U.S. Sees New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant

[Turborama]

Source: NYT

By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: April 5, 2011

United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Among the new threats that were cited in the assessment, dated March 26, are the mounting stresses placed on the containment structures as they fill with radioactive cooling water, making them more vulnerable to rupture in one of the aftershocks rattling the site after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. The document also cites the possibility of explosions inside the containment structures due to the release of hydrogen and oxygen from seawater pumped into the reactors, and offers new details on how semimolten fuel rods and salt buildup are impeding the flow of fresh water meant to cool the nuclear cores.

In recent days, workers have grappled with several side effects of the emergency measures taken to keep nuclear fuel at the plant from overheating, including leaks of radioactive water at the site and radiation burns to workers who step into the water. The assessment, as well as interviews with officials familiar with it, points to a new panoply of complex challenges that water creates for the safety of workers and the recovery and long-term stability of the reactors.

While the assessment does not speculate on the likelihood of new explosions or damage from an aftershock, either could lead to a breach of the containment structures in one or more of the crippled reactors, the last barriers that prevent a much more serious release of radiation from the nuclear core. If the fuel continues to heat and melt because of ineffective cooling, some nuclear experts say, that could also leave a radioactive mass that could stay molten for an extended period.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/asia/06nuclear.html?hp

---

I'm starting to wonder how long before I have to evacuate Indonesia?

The next question is, where to? :shrug:

[BeFree]

1. Molten

A hot mass that can't be approached or handled for a long long time because it is so hot and because of the deadly radiation. What a freakin mess.

It also means millions of gallons of polluted water to keep it stabilized. Maybe trillions of gallons.

Well, at least it doesn't look like it is gonna blow up and spread too far.
Gotta hand it to the workers, they seem to have averted a far worse disaster.

[buddysmellgood]

2. If it gets so hot that it can't be approached, the fuel stored in number 4 could burn up. That

would spread radiation far and wide.

[BeFree]

3. Yeah

Wishful thinking on my part. Can ya blame me for trying?

[buddysmellgood]

11. No, I can't.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Isn't going to blow up? Here's the latest from Japan--injection of nitrogen to prevent explosion.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4802328

They're doing it tonight. They fear explosion in Fukushima no. 1.

[BeFree]

6. Seems like, anyway... maybe 'seemed'?

I am so down, that the fact it hasn't yet exploded is a reason for hope.

Anyway, it was seconds after I posted that that I thought... wait just a minute. Too late.

[caseymoz]

8. It won't blow up like a nuclear bomb, but it will blow up like a dirty bomb.

A very dirty bomb. If they try to encase it while it's molten, it will simply crack the concrete.

What a mess. Best thing to do would be to try to separate the fuel then encase it. That's not doable, though.

Isn't it something? Last year at this time it was Deepwater Horizon, this year it's Fujushima. Is this going to be how our lives are going to go from here on out?

[BeFree]

9. Trillions of gallons of water

It is the only thing standing in front of a totally ruined Gulf
and it will be the only way to save Japan. Sacrifice more water.

I hate these choices, and yes, I expect we will be faced with many more before I die.
I feel bad, awful bad for the wee ones.

[caseymoz]

12. Actually, water probably isn't the best solution.

Water's too good a solvent, hence it leads to much more nuclear waste and dangerous radioactive puddles, along with releases into the ocean.

They should try to keep the buildings flooded with nitrogen and then try to cool with liquid sodium. Sodium is exothermically reactive with oxygen, but that likely won't be a problem if the building is filled with nitrogen first.

If that doesn't work, I'd try a chilled noble gas like helium or argon. Of course, those things are as expensive as hell, and you probably won't be able to get helium for medical uses as a result for a long while.

They have to think outside the box, now.

[Ghost Dog]

16. The TV will tell the wee ones to think it's 'normal',

that so many of their cohort contract so many cancers, suffer, and die too young.

Just like now, already, and since the 1950s/60s in fact.

[Ghost Dog]

15. Hmmm. Concrete. "Heat-Resistant Materials":

"Zirconia has a very high melting point, about 2700C. This is the primary reason why it is used as a refractory.

"However, after some preliminary searches, I found another common ceramic material with a melting point higher than that of zirconia - magnesia (MgO), with a melting temperature of around 2800C. Why isn't there extensive research being done on magnesia for use in refractory ceramics?"

