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NHK Reports Fukushima Reactor 1 Is Melting Down
Following up on earlier reports that the fuel rods in reactor 1 were truly exposed, NHK now reports another speculation from long ago, finally confirmed by official sources, namely that the reactor is now melting down. NHK reports that "Tokyo Electric Power Company says the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is believed to be in a state of "meltdown". The utility company said on Thursday that most of the fuel rods are likely to have melted and fallen to the bottom of the reactor. Earlier in the day, it found that the coolant water in the reactor is at a level which would completely expose nuclear fuel rods if they were in their normal position." And from Reuters: "The finding makes it likely that at one point in the immediate wake of the disaster the 4-meter-high stack of uranium-rich rods at the core of the reactor had been entirely exposed to the air." Had been, or are? At this rate of admissions (we claimed precisely this happened in March) the next thing we might get a confirmation of from official sources is that there is actual recriticality going on. Which, of course, will be used by the market as another excuse to BTFD, as under central planning everyone lives happily ever after. Oh, and in the meantime, if we recall correctly, the cores of reactors 2 and 3 have also melted down. But Bernanke will just kiss them and make them better.
And more:
The company believes the melted fuel has cooled down, judging from the reactor's surface temperature.
But it suspects the meltdown created a hole or holes in the bottom of the reactor causing water to leak into the containment vessel.
It also suspects the water is leaking into the reactor building.
The company is planning to fully fill the containment vessel with water by increasing the amount injected.
The company says, however, it must review the plan in light of the latest finding.
And this from Reuters:
One of the reactors at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has a hole in its main vessel following a meltdown of fuel rods, leading to a leakage of radioactive water, its operator said on Thursday.
The disclosure by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is the latest indication that the disaster was worse than previously disclosed, making it more difficult to stabilize the plant.
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have been pumping water into at least three of the six reactors on the site to bring their nuclear fuel rods to a "cold shutdown" state by January.
But after repairing a gauge in the No. 1 reactor earlier this week, TEPCO discovered that the water level in the pressure vessel that contains its uranium fuel rods had dropped about 5 meters (16 ft) below the targeted level to cover the fuel under normal operating conditions.
"There must be a large leak," Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility told a news conference.
"The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged...the pressure vessel itself and created a hole," he added.
The finding makes it likely that at one point in the immediate wake of the disaster the 4-meter-high stack of uranium-rich rods at the core of the reactor had been entirely exposed to the air, he said. Boiling water reactors like those at Fukushima rely on water as both a coolant and a barrier to radiation.
U.S. nuclear experts said that the company may have to build a concrete wall around the unit because of the breach, and that this could now take years.
"If it is assumed the fuel did melt through the reactor, then the most likely solution is to encapsulate the entire unit. This may include constructing a concrete wall around the unit and building a protective cover over it," W. Gene Corley, senior vice president of CTL Group in Skokie, Illinois, said on Thursday.
"Because of the high radiation that would be present if this has happened, the construction will take many months and may stretch into years," Corley said.
Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associate, who many have called an insane crackpot, has gotten the recognition he deserves:
TEPCO should consider digging a trench around reactors 1-3 all the way down to the bedrock, which is about 50 feet below the surface, said Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates Inc of Burlington, Vermont, who once worked on reactors of similar design to the Fukushima plant.
He said this should be filled with zeolite, which can absorb radioactive cesium to stop more poisons from leaking into the groundwater around the plant.
The truth is that the situation is getting worse, not better, with each passing day:
"TEPCO seems to be going backwards in getting the situation under control and things may well be slowly eroding with all the units having problems," said Tom Clements with Friends of the Earth, a U.S.-based environmental group.
"At this point, TEPCO still finds itself in unchartered waters and is not able to carry out any plan to get the situation under control," he said.
Matsumoto said the utility would study whether to increase the amount of water it was injecting to overcome the leak and raise the level of water covering the fuel, at the risk of allowing more radioactive water to leak out of the facility.
Nearly 10,400 tonnes of water has been pumped into the reactor so far, but it is unclear where the leaked water has been going. The high radiation levels makes it difficult for workers to check the site, Matsumoto said.
Brilliant: and all the newly pumped water is about to seep either into the groundwater or the ocean.
As usual, we urge any Japanese readers who live in proximity to the reactor to study the immediate plume dispersion forecast:
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For every degree it melts down over the next week the Dow will melt up in accordance with the Divine Doctrine of Bernanke and Co.
Agree. An uncontrollable nuclear meltdown in the third largest developed economy is priced in.
The real question is: how does this story help anyone?
A) Cynical people will use it to profit. Fine - but rest assured, you're a scumbag.
B) The crowd that already sees what it wants to see will use it to prop up their worldview.
C) It does not. Read another source that doesn't include a thread full of hypocrites.
It serves to remind us that nuclear power is a dead-end for the human race.
TPOG
2012 baby. 2012...
there are definitely more less devastating prospects for boiling water to power turbines...
+
...the news just gets better by the day from Fukingshambles . . .
. . . is the Jap Govt still insisting on its micro-management (meddling) white gloves for their taxi drivers while they move the health limit goalposts for the clueless and useless at Tepco!
Good observation ZeroG. Japan is/was a classic case of beuraucratic freeze. What they do manage and what they don't... mad-making when you are there.
But regardless, very hard to see any humor in this situation, hmmm?
Some of us had seen the ominous nuclear accident waiting to happen a long time ago!
And now, Sellafield is back in the news.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/nuclear-revelation-a-bomb-indeed/
http://www.power-technology.com/projects/Seville-Solar-Tower/
It serves to remind us that the human race is a dead-end for nuclear power.
I like it.
It serves to remind us that everyone in charge is an egotistical fuck up who won't take any responsibility for being a fuck up.
+10. agreed.
Think of the money they will make treating the sick , bullish big pharma
Responsibility and incorporation do not mix. It is one or the other.
Only corporate fags believe otherwise.
It serves to remind us that, "The fruit of abortion is nuclear war." Mother Theresa
(sub 'fallout')
Why use quote marks. She never said that.
What she did actually say was, “…The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself… the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”
http://www.motherteresa.org/layout.html
She was a good lady, agree with her or not on her beliefs.
Dear Hephaestus http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=ie7&q=the+fruit+of+abortion+is+nuclear+war&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ACEW_enCA340CA340&redir_esc=&ei=EfzNTZeuDpS8sQPS4bnMCw
and you should learn to spell your name correctly, my Greek god.
http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=ie7&q=hephaestus+greek+god&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ACEW_enCA340CA340&redir_esc=&ei=Z_zNTfvwBYXksQO41PWtCw
Googles got nothing. Twice in a row.
This story should help readers understand the state of the world as should other informative sources. What do you mean "helping anyone"? do you mean that only news with a "good" twist of the truth should be reported???? go back to watching FOX news pleeeeez! All is well over there.
Fukushima follows a standard universal Government policy.
Nuclear meltdown occuring - lie about it
Economic meltdown and depression - lie about it
Terrorist who cannot be caught - lie about it
Leaks about your foreign policy creating the thing that you claim you want to solve - lie about it
Sovereign defaults - lie about it
PM market manipulation - lie about it
Printing money causing rampant inflation - lie about it
Peak oil forcing you to invade oil nations - lie about it
etc. etc.
As the crises get worse - the lies get more unbelievable...until everyone loses faith in what they're told and we have to go back to basics - trust what you know and who you know - everyone else is assumed to be a liar.
Of course commerce does not do well in such an environment - and there is no lie which can cover that up.
well said
Back to sleep sheep!
The real question is: how does your comment help anyone?
Your Username would imply you do some actual "research"
Your comment however is a vacuum...and both nature and I abhor a vacuum.
The story helps by giving information and encouraging people to "do some research" to find further information from diverse sources that will allow them to make informed decisions - decisions that may effect their long term health and survival.
Your comment simply allows people to marvel at your stupidity and/or duplicity.
I wish your Father had used a Scumbag - we would have all been spared your pathetic input.
panem et circenses
+ 1 vacuums suck!
"both nature and I abhor a vacuum."
Thats what my ex-wife said!
ziiiing!
as soon as you can point us to any source or debate that does not contain hypocrisy (including your own) we're there
+10. That's funny.
Are next quarter's earnings reports priced in?
Why isn't anyone afraid of radiation? You should watch this:
You won't hear this on any mainstream news!!! (Nuclear Fallout)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXvpWoHzeE&feature=feedf
In other news, the commodities market has also entered meltdown phase.
You are such a....
wanker...
Tyler PLEEEAASE. It really is time for an ignore button.
Latest report from Arnie Gunderson, 5/13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqs-fh79suI
Unit 4 is leaning
yeah...but we got Bin Laden!
4 more years!!!!!
they dumped him into the Sea of Japan, where he will be spawned into Bin Laden 2! boy, is he gonna be pissed off! will be impossible to kill him again to increase oBLAHmas' ratings!
oBlahma-- now that's classic right there.
Can't wait for BinLaden...the Series. About a man who sells his identity to a CIA agent and must then go into hiding as that agent uses it to blame him for ...ah who cares?
saw an article yesterday "the life of a wife of Bin Laden" and all I could think was "it made you a little paranoid...but the gosssip was to die for"
if it keeps melting, won't the rods end up in Washington?
I wish
São Paulo
Tristan da Cunha
Only if God loves U.S.
As the morrow is Friday the 13th, BTFD regardless.
oh...pretty please!
This is good for stocks, right?
The only danger to this market would be if dancing with the stars is taken off the air.
The reactor surface has cooled? As if by magic?
Seems more like the rods melted though the bottom of the building, and are in the rock beneath the reactor.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He has over 5000 posts on ronpaul.org and over 7000 on seeking alpha.com
On the crack again, I see.
WAYYYY off on the Seeking Alpha posts.
But then, reading never was your strong suit.
Who needs to read your posts? Each one says physical metals will only go higher and any refutation is greeted with homosexual cat calls. Your a true genius. Amazing how a even a small mind like yours can be completely fucked up
MAYBE HE'S A RETARD!
You used to be such a good troll. So subtle. But now you just sound like another crackhead.
Actually, I wonder if you and wartyboy up there aren't the same person? You sure are responding to a lot of each other's posts.
It's not a circlejerk when its masturbation.
77!!!!!!!
23 MORE!!!!
23 MORE!!!!
23 MORE !!!!!!!
YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm guessing you know what a restraining order is.
Yes, let's count the number of posts he makes. Maybe then he will stop destroying us with each one. Maybe we can succeed in the pursuit of our agenda in this way! We have tried dozens of different personalities, but he seems to be able to instantly penetrate any archetype!
Let's see, he said the Texas Gunslinger persona was, what was it? "An epic troll". Yeah, that must mean that is the best one to try our next attack with. Ok, now start counting all his posts! We'll get 'em!
Trolls are tedious aren't they?
The people that run the troll dungeons are clueless fools.
Could they be more obvious?No,not really.
+imaginary number for a real money advocate.IE:Gold and silver are actual currency.
Paper is JUST paper.
It is SO fucking time for an ignore button.
I would suggest you join them, change your moniker and avatar and sign up as someone else -- think of the possibilities...
If you can't beat em...let ME beat em!
"your a true genius" - ironic post of the week award
BURN!!! You really showed Him!
What you aren't a tmosely acolyte? drinking his kool aid at the alter of stupidity?
I'll Drink anything if its for free!!!!!
+75 but 75 seems low. hehehe. he posts like a maniac when silver or gold falls a lot. Silver will be $49 by last Friday he said. What a call! What a howler.
Texas Gunslinger - we really appreciate having you around, it reminds us all what firing blanks and running on empty is all about
PS. try not to post as much as TM, my belly can only stand so much laughing in a day
PPS. you've got your Caps lock stuck on dipshit
Wartschitblunder - your avatar is almost as bloody tedious as your posts. . . you're not a speech writer for Obumma are you?
"Congratulations on your 75th post today!
Such a milestone....
It's rare to see a man know so much about everything."
Mosley's a well-read troll on payroll.
He's got most people here fooled.
He couldn't outsmart Chindit on the subject of PMs so he flipped and started insulting him. Remember, Mosley?
I am a natural resources professional and Mosley's agricultural posts are straight from the science fiction books!
At this point, TEPCO still finds itself in unchartered waters and is not able to carry out any plan to get the situation under control," he said.
I think they have been in uncharted water from the start...
as soon as i saw the vid of the 1st explosion, i knew this was not going to be good for anyone. here we are months later, damage already done and obviously continuing, before anyone said any truth about the matter, and that is little at best.
And so the BOJ gets more opportunity to print
All the reactor cores melted during the period 12- 15 of March. The meltdowns caused the explosions in the three operating reactor units as hot fuel hit that water.
The cores in the reactor basements boiling and burning away. The 400 gallons of water TEPCO pumps into EACH reactor unit every hour is washing radioactive material ... 'somewhere' (Pacific Ocean).
Live Tokyo Broadcasting Service feed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FptmoVcgpqg
Cores have been experiencing re- criticality.
Reactor unit 3 temperature has been rising steadily since beginning of the Month. Look for a prompt- criticality event here.
Reactor unit 4 building appears ready to fall over. There is almost 200 tons of reactor fuel in spent fuel pool. Even if building does not collapse, removing fuel cannisters has to be an almost impossible job.
Another week or so and Daiichi plant will be too 'hot' for anyone to work there.
And now Superman works for the freakin' UN. Thats just perfect.
Reactor unit 4 building appears ready to fall over.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Really!!!??
Looked fine this afternoon ...
Who's feeding you this 'stuff'?
Pics from May 12:
http://cryptome.org/eyeball/daiichi-npp15/daiichi-photos15.htm
In which picture is that building 'leaning'?
"The following 12 photos are excerpted and enlarged from 70 posted to Flickr on May 10, 2011 by "xtcbz." Date of the photos unknown."
In which picture is it this afternoon?
Not that I believe anything RT (Russian) News says, which is the only reference I have seen to the 'leaning tower of fail'...but these pics don't settle that. They do, however, show much worse damage to Unit 4's fuel pool. See the greenish underwater pic toward the bottom. Much worse than the creepy water video from last week. So bad that it might actually be...pool #3. Still nasty.
Plant operator Tepco reveals meltdown and breach of pressure vessel, with Greenpeace warning against pumping water in
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/fukushima-reactor-meltdown-f...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12nuclear.html?_r=1&adxnnl=...
F L A S H B A C K March 12:
An analyst with the World Nuclear Association, a major international nuclear power group, told Reuters that he understood fresh cool water was now being pumped into the cooling system at Fukushima, reducing the threat of a meltdown.
"We understand this situation is under control," the analyst said
My dad (retired venture capitalist) tells me to buy yen because BOJ pumps $250bn into reconstruction. I hope they figured out how to build under water cities!
no sweat, j.dark.
while we were ejaculating moon shots, yoko stole the secrets of underwater life for the japanese.
YouTube - The beatles yellow submarine
the war in asia just went nuclear
.
KILL ALL THE ILITERATES
Now that is funny.
(Had to reply before you got the chance to edit.)
That would make a nice t-shirt or coffee cup design, wouldn't it?
