Hydrogen explosion at reactor #4

[suffragette]

http://twitter.com/W7VOA


Kyodo: Hydrogen explosion occurs at Fukushima No. 4 reactor.

Twitter is from Voice of America (VOA) Bureau Chief/Correspondent, based in Seoul, mainly covering NE Asia (Korean peninsula & Japan)

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/japan_quake/Now it looks like fire is out
BREAKING NEWS: Fire at No.4 reactor apparently put out: Tokyo Electric (12:04)
BREAKING NEWS: Hydrogen explosion occurs at Fukushima No. 4 reactor (11:53)

[Poll_Blind]

1. WTF?

:wtf:

PB

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Translation the reactor core, though spent, was VERY HOT

[suffragette]

6. I know, right?

Would the force of the blast somehow extinguish the fire?

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. The explosion could be the reason for the fire to go off

my god... if that is the reason... NOT GOOD

[flamingdem]

3. This is everything bad

Those on site must have just received a massive dose

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. They are already dead,

lord

[suffragette]

14. And emergency crews there and at nearby hospitals must

already be stretched beyond their limit.

Very bad.

[originalpckelly]

16. They are surely dead, but it may save many many more lives.

Right now we're in the good of the many outweighing the good of the one or the few.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. NHK is talking of damage to supression pool

(We just entered the chernobyl scenario)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. Do you know if this was at the #2 reactor?

I read where officials said it may have been damaged by the blast there earlier. Or, is this in the #4 reactor?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. Yes, it's confirmed it was a hydrogen explosion

If it's out that's wonderful. I'm sure in my gut this is what caused the current levels of radiation in the environment there.

[suffragette]

9. If it's out, that will be good

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Yeah, if it's out it's nothing but good news.

I don't suppose they'd lie about it, it's too easy to find out if the radiation levels spike again. Let's just hope it's out and they can focus on cooling.

[Tsiyu]

11. damn

damn

: 0309: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says: "Now we are talking about levels that can impact human health. I would like all of you to embrace this information calmly. These are readings taken near the area where we believe that the release of radioactive substances is occurring. The further away you get from the power plant or reactor the value should go down".0306: Winds over the stricken nuclear plant are blowing slowly towards the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, Reuters reports.0303: Radiation is 400 times the annual legal limit near Fukushima's reactor 3, the Kyodo news agency reports.


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

[suffragette]

12. Yes, it's one after another

Just terrible.

ETA: And we already saw from the Guardian article how far radiation had already drifted from the 1st explosion.

[originalpckelly]

15. I bet the fire was starved of oxygen by the explosion.

Just a guess.

Who knew a hydrogen explosion could be a good thing.

[happyslug]

17. Four out of Six reactors now damaged do to fire and explosions?

Fukushima has sex operational Nuclear Reactors (Two more are to start construction in 2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_Nuclear_Power_Plant

Reactors, 1,2,3, and now 4 are out, leaving only 5 and 6.

[suffragette]

18. It's stunning

I hope 5 and 6 stay calm.

[DearAbby]

19. My GOD

[suffragette]

20. ***CORRECTION***

From reports I'm seeing now, this looks like timeline confusion.
I am now seeing:
The fire at the No. 4 reactor was related to the other explosions, Edano said.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/03/14/bloomberg1376-LI254F0D9L3501-3121CGFH1DEDQJ8LCA010FE9TJ.DTL#ixzz1GdgFgTN0


OR

Early today a blast hit the number-two reactor there. And Mr Edano later said there was also an explosion which started a fire at the number-four reactor.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/fire-burning-at-japan-nuclear-reactor/story-fn3dxity-1226021782079


Either way, that would mean there was not an explosion AFTER the fire, but that either there was an explosion before the fire in #4 OR the explosion in #2 was a factor in starting the fire.

That also means no explosion while fighting the fires (looking for a :whew: icon now).