8.8 Magnitude Earthquake hits Japan, Tsunami warnings have been issued

[peterpan1980]

News Headlines
Nuke engineer: Fuel rod fire at Fukushima reactor “would be like Chernobyl on steroids”

Although Tokyo Electric said it also continued to deal with cooling system failures and high pressures at half a dozen of its 10 reactors in the two Fukushima complexes, fears mounted about the threat posed by the pools of water where years of spent fuel rods are stored.

At the 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, where an explosion Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor, the spent fuel pool, in accordance with General Electric’s design, is placed above the reactor. Tokyo Electric said it was trying to figure out how to maintain water levels in the pools, indicating that the normal safety systems there had failed, too. Failure to keep adequate water levels in a pool would lead to a catastrophic fire, said nuclear experts, some of whom think that unit 1’s pool may now be outside.

“That would be like Chernobyl on steroids,” said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1.

People familiar with the plant said there are seven spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi, many of them densely packed.

Gundersen said the unit 1 pool could have as much as 20 years of spent fuel rods, which are still radioactive.


We’d be lucky if we only had to worry about the spent fuel rods from a single holding pool. We’re not that lucky. The Fukushima Daiichi plant has seven pools for spent fuel rods. Six of these are (or were) located at the top of six reactor buildings. One “common pool” is at ground level in a separate building. Each “reactor top” pool holds 3450 fuel rod assemblies. The common pool holds 6291 fuel rod assemblies. [The common pool has windows on one wall which were almost certainly destroyed by the tsunami.] Each assembly holds sixty-three fuel rods. This means the Fukushima Daiichi plant may contain over 600,000 spent fuel rods.


Nuke engineer: Fuel rod fire at Fukushima reactor "would be like Chernobyl on steroids" | MyFDL

[ceprince]

oh no...kalukat na ko ticket..amo flight this March 25. I hope they can fix the nuclear problem na...Go Japan...

[peterpan1980]

Bai, basaha usa ni nga link..

Japan earthquake and tsunami: Meltdown as 3rd reactor blast hits nuclear plant | Mail Online

Last updated at 7:10 PM on 15th March 2011

[nissanpatrol]

oh no...kalukat na ko ticket..amo flight this March 25. I hope they can fix the nuclear problem na...Go Japan...

padayon gyud ka bro maski ingon ani ang sitwasyon? mupauli na man gani ang tua didto. unless south japan tingali imo assignment. tokyo and up north is.. delikado man sa radiation.

[nissanpatrol]

daghan na sd mga OFW nga nanguli from japan. nag-abot2x na...

uli tungod sa disaster ni bro? basin nagbakasyon ra.

[gpcortes07]

oh no...kalukat na ko ticket..amo flight this March 25. I hope they can fix the nuclear problem na...Go Japan...

asa ka nga airport mag gikan, Bro? Ikaw nagpili ana nga date or mao ra gud na date na available for now? Pila sad, murag mahal man kaayo gi-presyo sa PAL sa ila online booking 86,000 yen man ang adult one-way for Narita-Cebu.

[gpcortes07]

around 12:55 PM Japan Time another earthquake M6.0 plus epicenter in Chiba.

[AntitaniC]

another explosion napud sa nuclear plant....

I'm really glad our nuclear plant was not approved...

[peterpan1980]

These 50 workers may be Japan's last chance
updated 2 hours 17 minutes ago 2011-03-16T02:05:11

A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday — and perhaps Japan’s last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe.

They crawl through labyrinths of equipment in utter darkness pierced only by their flashlights, listening for periodic explosions as hydrogen gas escaping from crippled reactors ignites on contact with air.

They breathe through uncomfortable respirators or carry heavy oxygen tanks on their backs. They wear white, full-body jumpsuits with snug-fitting hoods that provide scant protection from the invisible radiation sleeting through their bodies.




50 workers bravely stay at troubled Japan reactors

These 50 workers may be Japan's last chance
NYT: 50 workers bravely stay at troubled Japan reactors - World news - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com

[rodsky]

.

I really glad our nuclear plant was not approved...

A sigh of relief for the wrong reasons.

-RODION