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Not playing it down, but we're looking more at the "Three Miles Island" category.
Probably not even that. TMI was a result of a LOCA (loss of cooling accident) exacerbated by incompetence and a lack of training. The Japanese are clearly technically competent enough to handle the situation.
However there is something more complicated going on here. At first it sounded like a loss of all A/C power which prevented the emergency cooling systems from operating. However, the latest reports, if accurate, suggest some type of malfunctions with the EDG's (emergency diesel generators):
Quote:
TEPCO said the boiling water reactors shut down at about 2:46 p.m. local time following the earthquake due to the loss of offsite power and the malfunction of one of two off-site power systems. That triggered emergency diesel generators to startup and provide backup power for plant systems.
About an hour after the plant shut down, however, the emergency diesel generators stopped, leaving the units with no power for important cooling functions.
The EDG's are designed to be virtually bulletproof and should not stop, unless something is drastically wrong.
Probably not even that. TMI was a result of a LOCA (loss of cooling accident) exacerbated by incompetence and a lack of training. The Japanese are clearly technically competent enough to handle the situation.
However there is something more complicated going on here. At first it sounded like a loss of all A/C power which prevented the emergency cooling systems from operating. However, the latest reports, if accurate, suggest some type of malfunctions with the EDG's (emergency diesel generators):
Is it true that exposure to radioactive material might lead to offspring with congenital defects?
Yikes. I've always been a huge proponent for more nuclear power in the US. I'm pretty stalwart in my beliefs, but I'm potentially rethinking that now :-/
You shouldn't be. This is a catastrophe of major proportions and the Nuke plants are still intact. Yes, there are problems, but given the circumstances, what can you expect?
Is there like a suit we can wear in the event of a complete meltdown? Does boiling water get rid of nuclear deposits?
The primary concern would be airborne nuclides, so a gas mask would be the appropriate protection. However, from what we've heard so far they are no where even near that stage at this point.
There is background cosmic radiation, and radiation emanating from the earth. And radiation exposure from medical studies is on average 2x more than the natural radiation. It is conceivable that the amount of radioactive vapors may get dispersed and mean nothing. Hope they are able to contain it.
That's reasonable.
Besides, when I was a kid, they were doing nuclear weapons testing every other week.
Japanese nuclear authorities said that there was a high possibility that nuclear fuel rods at a reactor at Tokyo Electric Power's Daiichi plant may be melting or have melted, Jiji news agency reported.
Probably not even that. TMI was a result of a LOCA (loss of cooling accident) exacerbated by incompetence and a lack of training. The Japanese are clearly technically competent enough to handle the situation.
However there is something more complicated going on here. At first it sounded like a loss of all A/C power which prevented the emergency cooling systems from operating. However, the latest reports, if accurate, suggest some type of malfunctions with the EDG's (emergency diesel generators):
The EDG's are designed to be virtually bulletproof and should not stop, unless something is drastically wrong.
At a scale of 8.9 nothing is really bulletproof and even the best diesel generator doesn't like getting beat up and thrown around like I'm sure everything over there was.
Decay heat. Even if the reaction is stopped, the fission products in the fuel elements will continue to emit radiation and that will generate heat. It drops off quickly, but it's not insignificant. (Looked it up. About 7% of the reactor's power at the moment of shutdown. That's actually more than I thought.)
If there's no coolant circulating, that's a lot of heat, and it has to go somewhere.
yes, Fission still takes place, but heat isn't generated at the level it is when the rods are up, allowing the neutrons to bounce and collide with each other. It si the neutrons colliding with each other that produces the most heat inside the reactor and when you stop that from happening, heat generation is minimal.
The purpose of the core, is the absorb the neutrons from the fissionable material, which means that the amount of heat being generated is minimal and more easily cooled.
Nuclear reactors are nothing more than huge water heaters.
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