Fukushima enters "China Syndrome" stage

[SgtSpike]

Reactor 1's core may have melted all the way through the concrete by now.  Reports of cracks in the surrounding area with steam coming out of them indicates it may be hitting small amounts of moisture in the ground, outside of the containment.

If it hits a groundwater source, it could cause a hydrovolcanic explosion much worse than anything seen so far...

http://emsnews.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/fukushima-enters-china-syndrome-meltdown-is-destroying-cement/#more-13499

Discuss.

[cbeast]

We are nearly powerless against our own creation. Brave people risked certain death to try to prevent this catastrophe. Yet, we still ignore disasters facing our civilization. We can't change who we are as a species, but we can change how we do things by taking small steps in the right direction.

[SgtSpike]

I used to be pro-nuclear, but this is starting to scare the crap out of me.

Also, this was a rather interesting comment below the article.  Makes you wonder how much more of this sort of thing we're going to see, even if the situation doesn't worsen from what it is now.

Dec 1 – Rumor spreading in Japan says leukemia up 7 times from last year — Champion wrestler who trained in Fukushima diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia

Nov 27 – Journalist dies of acute lymphocytic leukemia — Was living inside 30 km zone to support Fukushima

Nov 22 – Japan TV star suffering acute leukemia after eating Fukushima produce (VIDEO)

Nov 7 – Japan TV host diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia — Had been eating Fukushima produce on show

Nov 3 – Hospital worker leaks information about recent increase in acute leukemia

Aug 30 – 40-year-old Fukushima radiation worker dies of acute leukemia after working at plant for week — Checkup showed no prior health problems

[deslok]

any measures we can take at this point would be beyond drastic, however because of that we won't do anything, the whole mess could be dealt quickly(relativly speaking) with technology they could deploy next week.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

That's only one example of a country's government lying to its people. Luckily, here in the US of A, we don't have that problem. As an example, it never would have occurred to our government to lie to us about how big the bailout truly was a few years ago. Image, if you will, if it was really 7.7 trillion dollars. That would make the original financial tsunami bailout look like a ripple. Furthermore, it would have been picked up by the media by now. In fact, I Googled it the other day, and nothing, so don't waste your time searching. I'm confident that our government has everything under control. Under control. Under control. Under control.

We have assumed control! We have assume control! We have assumed control!

[BTCurious]

I used to be pro-nuclear, but this is starting to scare the crap out of me.

This.

Thoriumsalt sounds interesting. India is building one, right? I hope they pull it off.

[P4man]

I used to be pro-nuclear, but this is starting to scare the crap out of me.

It scares the crap out of me too. But Im still pro nuclear. Im just not pro building nuclear reactors on earth quake and tsunami prone coasts when the reactor is somehow designed in such a way that a flooding cuts off its electricity supply. I still cant wrap my head around that. As I understand it (but correct me if Im wrong), the only real problem was powering the pumps.  How hard can it be to put some generators in a shelter that can withstand just about anything?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I used to be pro-nuclear, but this is starting to scare the crap out of me.

It scares the crap out of me too. But Im still pro nuclear. Im just not pro building nuclear reactors on earth quake and tsunami prone coasts when the reactor is somehow designed in such a way that a flooding cuts off its electricity supply. I still cant wrap my head around that. As I understand it (but correct me if Im wrong), the only real problem was powering the pumps.  How hard can it be to put some generators in a shelter that can withstand just about anything?

Not hard at all to, but cheaper:

[qbg]

I used to be pro-nuclear, but this is starting to scare the crap out of me.

This.

Thoriumsalt sounds interesting. India is building one, right? I hope they pull it off.

Last I heard India was building solid fuel thorium reactors. China on the other hand is working on LFTR.

[cbeast]

I like the science of breeder reactors, but it would be better if we can wait to use them off-planet.

[worldinacoin]

I really hope that Japan can be more transparent in this disaster.  Too many ifs and whys.

[qbg]

I like the science of breeder reactors, but it would be better if we can wait to use them off-planet.

Why generate the power off planet? You would be greatly increasing the transmissions costs with no gain.

If Fukushima was a LFTR, there would've been nothing news worth to report there. You cut power, the freeze plug melts, and the fuel drains into a container that passively cools the fuel.

[notme]

I like the science of breeder reactors, but it would be better if we can wait to use them off-planet.