Succinct, ironic, vitriolic and stupid simultaneously, some folks just know how to turn a phrase.
kinda all "Healter skelter"?
yes that is what they wrote in blood....
Sharp. Signature worthy.
are you one of the people who tatooed RAPEST on that guys head?
"But Bernanke will just kiss them and make them better."....hahaaa
He'll have it fixed in 15 minutes...
Live video feed from the Fukushima Daiichi site; looks like 2,3 & 4 steaming away a total cock up. Possibly 1 also but it's obscured, maybe all the workers bolted and forgot to leave the sprinklers on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FptmoVcgpqg
When they opened Unit 1 double doors the other day they released 500M Bq
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-prepares-to-open-doors-of-troubled-no-1-reactor-building
Unit 3 now leaking Cesium 134 620K times over limit into the ocean and
http://www.japannewstoday.com/?tag=new-radioactive-water-leak-fukushima-daiichi
A new video look in Unit 3 spent fuel pool(destroyed) was released by Tepco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dl_bKfysm0&feature=player_embedded
Latest video looks at unit 4 sfp outside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdcmQUEZ0zI&NR=1
and inside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWzRcl20mCo&feature=related
OMG. That footage of the SFP in in Unit 3 is beyond belief. Just a huge pile of twisted junk. There is no way the fuel rods in the pool (if there are any left!) can be kept cool. There is NO WAY any of this is under control. Unbelievable the way the MSM has been ignoring this ongoing clusterfuck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dl_bKfysm0&feature=player_embedded
But we had to endure 10 fucking days of "obama got osama". I'd puke but then I'd freak thinkin' it was radiation poisoning.
It did give us the Rambama Seal Team action figure
http://www.herobuilders.com/herobuilders-sealteam6.htm
by Plumplechook on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 19:02 #1269958
OMG. That footage of the SFP in in Unit 3 is beyond belief. Just a huge pile of twisted junk. There is no way the fuel rods in the pool (if there are any left!) can be kept cool.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You're right; there is NO WAY they can have any water in there!!!!
/Obvious sarc
Guess the radiation that is prompting detection feeds to be taken offline globally is coming from green shoots, huh?
Not the point fucktard. I didn't say there is no water in there. My point is that whatever spent rods are still in there (following that motherfucker of an explosion which TEPCO themselves admitted resulted in feul rods being blown out of the reactor building) will be almost impossible to effectivly cool given the state of the pool - which is full of junk from the explosion. The fuel assemblies require continual circulation of cool water to prevent the possibility of recriticality. Can you even see any intact assemblies among that steaming pile of wreckage?
I believe the hole can be plugged with a few trillion more Yen.
If any of this was really important the MSM would be all over this like they were with waterboarding and rising gas prices during the Bush admisnistration.
Zeolite, bitchez!!!
Great soil amendment for plants!
Not to worry, when Japan completes its' slide into the ocean, all the reactors will be covered in water. Luckily, all the people that once lived near the reactors, went back for all their belongings to bring to their new homes- no radioactivity there. Further, since the fish know how to stay away from radioactive water, all that sushi will remain healthy- and if not, the will use less energy at night. That Tokyo Glow will be all the rage.
At least things are going well in Chile...Just hiked rates above best guesses.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chile-hikes-key-rate-to-5-above-expecta...
Damn now I'll have to really think about going expat, was thinking of Paraguay, Chile or Columbia.
why move to a 3rd world police state?
America is well on its way to being a 3rd world power and a police state.. only with a really good military force!
3rd world living is the future! not a transitory future either!
Ever been to Utah?
http://youtu.be/JN7rOZLbGP4
You always left feild in hilarious ways.
Tyler,
Your pithy witiness, at the same time putting across important points, never fails to amuse me. Thank you!
DavidC
Same, same, same.
Thank you, Tyler!
http://youtu.be/ln8-Y-fIbqM
Gads, whatever happened to sepukku when you fucked up bad?? And it appears that the govt is just standing there while TEPCO is running around like the Three Stooges. Geez, can't the Kan govt start trying to call in other experts & construction teams and bypass TEPCO--while loudly pointing out what a shameful, inept bunch of idiots they are? I do wonder whether something more is happening where the gov't is forced to sit there and "watch the house burn down" because they're waiting for the "proper channels" to put it out.
The important thing is all the face they are saving by not admitting mistakes. It's for the good of Japan, really.
The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged...the pressure vessel itself and created a hole," he added.
yep. likely.
the japanese are nothing if not consistent!
Agree. And least we not forget our own ZH'er, Jim in MN who first provided the most complete analysis of core damage when Cesium-137 was detected in the U.S. This was very early on when the media and O'bummer concurred no little radiation bugs would ever make it here, and that the sitcom was moderated by Tepco.
I must also thank Tyler and ZH for providing information relating to realtime snafu's in which one is most likely to distrust the plethora of dis-information produced by all governments alike.
It is unfortunate that most likely only 1% of the people read informed sources, with the rest digesting CNBS... or DWTS... or Idol.
To the sheeple not yet in understanding that the world is a dangerous place, do not attempt to relieve me of undiluted real currency (PM's) - or stand in the crosshairs attached to a high speed lead delivery system.
...and created a hole
That's the fly in the ointment.
Anyone seen Extreme Engineering "Big Dig" episode? Get those guys and the guys who plugged Chernobyl's anal hemorrhage and reduced it to a slow dribble and get on this shit. And that doesn't even address the sub surface leakage. Japanese walking around with blue tarps ain't gonna solve this.
Until then I'm long Arnie Gundersons.
The liquidators were the "guys who plugged Chernobyl's anal hemorrhage and reduced it to a slow dribble and get on this shit".
Unfortunately, many died or are dying of "radiation sickness".
In 20 years when the no dick 5 limbed kids are born, everyone will wonder, "how did we let this happen".
Been to Detroit lately?
Detroit doesn't count....all that's left are useless dicks. A reflection of the DC which created it.
Detroit looks pretty damn good compared to Fukushima prefecture.
Sorry I wasn't specific. I wasn't talking about the muscle. Clearly many need to die cleaning it up. I was referring to the engineers who figured out how to move massive amounts of water, build a structure, and seal it up at the Big Dig. The Cherny sarcophagus was likewise designed by the Soviet's cutting edge engineers/architects.
PETCO has nothing but blue tarps and a lot of "if".
"PETCO" ... or 'PEPTO' maybe?
And who were the nitwits who said Arnie was a crackpot. I've been with him since the beginning and he is spot on every time.
That would be Trav777 I believe. But, I cut him some slack...he's working as best he can within the bounds of his native intelligence and emotional dysfunction.
I don't recall calling him a crackpot...maybe you can show me where I did that
This is the first one that came to mind. Admittedly though you didn't use the word crackpot.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/tepc-releases-brief-video-spent-fuel-ro...
by trav7777on Fri, 04/29/2011 - 09:36
#1220079
bbbut...Arnie Gunderson said that pool 4 was a molten fission pit
Trav is so busted.
this is why I love fight club...
the real deal is.. that many here change thier names because they can not stand by what they say.
Travv is not one of those.. so the fact that hes not right all the time.. I can over look as I am not right all the time.. but the fact that he has balls enough to stick to his name, speaks to me.
Exactly. I don't always agree with Trav but I read what he has to say most of the time. Sometimes I just have to poke him though.
I usually read what you have to say as well. Until you get into one of your political party rah rah sessions. Then I just wait for what ever you are drinking to wear off.
The Big Dig was (badly) built by the Irish Mob, in league with the Masshole socialists. The whole damn tunnel will collapse in on itself like a fallen cake within 20 years. We don't need anyone related to the Big Dig running anything related to Fuku.
Wow, take years huh? Well that Arnie guy seems to know what he's doing, I don't see why they just go with his ideas-- get the shit covered up and sealed.
