Japan nuclear power plant has rising coolant problems-evacuations ordered.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Source: abc local live coverage

Nuke plant in Japan has coolant problems, temps are rising, so far no success in reducing the temps.
Residents around plant have been told to evacuate. Workers considering a need to release "some" pressure by venting
into atmosphere.

Read more: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/livenow?id=8007618

---

This really bears watching.
China syndrome???

[xchrom]

1. oy! nt

[FLPanhandle]

2. Jet stream will carry any high altitude radioactive materials to our west coast

Japan released high altitude balloon bombs during WWII and they carried right over the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast.

[Confusious]

32. intensity = square of the distance. nt

[MinneapolisMatt]

3. I hope this can be controlled.

Oy.

[PaDUer]

22. I hope they can take care of this fast because.......

This doesn't sound too good..It appears they're only releasing bits of info so they don't alarm everyone everywhere...I can't imagine anything worse than this...

<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_QUAKE_POWER_PLANT?SITE=PASCR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>

Nuke plant trouble after Japan quake; 3K evacuated

-snip-

If the outage in the cooling system persists, eventually radiation could leak out into the environment, and, in the worst case, could cause a reactor meltdown, a nuclear safety agency official said on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the issue.

-snip-

If the outage in the cooling system persists, eventually radiation could leak out into the environment, and, in the worst case, could cause a reactor meltdown, a nuclear safety agency official said on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the issue.

-snip-
He said both the state of emergency and evacuation order are meant to be a precaution.

"We launched the measure so we can be fully prepared for the worst scenario," he said. "We are using all our might to deal with the situation."

Defense Ministry official Ippo Maeyama said the ministry has dispatched dozens of troops trained for chemical disasters to the Fukushima plant in case of a radiation leak, along with four vehicles designed for use in atomic, biological and chemical warfare.

-snip-

It was not immediately clear how many of the site's six reactors were affected by the cooling problem.

Speaking at the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said U.S. Air Force planes were carrying "some really important coolant" to the site. She said "one of their plants came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn't have enough coolant."

Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said staff were trying to collect more information on what was happening.

At the Fukushima Daiichi site, "They are busy trying to get coolant to the core area," Sheehan said. "The big thing is trying to get power to the cooling systems."

Meanwhile, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a statement that closures of the plants in the quake-hit region could result in less power generation.

The plant is just south of the worst-hit Miyagi prefecture, where a fire broke out at another nuclear plant. The blaze was in a turbine building at one of the Onagawa power plants; smoke could be seen coming out of the building, which is separate from the plant's reactor, Tohoku Electric Power Co. said. It has since been extinguished.

Another reactor at Onagawa was experiencing a water leak.

-snip-

At the two-reactor Diablo Canyon plant at Avila Beach, Calif., an "unusual event" - the lowest level of alert - was declared in connection with a West Coast tsunami warning. The plant remained stable, though, and kept running, according to the NRC.

[KamaAina]

25. The two-reactor Diablo Canyon plant at Avila Beach, Calif.

in addition to being right on the coast, is also right on a nice little earthquake fault of its own.

:scared:

:dunce:

[PaDUer]

29. Have you heard

anything further on this??

[KamaAina]

30. Plant not in danger from this event

most reports of (minor) damage in CA are farther north, from Santa Cruz to Crescent City at the OR border.

But what kind of :dunce: builds a nuke plant on an earthquake fault *and* in a tsunami zone?! :wtf:

[Poll_Blind]

4. BBC reporting "Small radiation leak could occur" per Japanese official moments ago.

No other information except they had just received the information.

PB

[eowyn_of_rohan]

6. oh I love that line... Small radiation leak could occur

Nothing to worry about -- there just MIGHT be a wee little radiation leak. It could just as well be full force code red as they say this...

[Journeyman]

7. Every time I hear such a report, it reminds me of a favored Ben Franklin aphorism. . .

he lifted from the Scots and printed in his Poor Richard's Almanac:

"Many a little makes a mickle."

{"Many small things amount to a great deal."

[Poll_Blind]

8. For me it's a given that if a public official says a small radiation leak MIGHT occur it means...

...that a radiation leak will occur and that nobody has any good idea how large it's going to have to be, assuming it is a controlled release because of an overheating core.

PB

[Auggie]

5. How much concern has been voiced about building nuclear power plants near major fault lines?

Decades worth. Unfucking believeable...

:nuke:

[Confusious]

33. There are 6 other plants there

3 shut down for maintenance, 2 having no problems, the only one that is is no 1 which was a first generation, which I think they'll replace after this.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. It's like an invisible Godzilla emerged from the ocean, creating a tsunami

and is now running amok in Japan.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. Apparently the US air force has already delivered coolant to the reactor site.

Probably Boric Acid or some cadmium solution to dump in the core.

I must say, I'm a little surprised the diesel generators on-site that are designed to keep the coolant systems running in the event of something like this, aren't a little more quake-proof. Apparently all four are inoperable. That just shouldn't happen.

