Reuters Analysis: How bad is the nuclear accident in Japan?

[1776Forever]

Source: Reuters

By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK | Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:47pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Japanese nuclear safety agency rated the damage at a nuclear power plant at Fukushima at a four on a scale of one to seven, which is not quite as bad as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979, which registered a five. But what does that mean?

The International Atomic Energy Agency -- an inter-governmental organization for scientific co-operation in the nuclear field -- said it uses the scale to communicate to the public in a consistent way the safety significance of nuclear and radiological events.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, or INES, ranges from one to seven with the most serious being a seven referred to as a "major accident", while a one is an "anomaly". The scale is designed so the severity of an event is about ten times greater for each increase in level.

(more at link)

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-japan-quake-nuclear-us-idUSTRE72B2UN20110312

[slay]

1. "not quite as bad as the Three Mile Island"

YET.

wow. this is a real wtf moment. :scared:

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. If the containment vesel holds

it will not be as bad as TMI. If it does not... it could easily surpass it.

This is where we are.

[Rex]

3. How many barriers do they have in place to stop radiation from

leaking out?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. It is the engineering

those things are tested for a LOT of stresses... but it is the combo that concerns me, from the quake itself, aftershocks and heat.

But essentially the reactor itself is inside a vessel



What blew was the external wall, but the internal is intact from what I can tell. This is a generic diagram for a civilian reactor by the way.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "yet" indeed. No way this is over.

It ain't over till it's over.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. It is already cooling down with the sea water

so hope that works and keeps working... we might be able to step away from this one... the reactor is cooked as far as producing power either way though.

[Overseas]

5. Too early to tell. But I hope they are right.

The situation is still evolving.

[jannyk]

8. IAEA say they believe core is contained and rad levels are down

#
2039: Ian Hore-Lacy of the World Nuclear Association told the BBC he believes the situation at the nuclear power plant - where sea water is being used to cool the reactor core - is under control: "The point is that the heat, decay heat from the fuel drops off very rapidly. So after an hour, an hour following the shut down, it's down to about 2 or 3% I think. And after 24 hours it's down to half a per cent. So the amount of heat you've got to cope with right now is a small fraction of what there was initially."

#
2023: Reuters: The IAEA says the operator of the plant has confirmed that the primary containment vessel is intact following this morning's blast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

A nuke expert on BBCTV just added that the next critical juncture will be in 10-15 hours, but that he doesn't expect a worsening in the situation.

[denem]

9. IAEA says the operator of the plant has confirmed ...

Ian Hore-Lacy of the World Nuclear Association ... believes

They have no one on site.! OK?

[Demeter]

10. Not Bad Enough to Stop the Madness Once and For All

For that, we would need to either wipe out all human life on the planet, or just traumatize all the Stupids into swearing off "quick and dirty fixes" to insatiable energy wasting.

Of course, it's not over yet, either.

[1776Forever]

11. Update from Reuters: Rating was before the problems with reactor 3.

http://live.reuters.com/Event/Japan_earthquake2

Japan's nuclear agency has rated the incident a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Three Mile Island was rated 5, and Chernobyl was a 7. However, this rating was before the problems with reactor 3.

[CJvR]

12. So...

...blowing half the plant into orbit is less of a screwup than TMI...? Go swim in Lake Karachay.

[1776Forever]

13. I am just the messenger. n/t

[CJvR]

14. Not aimed at you. Unless you rated it... n/t