Earthquake in Japan....9.0...ouch!

I'm kind of interested to know what the long term aim is with regard to cooling these reactors, does there become a point in which they are safe to be removed? Or are the Tokyo power people just fighting a losing battle until the inevitable happens?

They can't keep pumping seawater in there forever surely so what are they aiming to achieve? Because at the minute from an outside point of view things just seem to be day by day slowly heading downhill.

I'll admit I know very little about nuclear power or how long these rods take to cool so this might be a daft question!
 
Psycho Ned said:
They can't keep pumping seawater in there forever surely so what are they aiming to achieve? Because at the minute from an outside point of view things just seem to be day by day slowly heading downhill.
stion!
Click to expand...

I think the more time that passes the less decay there is so the less heat is generated, however I don't know how long this decay takes. - if someone can fill in that missing information...
 
PhillyDee said:
Apart from slicing ice from the poles, and flying massive snowballs, everything in their power is currently being done!
Click to expand...

I thought I read somewhere that during the Chernobyl meltdown, did they not use liquid nitrogen to try and help cool the reactor, though not sure how accurate that is as LN2 boils as soon as it come into contact with warmer objects:confused:
 
teejay73 said:
What else can be done to cool these things?
Click to expand...

When this first kicked off I remember the news saying that the US was flying in coolant for the reactor.
I thought that sounded a bit odd at the time because we were being told there wasn't a problem with the reactor, and anyway how on earth do you 'fly in coolant'???

I've not heard anything since on that, does anyone else remember coolant being mentioned?
 
LN2 boiling just means it's oxidising, doesn't mean it's suddenly turned super hot.

They did drop a substance (can't remember which) from helicopter to cover the main explosion.
 
LeJosh said:
LN2 boiling just means it's oxidising, doesn't mean it's suddenly turned super hot.

They did drop a substance (can't remember which) from helicopter to cover the main explosion.
Click to expand...

neutron absorbing material - boron possibly to try and reduce the reaction...

I dont think the jap reactors are currently reacting though so its not a neutron issue though if they melt I would assume they would start reacting again,,,
 
LeJosh said:
LN2 boiling just means it's oxidising, doesn't mean it's suddenly turned super hot.

They did drop a substance (can't remember which) from helicopter to cover the main explosion.
Click to expand...

So in Theory could it work?

The substance they dropped was sand, lead and another substance though can not think of what it was now!
 
edscdk said:
neutron absorbing material - boron possibly to try and reduce the reaction...

I dont think the jap reactors are currently reacting though so its not a neutron issue though if they melt I would assume they would start reacting again,,,
Click to expand...

Yep that was it, it was boron.
 
does anyone know if the reactor starts runnign / reacting again if they actually do melt (my thinking being you end up with a blob of fuel and no (or little) neutron absorbing control rods.
 
teejay73 said:
So in Theory could it work?

The substance they dropped was sand, lead and another substance though can not think of what it was now!
Click to expand...

In theory yes I imagine it could do good but I'm not sure how much it costs especially since this has messed with their economy and how much they would actually need to produce a positive effect. LN2 won't last very long I imagine as it will just turn to vapour due to the oxidising process. (as far as I'm aware)
 
edscdk said:
neutron absorbing material - boron possibly to try and reduce the reaction...

I dont think the jap reactors are currently reacting though so its not a neutron issue though if they melt I would assume they would start reacting again,,,
Click to expand...

It's a over heating issue right now as far as I'm aware. They did have an explosion at Fukushima though, not exactly sure of the exact scale of it though.
 
Scubascorpion said:
Bit of raw uncut footage of the Tsunami rolling in.
I've seen parts of this trotted out by all the BBC and sky news reports but not the whole thing. :eek:
The sound of the buildings taking the strain and then just buckling under.. Immense.
Click to expand...

WOW
That's crazy, can't imagine how bad that would be
 
LeJosh said:
In theory yes I imagine it could do good but I'm not sure how much it costs especially since this has messed with their economy and how much they would actually need to produce a positive effect. LN2 won't last very long I imagine as it will just turn to vapour due to the oxidising process. (as far as I'm aware)
Click to expand...

It almost seems inevitable now then? TEPCO seems to be running out of ideas and it has just been reported that two of the workers in the plant have gone missing, last seen working in the turbines! Apparantly, the workers have been exposed to gamma radiation so they are really on a Kamikaze mission, they are the true heroes here!

It does seem, that with each passing hour the job to get these reactors/waste pools cooled is getting more and more harder.:(
 
These workers that have stayed to fight to the last minute are what Human kind has aspired to be at our best. I cant express how I feel about what they are doing knowing that it could be the last hours of their lifes.
 
physichull said:
You might want to check your facts there. The concrete containment is very thick though, so I doubt very much if there is the faintest possibility that this can occur.
Click to expand...

They sent three men, of whom two died to their deaths to empty the water below, then filled it with concrete, with lots of other people risking their lives to get close enough to pump out the heavily radioactive water. More people to take concrete and pump it in, though they initially decided to try and freeze the soil till the materials had cooled sufficiently as after they removed the water they were still worried it would burn through another layer of concrete and hit the water table, again generating a steam explosion into the atmosphere.

Concrete is thick but molten fuel rods, graphite in that situation and other stuff is hot enough to cut through it. It may/may not have made it, the risk was real.
 
Last edited:
aidan444 said:
Unconfirmed reports there's a fire at another reactor at a different nuclear plant apparently! :(
Click to expand...

Yup, just heard this from AFP

Have to give credit to the Japanese for 'no reported looting' considering how desparate all those hit hard must be in.
Still seeing some grusome and unbelievable pics such as that ship perched on top of a house!

Here

:eek:
 
aidan444 said:
Unconfirmed reports there's a fire at another reactor at a different nuclear plant apparently! :(
Click to expand...

I've seen reports saying Reactor 4 is back on fire, and also that they are indeed trying to drop water into the spent fuel pool by dropping it in from above, which I'm assuming means from choppers as they were discussing earlier.

The thing I worried about most from the start was, as more problems prop up, you've got less people dealing with each core, more danger, and frankly, tiredness, lack of equipment, lack of pumps. IT must be getting exponentially harder to keep things under control as every other reactor has gotten involved.

Those guys staying there as others have said, are heroes, they could have turned tail and run, or asked to leave and found hopefully other people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom