Japan releasing radioactive vapors from nuclear plant

[LordBalfor]

From bad to worse.
It's now so bad that they've evacuated ALL the workers. It's so radioactive at the site that they can't even get close enough to attempt even minimal efforts to deal with the problem.

Workers evacuate stricken nuclear plant - World news - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com

Ken

[Roaddog]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

From bad to worse.
It's now so bad that they've evacuated ALL the workers. It's so radioactive at the site that they can't even get close enough to attempt even minimal efforts to deal with the problem.

Workers evacuate stricken nuclear plant - World news - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com

Ken

This is bad news indeed

[henrjam]

Originally Posted by Johnny C

Correct - the plant is already shutdown. The decay heat is now the concern and must be removed. There are a number of redundant systems that can do this, and it is not clear which option they are currently using.

The odds of this becoming a serious safety threat is most likely low.

How would you rephrase this.

[newonecoming2]

Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA

Depends. A drop in temperature would drop the pressure as well. The decay processes are tapering off - we know this, it's a law of nature - so there's steadily less heat being added to the equation. A drop in pressure may as well mean that the cooling efforts are working.

An explosion followed by a drop in pressure tends to mean not a good thing. My bad on not being clear in my wording.