Comments

1
So if I read this correctly at this point the worst potential impact right now is expected not from a reactor core "MELTING THE FUCK DOWN," but from excess spent fuel rods stored on site that required active cooling that no longer exists "MELTING THE FUCK DOWN."
2
Thank you Jonathan, you're the best.
3
Thank you for that analysis!
4
Reactor 4 is also where the plutonium is stored. Several foreign nationals are fleeing or have fled. The US State Dept hasn't recalled anyone, but Americans contaminated with radiation aren't allowed in the contiguous 48 states. My brother is still in Osaka and is not panicking yet but I have contacted our Foreign Affairs department.
5
Now, a favor to all of you: Does anyone own a Geiger counter that I could use / buy / borrow? Shockingly, all are sold out.
6
We've also learned that our ability to predict the magnitude of earthquakes is abysmally inadequate. I wonder how that bodes for our permanent nuclear waste repository.
7
@6: at this point, I advocate just depositing it all onto Arizona. Seems like a state that deserves it...
9
@8

After a quick look into your comment history. I declare thee a stalker.
10
Goldy and Golob are doing a remarkably good job with this series. Because my daughter lived in Tokyo (until we made her leave for Kyoto Monday) I have been following it closely. 4, if your bro wants to leave he'd better get on Expedia soon. When I got a ticket from Osaka to Seattle this afternoon (for Friday) the one-way fare was $3000, and one hour later the same flight was priced at $7000.

(Good old American free enterprise.....)
11
Given the magnitude of the initial H2 detonations I really have to wonder what kind of damage those pools (and the fuel rods in them) incurred. The initial blasts were no Hindenburg type of burn-off, they were high-velocity detonation shockwaves that must have generated enormous overpressure. The orderly spacing of the rods could have become a jumble, debris must have displaced water, and who-knows-how-much water must have simply been, well, blown out of the water. Hell, it could have blown fuel rods into the ocean. The video showed debris going 500 meters into the air. So I suspect there's much more to the solution than just pouring more water in to refill the pools. When they talk of using helicopters I presume they mean using cargo helos to dump in boron from fire buckets, a-la Chernobyl. Each Red Army chopper & crew there got one pass then had to be decontaminated.
12
@11 - that is actually a reasonable concern. I've toured several of the storage pools out at Hanford and depending on the age of the fuel rods/containment within the pool they can be fairly fragile. The high energy environment that the container metals are exposed to eventually makes them brittle and prone to fracture.
13
@5, this is what we used to use in the lab. They may sell direct. Took me awhile to remember the company name.

http://www.tech-associates.com/product-i…
14
Look at this image from NHK and tell me that those pools are intact...

http://media.komonews.com/images/110315_…
15
@11. Clearly. The outer containment buildings that blew out in #1 and #3 is several feet thick of solid concrete and steel.

It's probably safe to say that it is inaccurate to call this a nuclear "plant" anymore. It hasn't been that for quite some time.

It's kind of like calling the pile of rubble at ground zero a "skyscraper."
16
@14: EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL.

YOU ARE JUST LOOKING AT A DESIGN FEATURE.

THE BUILDING IS DESIGNED TO DO THAT.
17
@8, 9, not just a stalking problem, but clear proclivity for alliteration (cute nicknames!), as well as a troubling tendency to repeat key phrases, such as "insufferable windbag."
18
Also, OLD PEOPLE JOKES!! Hahaaa! >.
19
Thanks for more information than all the talking heads have provided in a week. One small correction...I believe the fresh fuel rods are just barely radioactive (definitely not true after they have been in the high neutron flux of the reactor core)

Please wait...

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