EMERGENCY! report from TWITTER - Nuclear power plant - attempts to save plant STOPPED

I agree. If the jet stream did blow it to the east coast I bet TPTB would down play it and say it magically stoped in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Just my 2cents..

Latest Feed from the BBC...on the explosion and current activities..


www.bbc.co.uk...

Hmm...

PDUK

Radioactive emergency team dispatched

The health ministry has sent an emergency medical team to the Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan in case people should be exposed to radiation.

The team left the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba City, near Tokyo, on a Self-Defense Force helicopter at 8:10 AM on Saturday.

The group consists of doctors, nurses, and experts on radiation measurement.

The team is now getting ready at a nuclear disaster response center, located about 5 kilometers from the power plant.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 13:09 +0900 (JST)

NHK World

Originally posted by ANNED
Forget Chernobyl. think Three Mile Island.
www.world-nuclear.org...
www.world-nuclear.org...

The reactors in japan are of a completely different type.
...
The act of burning through the reactor vessel floor and the containment building floor will dilute the fuel to a non critical mass and stop the reaction.

Even after this was posted people keep freaking out. Guys listen, this isn't Chernobyl. This facility was engineered far better & the containment apparatus in place should keep the worst from happening. A meltdown should be contained or at least have it's effects severely dissipated.

It's bad but not globally catastrophic.

One more reason to get off the nuclear weapons train and start using Thorium reactors for our civil needs, at the very least around the ring of fire or other earthquake hot spots, if Iran had gone the Thorium route there would be no hassle there either.

This is a disaster. The fail safes in this plant should hold up though... I hope. Radiation fallout should be minimal and no where near Chernobyl levels... again I hope.

S has officially HTF in Japan.

WTH did I wake up to this morning?

OK guys this is what we should all have..
A supply of sealed water and food etc for minimum 3 months in case you need to hole up for whatever reason.
Plus tape for windows.
Potassium iodide if you can get it.

Prayers for the nation of Japan. This situation would be sad in any nation, but the thought Japan may have to deal with large-scale radiation contamination for the second time in its nation's history is just heartbreaking.

watch here for live updates from Japan in English (sry if this has already been posted)

yokosonews.com...

They just reported that radiation levels are going down

Originally posted by Thepreye
One more reason to get off the nuclear weapons train and start using Thorium reactors for our civil needs, at the very least around the ring of fire or other earthquake hot spots, if Iran had gone the Thorium route there would be no hassle there either.

YES! i've been saying that for years..
Another thought: why don't they build these reactors on a platform on sea? To cool the fuel rods [in an emergency] they just move the reactor with the rods below sea level ? Just submerge the whole shizzle..

Yet another silly dramatic, over the top thread by the american members of ats.

Originally posted by 12voltz
Humans are not smart enough to be messing around with nuclear power,if we were this scenario would not be taking place.Earthquake or no earthquake .You cant have your yellowcake and eat it too

edit on 12-3-2011 by 12voltz because: of the inevitable consequences

You can have cake, just don't eat too much

And you know coal power plants in the USA, it's estimated, kill more than 13,000 people and cost us about $100 billion in healthcare costs (heart attacks, lung cancer, etc) EVERY YEAR. This is a conservative estimate, of course. Studies 10 years ago were substantially worse because in the past 10 years we have installed over a hundred scrubbers which clean away some of hte fine particles that were previously emitted. Nonetheless, a lot of people suffer from health problems due to particles released from the burning of coal every year in the US.

If you added up total number of losses due to coal and total number of losses due to nuclear I don't think the results would be even in the same ballpark. Not comparable. Coal is worse.

And keep in mind that this nuclear power plant having the problems is 40 years old. Later generation designs do not suffer from the same dangers. In fact, they're virtually 100% safe. The issue of waste is still a concern, though. Until we move to fast-breeders or something else.

reply to post by backdoorbandit


dramatic?
This is headline news all over the world, with countries like Germany, UK and US reporting false information due to a mistranslation of the japanese offical statements.

Still, if they can't lower the threat and a melddown does occur then it IS dramatic!


according to this link, earth axis have shifted by the earthquake and the japanese coastline shifted as well
ibnlive.in.com...

Originally posted by jonnywhite

Originally posted by 12voltz
Humans are not smart enough to be messing around with nuclear power,if we were this scenario would not be taking place.Earthquake or no earthquake .You cant have your yellowcake and eat it too

edit on 12-3-2011 by 12voltz because: of the inevitable consequences

You can have cake, just don't eat too much

And you know coal power plants in the USA, it's estimated, kill more than 13,000 people and cost us about $100 billion in healthcare costs (heart attacks, lung cancer, etc) EVERY YEAR. This is a conservative estimate, of course. Studies 10 years ago were substantially worse because in the past 10 years we have installed over a hundred scrubbers which clean away some of hte fine particles that were previously emitted. Nonetheless, a lot of people suffer from health problems due to particles released from the burning of coal every year in the US.

If you added up total number of losses due to coal and total number of losses due to nuclear I don't think the results would be even in the same ballpark. Not comparable. Coal is worse.

And keep in mind that this nuclear power plant having the problems is 40 years old. Later generation designs do not suffer from the same dangers. In fact, they're virtually 100% safe. The issue of waste is still a concern, though. Until we move to fast-breeders or something else.

edit on 12-3-2011 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

I think the more pressing issue is not what a "newer reactor" might be able to do, but that the majority of reactors, at least in the US, are NOT "newer". The majority of the reactors in the US are past their intended service life and for a significant portion of the time they have been in service have been operating at a level beyond their intended operating point. There have been multiple surveys of the operating nuclear plants in the US over the past decade (maybe longer) and a very high percentage of those plants have shown that structural cracks do exist with the general opinion being that the higher operating levels (beyond their designed output) may be causing these cracks.

To me the debate is not whether nuclear power is more or less safe than another fuel source. I think we could present arguments on both sides til the cows come home (and I believe that debate has been raging long enough the cows should have already gotten here), but the issue is more toward the current STATUS of where we are with nuclear power plants in the US. I think the status, with our aging inventory of plants, is some where around the level of "poking a big bear with a short stick".

reply to post by Valhall


This message is being continuously broadcasted in central JP: "To avoid unnecessary radioactive radiation : Remain indoors. Don´t open the doors/windows. Don´t use the air-conditioning. Cover your nose and mouth with a wet handkerchief, a towel or a mask".

1320: Noriyuki Shikata, from Japanese PM's office tweets: "TEPCO's [Tokyo Electric Power Company] efforts to depressurize the container was successful. Additional measures are now taken tonight using sea water and boric acid. "

Originally posted by westcoast

Originally posted by Zona
reply to post by Newbomb Turk

 

Nice find OP. I hope this guy is wrong, but I fear he is not. I think this reactor is on its way to a full-blown meltdown.

I agree with the other poster who is asking for prayers.

PLEASE...Does anyone know what a full-blown melt-down means?????? What would happen?

I can only go by what I remember of the Chinobal Disaster in Russia years back - some of you might remember it. The fallout contaminated a lot of the NW Coast of the UK. I do remember the sheep in the area weren't allowed to be included in the food chain for many years.
Watching News earlier NZ Sky stated that 5 Power Plants had had their cooling systems knocked out - so if the others go the same way - Hell will be unleashed.

reply to post by Seekeye2


Well i dont think hell is going to break loose and you shouldnt compare the reactors of fukushima with chernobyl because they have a diferent architecture and are more robust...

the worst case scenario is a new earthquake that would crack that massive protective concrete of the reactors and then u would have a problem... but what are the odds of that happen? (gotta stay positive on this )

Another thing: i believe there were only 2 faulty reactors (the fukushima ones) and not 5!

Do you think it's dangerous to be in south korea right now?????

Originally posted by baraka
reply to post by Seekeye2

 

Well i dont think hell is going to break loose and you shouldnt compare the reactors of fukushima with chernobyl because they have a diferent architecture and are more robust...

the worst case scenario is a new earthquake that would crack that massive protective concrete of the reactors and then u would have a problem... but what are the odds of that happen? (gotta stay positive on this

)

Another thing: i believe there were only 2 faulty reactors (the fukushima ones) and not 5!

edit on 12-3-2011 by baraka because: (no reason given)

You may well believe that but they have talked all day on tv here about five of them. Guess all will be revealed eventually. They have already evacuated 14,000 people from the area.
Chynobal may well have been built through older technology but they hadn't had the massive earthquake that Japan has had either and whether or not one is better than the other is a bit beside the point in my view - the result of a meltdown would be the same.
Difficult to remain positive on this one!
Satalite reports are showing that the Quake has moved the whole of Japan by 2 1/2 meters - well I'm no mathematician but common sence tells me that that must have dislodged one hell of a lot of equipment.