- http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=111840

Maybe here's an opportunity for some well-funded, focused research in this area?

[caseymoz]

18. I don't know. Why don't they just think of a whole new reactor design.

This one sucks.

[AndyTiedye]

10. and Then There is Reactor 5 and 6, and the HUGE Common Spent Fuel Pool

All of it requires cooling, which becomes increasingly problematical as the site becomes more radioactive.

[caseymoz]

13. Actually, I hope they're had enough time to stabilize those.

The reactors have been cooled. If the mechanics those coolant systems aren't damaged, there should be no further problem. Of course, the crew has been very busy up until now with other things.

[Demeter]

5. World-Class FUBAR

[Warren Stupidity]

7. It is at least a cluster fuck

It might be a total goat fuck

[Poll_Blind]

14. At least a TGF. And a month from now, there will be a lucky donkey in Tijuana for all of us.

PB

[Ghost Dog]

17. Little evidence to the contrary. Aaargh.

[CoffeeCat]

19. US Sees Array of Threats at Japan's Nuclear Plant

Source: New York Times

United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

(snip)

The document, which was obtained by The New York Times, provides a more detailed technical assessment than Japanese officials have provided of the conundrum facing the Japanese as they struggle to prevent more fuel from melting at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. But it appears to rely largely on data shared with American experts by the Japanese.

Among other problems, the document raises new questions about whether pouring water on nuclear fuel in the absence of functioning cooling systems can be sustained indefinitely. Experts have said the Japanese need to continue to keep the fuel cool for many months until the plant can be stabilized, but there is growing awareness that the risks of pumping water on the fuel present a whole new category of challenges that the nuclear industry is only beginning to comprehend.

(snip)

David A. Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who worked on the kinds of General Electric reactors used in Japan and now directs the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that the welter of problems revealed in the document at three separate reactors made a successful outcome even more uncertain.

“I thought they were, not out of the woods, but at least at the edge of the woods,” said Mr. Lochbaum, who was not involved in preparing the document. “This paints a very different picture, and suggests that things are a lot worse. They could still have more damage in a big way if some of these things don’t work out for them.”

more at link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/asia/06nuclear.html?hp




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/asia/06nuclear.html?hp

---

This is such an important article, which does a better job of giving us accurate information. This
article is also important, because the information used to write this article is from sources that
were leaked--not readily handed over to help the American public understand. We are dealing with
corporations, officials and governments that are stonewalling the truth.

Please, please read the comments at the end of the article. I glean so much information from these comments. People post websites and other sources of information that can help people better understand what is happening and what this means for invidivuals and their families.

[PearliePoo2]

20. Here's a website for you

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7762
The Oil Drum.
It's a website for people in the energy industry. It can be VERY technical and some of what I read is WAY beyond my education in terms of physics and engineering.
Right now there's an open thread :Fukushima Open Thread Mon 4/4 and Fukushima Open Thread Wed 4/6
Some of the comments you read as these engineers "brainstorm" will make you go GULP! :wow:

[CoffeeCat]

22. Thank you for the link

I'll take a look at it.

I'm sure it will be very interesting reading. It helps that uber experts
hang out there.

We need solid, truthful expert information.

Thanks :)

[CoffeeCat]

21. From the comment section--

"Chernobyl was the ultimate bad ending for a couple hundred pounds of uranium fuel... meanwhile what is happening at an old plant that should have been closed in February just before the tsunami... is four cores with thousands of pounds of uranium, some plutonium, and spent fuel rods amounting to hundreds of tons in jeopardy, especially in reactor four where the core is in there with them and the pool has lost its water from 45 feet of coverage down to around 5 feet of coverage.

Anyone who thinks they have that plant "under control" is delusional."

--In my humble opinion--this is key to this disaster. It has the potential to be a nuclear
catastrophe that will dwarf Chernobyl. The Japanese plant has thousands more pounds of uranium
and plutonium--than Chernobyl had. It doesn't look good.

It's entirely possible that this thing goes completely out of control and meltdown occurs in one
or more reactors.

We, the public, need to know what is happening so we can protect and prepare our families.

[al bupp]

23. This thread, I think, deserves a kick /nt

[Karenina]

24. +1