Reuters FLASH: Japan nuclear safety agency says Fukushima No. 4 reactor roof is cracked

[villager]

Source: Reuters

(Got this as a tweet two minutes ago... looking for more info... post it if you got it...)

On edit: Added Reuters link, but info still seems scarce...

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/us-japan-quake-roof-idUSTRE72E8H920110315

[tekisui]

1. I'm having trouble keeping up.

Wasn't there an explosion already at this reactor? Is this a crack in the containment roof?

[MineralMan]

2. It's really not clear what part of the reactor is cracked.

The containment vessel or the building surrounding it. Guess we'll have to wait for clarification.

[buddysmellgood]

3. I saw that too. What do you suppose it means by "roof"

[Tx4obama]

4. From the HuffPo Japan Live Blog ...

Today 3:34 PM Two Workers Missing After Explosion
Reuters @ Reuters : FLASH: Japan nuclear safety agency says 2 workers are missing after the explosion at Fukushima No. 4 reactor

Today 3:31 PM Fukushima Reactor Roof Is Cracked
Reuters @ Reuters : FLASH: Japan nuclear safety agency says Fukushima No. 4 reactor roof is cracked

Today 3:29 PM Plant Operators Consider Removing Panels

Reuters reports that plant operators may remove panels from nuclear plant reactors:

Japanese operators have been considering the removal of panels from the No.5 and No.6 reactors at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to prevent any hydrogen build-up, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted that it was a build-up of hydrogen at the plant's 1-3 units that had led to previous explosions at the complex since Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/japan-nuclear-plant-explosion_n_835712.html


And here's a link to the Al Jazeera Japan Live Blog:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/asia/japans-nuclear-emergency-live-blog

[Wilms]

5. Thanks for posting this.

When I saw the OP I wondered if a crack in the roof might be helpful by letting hydrogen escape rather than accumulate and explode.

[villager]

6. Guardian has a good "update" page, too -- nothing about the roof crack yet:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/15/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan

[ananda]

7. It's in a lot of tweets citing Reuters newsflash.

nt

[Peace Patriot]

8. Japan safety agency: roof cracked at Fukushima No 4 reactor

TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) - Two workers are missing after Tuesday's explosion at one of the reactors at a crippled Japanese nuclear plant, the country's nuclear saftey agency said.

The agency did not identify the missing workers, but said they were in the turbine area of the No.4 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was damaged by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

Agency official also told a news conference there was a crack in the roof of the reactor building.

Authorities are desperately trying to prevent the water which is designed to cool the radioactive cores of the plant's reactors from running dry, which would lead to overheating and the release of dangerous radioactive material into the atmosphere.

It was possible the water in the reactor was boiling, the agency said. (Reporting by Terril Jones)

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLJE7ED00A20110315

[Peace Patriot]

13. I think this means the outer containment structure, not the core containment structure.

But the thing is that No. 4 was shut down. So I don't think it's a core partial meltdown/hydrogen buildup that could be causing this crack, but likely is something related to the "spent fuel rod" pool that I believe caught fire earlier. I read there was a fire, then they doused the fire, then the fire started up again--and this may be the reason (or one of them) for the evac of all but 60 of the 800 workers at the Fukushima site. The spent fuel rods are burning and emitting radiation directly into the atmosphere. The spent fuel rods--which can be very "hot"--have no containment structure (like core containment) over them, just the outer building structure. They sit in big tubs of water, open to the air and are situated near the roof of the outer containment building in this design. A crack in the roof means that these rods, if they are burning, are sending radioactive particles directly into the atmosphere. And there is also the danger that such a fire would spread to other plants where partial meltdown is occurring (with No. 2's core containment apparently damaged) and create a conflagration whereby all the nuclear material in these plants (there are six of them, closely packed together at the site) spews into the atmosphere (worst case scenario).

I believe I read that No. 5 and 6 are having "spent fuel rod" overheating problems as well. All the main freshwater cooling systems and their backups and their battery backups went down in the tsunami. I read that there is only one pipe for cooling all of these things--six cores, six sets of hundreds of spent fuel rods--with sea water. (Three of the cores are in partial meltdown, one of them (No. 2) possibly on its way to complete meltdown, No. 4 had the fire (and cracked roof), Nos. 5 and 6 are shut down; all have spent fuel pools.)

[Tx4obama]

15. Any word on the 'missing SEVEN' from when No.2 exploded? n/t

[DearAbby]

9. Nuclear reactor's roof cracked, two workers reportedly missing at Fukushima plant

Nuclear reactor's roof cracked, two workers reportedly missing at Fukushima plant http://huff.to/g3lGpG

[pinboy3niner]

10. And 2 workers missing. Link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42097058

[Iliyah]

12. Los Angeles here

residents from all over th coast are buying over the counter potassium iodide pills.

[Tx4obama]

14. That will help with preventing thyroid cancer but not everything else. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

18. I'm having flashbacks to the run on cipro

Antelope Valley here...and if we end up needing potassium iodide, that may be the LEAST of our worries.

:hi:

[Zoeisright]

11. Oh good God.

[intaglio]

16. Number 4 was shut down

The fuel rods were removed and placed in a storage pond.

The pond has little water in it and the level is dropping thus exposing the rods

The roof of the containment building is cracked and leaking.

Guess where the storage pond is ...

On the roof of the f'n containment building

[Lone_Star_Dem]

17. I assume that's the hole they were going to try and spray water into?

This is the unit with the overheating spent fuel storage pool. The explosion there last night (our time) blew the roof a bit and either the two workers were in it then or were lost trying to cool the pools after. I've read conflicting reports on them. Later they reported they had been going to attempt to spray water via helicopters into the hole in the roof to help cool the stored rods down.

That plan has been abandoned since then.

See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4772273

[hankthecrank]

19. don't they have video cameras in these building

here a plan please look at the other buildings even the ones shut down and look at water levels.

at this point maybe should look at buying some robots to put water on stuff instead putting water thru hole in the roof.

maybe they get Gerit Moras not sure how to spell his name he was the guy whole played women janitor on Sat night live skit about 3 mile island. Sure just go in there and mop up some of the water in that room

[Tx4obama]

20. Video cameras operate on electricity. There is NO electricity when backup generators are down n/t

[hankthecrank]

22. not good enough small amount of power to run cameras or risk people

sorry power to run video cameras almost next to nothing. Could go down to the local store buy a 3kw gen to run video cameras. not rocket science

or put people lives at risk looking into buildings

[Tx4obama]

23. You're frigging joking, right?

They are in the middle of a huge mess of radiation, exploded buildings, and fires and you think someone should risk their life going in there to hand wire video cams to a store bought generator?
Besides it NOT like they have a Home Depot in every area like we do here in the USA.

Unbelievable!

[hankthecrank]

24. no but you think its okay to put people to look into the building right

if they would have had cameras in the building maybe they would have noticed that water was going down

water added no fire

better to let building top blow off right

or risk people looking

hows you like that answer

besides military units have small generators you get one of those

Japan police I'm sure have robots for bombs you could also use those no people risk

The time for the cameras was before the water was gone

[Jersey Devil]

21. NHK reports "crack" measures 8 meters

I really hope that meant length rather than width but they did not say

[hankthecrank]

25. k & r n/t