Where is the reactor water going????

Like most everyone I have been watching the nuke plant in Japan very closely.I have noticed that they have been pouring huge volumes of water into the buildings that house the reactors. I realize that they are doing this to cool the reactors.Clearly some of this water comes off as steam,but I would think that it is only a small amount.

If the containment is breached or the area where they store the spent fuel rods are exposed wouldn't that water now be contaminated and itself be radioactive?

Now for my question......Where does the water that doesn't come off as steam go? Just how much water can a destroyed building hold? Is it going to ground water as in the local water table? Is it running to the sea?

What do you think?

The water that is pumped in there is essentially flash boiled. Id guess 95% of it becomes steam.

[9:30 p.m. Monday ET, 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Tokyo] High levels of radioactive substances have been found in seawater near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday. Levels of iodine-131 in the seawater were 126.7 times higher than government-set standards, the electric company said on its website. Its monitors detected caesium-134, which has a half-life of about two years, about 24.8 times higher than the government standards. Cesium-137 was found to be 16.5 times higher than the standard. The electric company detected these levels in seawater 100 meters (328 feet) south of the nuclear power plant Monday afternoon. Radioactive particles disperse in the ocean, and the farther away from the shore a sample is taken, the less concentrated the contamination should be. Because of the huge amount of dilution that happens in the ocean, there's not much chance of deep-water fish being tainted, said Murray McBride, a professor at Cornell University, who studies crop and soil sciences.

CNN

Apparently back in the sea.

I was just thinking about this earlier today. And how about all the water being dumped by helicopter or sprayed in by high power hoses? Must be running off to somewhere. And it's radioactive, isn't it? D'oh!

Agree, flash boiled, but probably in the 65 percent range, because this is salt water you get a higher concentration of osmosis, with the salt caking and forming a 800 degree ionized slurry. Very nasty.

the FDA is bottling it up,. they are going to sell it as
a new energy drink,. and Obama is going to endorse it

reply to post by KingJod


Just because the seawater is showing radiation doesnot mean they are dumping it into the ocean. Radiation in the area has to land somewhere.

My thoughts are,
Whatever water doesn't evaporate into the atmosphere in the steam, would run into drains and into catchment pools, but if the pools are clogged, full or damaged, the water would have to flow into the overflow pipes and up in the ocean where it can be diluted.

I asked that same question as soon as they started pouring water on it. S & F

Good thread lonegurkha
My husband and i were talking about this same thing the other day i think the flash boiled idea is the best but any were it goes isn't good ..Even if its going out to sea and being diluted id think it would sooner or later affect the sea life very troublesome to me~~cookie S&F

i would say most of it gets turned to steam, think about those fuel rods are about 1000 degrees.

i agree with the other poster about 95% gets turned to steam, if not all of it.

Isn't that how nuclear power works?
Fuel rods convert water into steam then the steam is used to turn generators

Can anyone help get up a map of the the water current flow chart from fukushima, just incase the radioactive water is entering the ocean.
Thanks in advance if someone can help.

What goes up must come down.

In my estimation, it really doesn't matter what percentage becomes steam as the steam will eventually condense and hit the Earth as radioactive water at some point in time. It doesn't just vanish. It just changes states.

If there putting tons of water onto the plant, and 95% of it is becoming flash boiled, wouldnt it just be contaminating the air then?
And if not, wouldnt that cause some insane acid rain?

Im pretty sure i saw on the news in australia that a THEORETICAL scientest said that this may work to cool down the plant, but concidering the words theoretical and may were used, im not even sure they know if this will work or not..

Just entomb the stupid thing already!

why do you think they said "we are cooling with see water now" ...with the accent on "see" ?
all this means is, comes from the see and goes back to the see. nothing like internal circulation of cooling water.

it also means that whole thing is crap now and somebody has to pay for it

lots and lots of bad science in this thread. i can understand the concern, but....


there is no such thing as "radioactive water". and 'acid rain' is a different beast, altogether.

it must be read as "radioactive particles carried by the water". this is a significant difference. the water ITSELF is not radioactive, and the particles that are being carried by it will fall out of solution quite easily. thus, the vast majority of the contamination will stay near the reactor site.

reply to post by tgidkp


bad science?? I understand your concern, but if radioactive particles carried by steam are being pumped into the atmosphere id like to know exactly how much, instead of "the majority stays there"... otherwise it's like saying there was a huge tsunami, but its okay because the majority of the ocean stayed put!
bad science!

What are the percentages? Clearly the radiation carried by steam is a huge concern considering there is a no fly zone above Fukushima..

when are they going to stop wasting time and entomb this monstrosity!

people need to calm down, during the 40's and 50's in america and russia...massive amounts of airborne radiation were released due to all the above-ground atomic testing taking place in both countries. japan's release is like the proverbial "pimple on an elephant" compared to what the worlds atmosphere was bombarded with during those previous decades.

Originally posted by lonegurkha
Like most everyone I have been watching the nuke plant in Japan very closely.I have noticed that they have been pouring huge volumes of water into the buildings that house the reactors. I realize that they are doing this to cool the reactors.Clearly some of this water comes off as steam,but I would think that it is only a small amount.

If the containment is breached or the area where they store the spent fuel rods are exposed wouldn't that water now be contaminated and itself be radioactive?

Now for my question......Where does the water that doesn't come off as steam go? Just how much water can a destroyed building hold? Is it going to ground water as in the local water table? Is it running to the sea?

What do you think?

I think the water goes to a contaiment pond where they plant to grow three eyed fish, just like Montgomery Burns