richer, and more honest
lol, yes, and the TSA is no longer needed now that bin laden is dead. Victory is ours!
OK
What happened to RichardP and can we have him back when you're done with him?
Do you think that no one in the world sees Fukishima as a challenge? Do you think that no one anywhere in the world is working on a solution and hopes to be the one to figure it out?
I don't think "nothing is being done about Fukishima". That was the point of my comment. I think there are brilliant folks trying to figure out the solution. However, I will accept that I goofed by not including the following points in my post:
a. I agree that a solution may never be found. But I believe there are some brilliant guys trying right now to figure it out. I don't think "nothing is being done about it."
b. If a solution is found, we aren't going to know about it until it is implemented (just as they guys didn't share their thinking processes with us about Bin Laden while they were trying to figure it out. I'm referring here to the public perception of what went down). So, again, we can't use the apparent lack of progress as proof that "nothing is being done about it".
That's all. A solution may never be found. But if one is, we aren't going to know about it until it is actually implemented. I was making an obvious point, not a controversial one.
.. kind of not much of a point at all, then ..
No observable activity doesn't mean that nothing is being done. That is a considerable point to someone who thinks nothing is being done. Otherwise, yeah - not much of a point. My original post that all of this is a response to was actually the second post after the article was released here. I just jotted down the thought that came to mind from reading the article.
Poor Richard..... I feel sorry for him...
I take that back! He's been on ZH for 1year and 45 weeks. I don't feel sorry for him!
... I don't feel sorry for him!
As well you shouldn't. It is gratifying to hear you say that.
Bin Laden was the solution to the problem of 'who we gonna scare the sheeple with now?'
His relevancy had waned to the point where he was nothing more than a shadowy punch line for the comedy-news. Then they kill him and we're supposed to take comfort in the knowledge that the ends actually do justify the means. That was what we are supposed to take from his death.
After the bp fiasco, you'll forgive us for not automatically taking official statements that downplay the severity of the situation as pure unadulterated truth, especially in light of recent revelations regarding meltdowns that occurred within hours of the initial event.
/theists...who needs 'em.../
downrodeo
So they actually have a solution but they must keep it secret yes? If they tell everyone, then the solution won't work. The very fact that they're saying so little is actually a good sign, yes? No-news-is-good-news when it comes to nuclear meltdowns?
I feel so reassured now.
Actually, I feel trolled.
it's just like Santa Claus. No one can see his work
Uh, the horse has bolted. Quick! Close the door.
Somewhere there are very intelligent men working on a predictable catastrophe that shouldn't have been allowed to even be blueprinted in the first place. The trouble with engineers is that they are able to create technologies that work at the extreme ends of the spectrums of safety, but haven't developed the technologies or strategies for containment and resolution of failure in extreme situations.
Deep sea drilling, nuclear reactors built in FUCKING EARTHQUAKE ZONES!!!, Haarp, depleted uranium rounds, agent orange, hydraulic fracturing, all for a selfish quick buck. What the fuck were we thinking?
Depopulation, perhaps?
Honestly, can you find a better reason for the evil you see being perpetrated world-wide? The idea that it is all driven by greed is merely a cover story. Why? Because in a truly free market (*cough, cough*), greed is maximized by serving the customer better than the competition, not by killing them off.
Of course, much of this problem stems from the fact that the customers, in this case, are the abstract entities pf governments that serve as an aggregate customer for the people who are forced to sustain those executing the purchases (who can never be held accountable individually).
Except it would seem that their brazen carelessness in many cases actually threatens their own health and lives, as well as that of their descendants. I'm more inclined to chalk it up to the blind insanity that comes with self-consumed greed. They believe themselves to be above the laws of man and nature. They see themselves as the dispenser of all such laws.
Sorry to be the pessimist here Richard, but there is no solution. It took TEN YEARS to find the worlds most wanted man while we offered millions for information leading to him. Got Nada, Zip, Zilch for all that money hanging out there. Do you seriously believe that the same Government that said "Allswell!" through the early days of the crisis is going to fund the Trillions needed to actually deal with this? I say government because the company will be nationalized over this catastrophy.
The solution doesn't deal with the fact that THREE reactions have melted completely. This is not on the scale of Chernobyl, it's three times worse! This should be a level 21, not a 7. But if we kick the problem down the road, release only a little bad news at a time, the sheeple won't stampede and it will be someone elses problem when the ground water they drink is glowing, the land is glowing and the next earthquake in this geologically "stable" area undo's everything at one whack and we can blame the next earthquake instead of taking responsibilty for the disaster TEPCO created.
They are "buying time" so that they can shift the blame. Meanwhile the ignorant, there and here, suffer in their ignorance.
Earnulf, I certainly hope you seriously don't think that they actually shot Bin Laden. The guy has been dead for ten years, the whole thing was a big hoax, a distraction from the economy, fukushima, etc. Plus, let's consider who caused this catastrophe, yes there is a culprit here. Aaaaaaand step forward GE!!! I'm sure that GE gave the guy who maximized their profits by creating the terminology, "Cluster Reactors". And what a great concept it is....for GE. But how INSANE is it? Let's see, cluster 9 NINE reactors in ONE place, one reactor melts down and HOW do you service the rest of them??? GE's risk model must not have included that, they were too busy cutting corners on materials to save $5 bucks here and $10 there. And hey, let's put the reactor on a fault line ON the ocean so a tsunami can slap it right in the face, good idea. And MAAAAYBE there's a reason WHY 3 engineers working on Fukushima quit, but hey skrew them we're making money for GE. Skrew the people who live around the plant, the children that play outside, every living creature in the ocean, etc, Jeffrey Immelt is buying a yacht. If the Japanese people want the people who did this to them, after they hang their own government and every Tepco exec., they should all go to Schenectady NY and burn GE's headquarters to the ground and hang every executive there. Either that or give them free housing next to Fukushima and make them live there until they have deep red suntans.
Haven't you heard? GE is not liable.
The government told me so, so it has to be true.
Once the #4 building collapses and the spent fuel gets loose, that's about the time to call game over.
It's no game, as I'm sure most readers understand.
Whatever you want to call it, losing the structure altogether will most certainly not be the end.
Hari kari with a dull butter knife.
Maybe not a game for us, but for the politcos, it is nothing but a con-game.
They play with half-truths, obfuscation and outright lies in an effort to retain their own legitimacy of leadership by trying to keep the should-be-panicking hoards at bay.
So instead of a collapse of society, it will just sit there waiting for the sweet release of death, while the criminals in power do their best to escape with all of the wealth they can acquire.
Except:
It's not a game.
and you have no say in "calling" it.
It's a figure of speech. I meant that if that happens, the plant will likely have to be evacuated. The spent fuel will immediately create a large zone of radioactivity that will quickly get larger as it melts.
Fukushima is the reason the Japanese economy fell off the cliff. It was only a surprise to those who believed the government lies.
YUP and thats very soon. The officials know it thats why the highest ranking shits got the hell out a few days ago. It been confirmed but different sources. They know the dangers
Quita a lot of spent fuel from 3 was already scattered when that one exploded. The blasts which took the top off of these buildings were not small.
And yet they persist in pouring water on the shattered buildings, making a bigger mess by scattering dangerous fission products into the ocean. Should have been dumping sand and borax on the mess asap, like the Russians did at Chernobyl.
good with cars, not so good with collision