Oh they will, once they run it by a committee or two.
The best bang for the buck would be to invest in "death" insurance for the workers... poor bastards. The Japanese are a noble and dedicated people, just look at the Komikaze in WWII...
What amazing about this whole thing is that something that would have been an absolute worst case scenario a year ago barely makes a blip now. They need to bury the entire site in concrete and boron.
how many times do you people need to be told WHY that won't work before you'll stop repeating this same stupid statement?
Once is a start.
But then, you would prefer to abuse people rather than enlightening them.
It's easier.
Tomorrow is Friday. Spend all afternoon on the freeway in just about any 500k+ city in the US and then tell me how much you want to enlighten your fellow man.
lol, that's why I live in Lubbock. You can get from anywhere in town to anywhere else in town in 15 minutes. My commute is 7 minutes, even if traffic is "heavy".
Listened to a story yesterday by one of my employees who used to live in Chicago. Said he and a friend go caught in a nasty traffic jam once at 4:50pm, didn't get home until 2:00AM.
No thanks. I don't know why ANYONE would want to live like that.
yes,but don't you have to worry about tumbleweeds plugging your car's exhaust pipe?
:)
(ps... bring back Mike Leach)
Put some 375 degree vegetable oil in a plastic cup. Watch what happens when it melts its way through the bottom of the cup. It does not remain in the cup! It pours through the hole it has made.
Now if there was a puddle of molten nuclear fuel at the bottom of the pressure vessel and it melted a hole through 6 inches of steel does the molten fuel stay in the reactor pressure vessel or does it ooze out through the hole it has made?
I wonder if they are going to broadcast the explosion when those rods reach the water table?
I'm sure that will be spectacular.
They're filling the containment vessel with water and have been for a while. As long as they keep that up, melting through the base mat is next to impossible. The more pressing problem is SPF #4.
There are layers upon layers of thought provoking speculation that can be built on that one statement. None of it encouraging.
I agree. If #4's SPF collapses, it could very well render the plant unworkable.
no way.
I'm curious, why would there be an explosion if the fuel rods hits the water table? Is there a different reaction with non-salt (fresh) water versus salt (sea) water?
If such an explosion were to happen, it would be caused by molten corium hitting a significant amount of water and very suddenly flashing that water to steam. It would be a steam explosion, and the violence of it would depend on how contained it was.
If the primary containment were substantially intact and the corium melted through the bottom of it and then hit water and the water flashed to steam inside the lightbulb shaped concrete structure that houses the reactor pressure vessel, it could burst the containment with a force equal to many tonnes of conventional explosives.
As long as they can keep some water flowing and cooling the rods/corium the liklihood of such an explosion is not high.
Even if they lose all ability to water the reactors it would likely take some time for the fuel to boil off any water it's covered by and completely melt through the bottom of the containment. Probably days, not hours.
It could happen, but it probably won't unless they have to abandon human occupation of the site and lose all ability to flush water through the reactors.
I don't think the question of fresh vs. salt water would make any real difference.
that corium is h-o-t. molten radioactive fuel rods, steel, concrete, and anything else that gets in its way. (paste fr. wki):
The temperature of corium can be as high as 2400°C in the first hours after the meltdown and can reach over 2800°C. A high amount of heat can be released by reaction of metals (particularly zirconium) in corium with water. Flooding of the corium mass with water, or falling of molten corium mass into a water pool, may result in a temperature spike and production of large amounts of hydrogen which can result in a pressure spike in the containment vessel. The steam explosion resulting from such sudden corium-water contact can disperse the materials, forming projectiles that may damage the containment by impact. (end paste)
other sources put the corium temp slightly higher, going to 3000 or just shy of 5000 degrees farenheit. nuclear fuels gone wild. molten lava of hot, glowing, radioactive metal.
stuff has a mind of its own.
Thank you for the explanations. Now I understand it better.