Still, several layers of redundant safety systems to go.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. "No one could have foreseen....."

I swear, I think, more and more often, the human species is too stupid to live.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Well, lets see how it plays out.

This is a good dry run for the safety systems that might be relied upon by a few reactors in case the New Madrid Seismic Zone lets rip.

Same scenario.

I suspect they may vent some pressure, but it'll be less than 3 mile island's release.

[snagglepuss]

19. I know next to nothing about reactors but it does seem strange that if

skyscapers can be built to withstand quakes, why generators couldn't be housed in structures to withstand shocks.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. It's even a plot device in a book not too long ago..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rift_(novel)

Specifically, aside from flooding, that the coolant systems were inoperable because all three locomotive-sized generators were inoperable.

[neohippie]

28. backup generators were taken out by the Tsunami

They had diesel backup generators but they were taken out by the flooding caused by the Tsunami...

I saw a BBC post that said something about some power cars being delivered that should be able to help power the cooling pumps

It's very hard to find current news updates.

I also saw some stories that reported that there were definitely radiation leaks inside the plant and employees were exposed, and that they thought that the current radiation levels inside the facility were 10 times what they should be.

[Tx4obama]

11. Updates via Twitter

Updates via Twitter....

AJELive - AFP: Risk of "small radiation leak" at #Fukushima nuclear power plant says trade minister. #AlJazeera: http://aje.me/g2Wvs9 #tsunami #japan 8 minutes ago via web

BreakingNews: Tokyo Electric Power Co: Pressure inside No.1 reactor at Fukushima-Daiichi nuke plant is rising, with risk of radiation leak - Reuters about 1 hour ago via breakingnews.com

BreakingNews: U.S. has transported coolant to Japanese nuclear plant, will continue to assist Japan, Secretary of State Clinton says http://reut.rs/dMDtqY about 2 hours ago via breakingnews.com

[AsahinaKimi]

13. Just saw an update on Twitter

Fukushima update: Japanese authorities will release radioactive vapor to ease pressure at nuclear reactor - AP

http://www.breakingnews.com/

[PaDUer]

15. Earthquakes Put Japan's Nuclear Reactors on Red Alert

Source: Yahoo

This doesn't look good at all.....

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake that shook Japan early March 11 blew out the cooling systems of two nuclear reactors there. An inability to cool the reactors could cause radiation leaks, and both power plants are "bracing for the worst,” according to government officials.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/earthquakesputjapansnuclearreactorsonredalert

[Tx4obama]

16. More info

Japan Declares Nuclear Emergency
http://www.alan.com/2011/03/11/japan-declares-nuclear-emergency/

And from Twitter....

AJELive - AFP: Risk of "small radiation leak" at #Fukushima nuclear power plant says trade minister. #AlJazeera: http://aje.me/g2Wvs9 #tsunami #japan 8 minutes ago via web

BreakingNews: Tokyo Electric Power Co: Pressure inside No.1 reactor at Fukushima-Daiichi nuke plant is rising, with risk of radiation leak - Reuters about 1 hour ago via breakingnews.com

BreakingNews: U.S. has transported coolant to Japanese nuclear plant, will continue to assist Japan, Secretary of State Clinton says http://reut.rs/dMDtqY about 2 hours ago via breakingnews.com

[snappyturtle]

17. Mrs. Greenspan said the pressure was 1 1/2 times normal and controlled

leaks may be performed and that the Air Force is supplying coolant (water) to help.

[Bosonic]

18. uh-oh

Fukushima update: Japanese authorities will release radioactive vapor to ease pressure at nuclear reactor - AP

[sce56]

23. Yeah and Fox nNoise just reported they wil be relasing radiactive steam but don't worry be happy it

will not harm anyone!

Bull Shit!

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. "This doesn't look good at all..."....'zactly.

[hankthecrank]

24. k & r n/t

[bluestateguy]

26. Nuclear power is very safe and clean...

except when it isn't.

[Vinee]

27. well, thankfully that kind of thing could never happen here...

:sarcasm:

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. Esp. in Cal, on the fault lines, right?

No one would be stupid enough to build a nuke plant on a fault line here.

Except for Cal.'s Diablo Canyon Power Plant, was built 3 miles from the Hosgri Fault line;
last year scientists discovered a new offshore fault line just 1,800 feet offshore to the nuclear facility.

New York:
The Indian Point nuclear power plant, with its two nuclear generating units, is situated 24 miles north of New York City, on the Hudson River at Buchanan, New York.
Researchers from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have located a previously unknown active seismic zone running from Stamford, Connecticut, to the Hudson Valley town of Peekskill, New York, where it passes less than a mile north of the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
The Stamford-Peekskill line intersects with the known Ramapo seismic zone, which runs from eastern Pennsylvania to the mid-Hudson Valley, passing within two miles northwest of Indian Point.
Nearly 10 million people live within 25 miles of the Indian Point nuclear plant, including the 8.2 million in the New York metropolitan area.

and dozens of other examples from one quick Google.