Nuclear expert:Fukushima is now well on its way to a full core-melt nuclear accident

[snagglepuss]

From Newsmax interview with Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonprofit think tank.


snip
The Japanese situation appears to be roughly analogous to the Three Mile Island incident in the United States, where authorities struggled for days to contain an improperly cooled reactor core but were able to avert a widespread release of nuclear material.

“We were in a situation as I recall then very similar to where we are now, where we were told by news media in 1979 that there was a core melt accident unfolding, we didn’t know how serious it would become, and what would happen,” Hibbs tells Newsmax.



snip

Hibbs spoke with Japanese government officials who told him the force of the tsunami was so severe that the water may have flooded the reactors, power generators, and cooling mechanisms, disabling the equipment. “Which means they have to resort to basically a military-type exercise, to rush in to the devastated site equipment that they can quickly hook up to the reactor to get power in there and start this emergency equipment, to get cooling water into that core and prevent that fuel from overheating.

“And if they can’t do that,” he told Newsmax, “then you’re going to have this meltdown.”

They have 24 hours or so to avoid a core meltdown, he says. But if one occurs, two scenarios could follow: The good outcome would mirror what happened at Three Mile Island, while the bad one could involve what he called a “Chernobyl scenario, where the damage to the reactor was such that the integrity of the structures were damaged.



Read more at
http://www.theburningplatform.com/?tag=nuclear-meltdown

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. But, but I have been told that this is nothing

and sunburns are more dangerous.

<------ former member of the yellow suit club... trained for shit like this... as a side thing.

And our worries were just dentist x-ray machine cores abandoned... don't ask.

[snagglepuss]

2. I've been trying to find credible experts and Hibbs according to PBS Frontline

is "widely regarded as one of the most knowledgable journalists covering nuclear issues worldwide." Unlike pro-nukers here on DU, his analysis made earlier today seems to be on the mark.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Our pro will shut up SOON

I was HOPPPING that with earlier releases, faustian choices, they'd be able to avoid getting to that point.

[roguevalley]

9. I feel for the people who will die prematurely putting this to rights

remember them.

[dflprincess]

4. Is this the China Syndrome?

I just happened to catch the movie last week and that made me think how dumb it is that there's talk of lifting Minnesota's moratorium on nuke plants.

This disaster pretty much proves it would be stupid to lift it (though I suppose it will be argued that we're not prone to earthquakes here).

[Fledermaus]

7. The China Syndrome would not be good.

and it won't have far to go to reach the water table.

[doc03]

5. I quit reading at "From Newsmax", I'm sure it is Obama's

fault.

[snagglepuss]

6. That's a kneejerk rx. Hibbs knows what he is talking and the Carnegie Foundation

is a left wing think tank. Very credible source.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Newsmax? Really?

[kristopher]

10. I was watching NHK satellite coverage and they are describing a partial meltdown

NHK is the Japanese public TV station and they said they had recovered certain elements in samples that told them temps had hit 2700C-2800C and that 1.7M of the fuel rods were exposed. They described damage to the rods as cracking or flaking. The situation is not in control and there is considerable anxiety about whether there is a way to reduce the temp. Speaker was Prof. of Physics from Univ of Tokyo.

There was more but that's all I'm fairly confident of.

[snagglepuss]

11. What a nightmare to have this plus the quake - no power to millions

no way of getting on line for information.

[sabbat hunter]

12. unless

he is on site inspecting the situation, then anything any experts say is pure conjecture and guessing.

[FBaggins]

13. Why is a reporter who covered nuclear incidents a "nuclear expert"?

Oh right...because he says what we want him to say.

I keep forgetting how... um... flexible... the definition of words can get when needed.