Why generate the power off planet? You would be greatly increasing the transmissions costs with no gain.

If Fukushima was a LFTR, there would've been nothing news worth to report there. You cut power, the freeze plug melts, and the fuel drains into a container that passively cools the fuel.

Yep.  Instead of a critical mass of uranium you have a tiny piece to emit neutrons.  The thorium absorbs these and enriches to uranium.  It then decays back to thorium once it becomes too heavy.  Thorium is fairly stable and will rarely emit neutrons on it's own.  The thorium simply aids in turning the neutrons into heat and carrying this heat to the steam turbine boiler.  Reaction only occurs near the neutron source, and the source is small enough to be passively contained, which happens automatically because the freeze plug melts when the power is cut.

[ineededausername]

Fukushima diary does say that the reactor fuel has penetrated the concrete, but most other news sources say that only three-fourths of the concrete was penetrated and that erosion "has stopped."  Here are some sources:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/fukushima_plant_was_close_to_full_jNzN61vNhkrtK6LLdnX12M
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/111202/fukushima-daiichi-tepco-nuclear-meltdown
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/world/asia/meltdown-in-japan-may-have-been-worse-than-thought.html

[Phinnaeus Gage]

As I see it, there's only one man on this entire planet that can put what has, and will, happen to rest. One man who has calmed a nation once before when a nuclear reactor almost went south. One man to shed new light on a dimming PR campaign. One man, who's name is so revered, I've no choice but to show you picture of his brother's truck. From there, you'll have to come to your own conclusion as to who this man is, and whose initials are JC--and no, not that other JC who built the Ark and freed the Israelites from the promise land, if I have my ancient history correct (I think I was playing with my slide rule in that class, too).

[ElectricMucus]

So far we were fed only the most 'optimistically' scenario, considering they have no data on what it actually happening at the site, only simulations we have to consider that these simulations are not accurate still and the situation is even worse.

From what I've read once the melt comes into contact with water contaminated steam would be released in massive quantities with the fallout being in the atmosphere for decades and around the globe.
So it gets into the food chain good luck with a life expectancy above 60...

[SgtSpike]

Fukushima diary does say that the reactor fuel has penetrated the concrete, but most other news sources say that only three-fourths of the concrete was penetrated and that erosion "has stopped."  Here are some sources:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/fukushima_plant_was_close_to_full_jNzN61vNhkrtK6LLdnX12M
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/111202/fukushima-daiichi-tepco-nuclear-meltdown
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/world/asia/meltdown-in-japan-may-have-been-worse-than-thought.html

How can anyone really know though?  Do they have sensors below the concrete?  Nope.  And steam coming up through fissures in the ground is rather telling... as least, it seems to be.

They (TEPCO and the Japanese government) have already hidden so much from us, why would they bother telling the truth now?  With regards to this situation, they've always put out "news" that equates to the most optimistic lie that is still believable.

I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but there's been too many lies for me to take anyone's word for what is happening right now.

[ElectricMucus]

I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but there's been too many lies for me to take anyone's word for what is happening right now.

I am, kind of... and while I don't believe any of them what is happing certainly fits their description. Most of them provide a view that the disaster is happening on purpose. The problematic thing about them though is that they almost have no common ground and dispute each other.

I guess the best thing to do is watch out what people equipped with hepa filters and mass spectrometers are discovering...

From a interview with Arnold Gundersen: ( part1, part2)

Arnie Gundersen: Well, I am in touch with some scientists now who have been monitoring the air on the West Coast and in Seattle for instance, in April, the average person in Seattle breathed in 10 hot particles a day.

[BTCurious]

Arnie Gundersen: Well, I am in touch with some scientists now who have been monitoring the air on the West Coast and in Seattle for instance, in April, the average person in Seattle breathed in 10 hot particles a day.

You do know that 10 particles is extremely few, no matter what particles they are?

[P4man]

Pure scare mongering. Without saying what particles and how big, its utterly meaningless but, 10 "particles" per day of anything is ridiculously small. One could call natural uranium particle a "hot particle" but its abundant in our environment.  UK Health and Safety Executive regulations restrict long-term workplace air concentrations of soluble uranium to 0.2 mg per cubic metre (!). Make an estimate of how big that "hot particle" is and how much you breath in 24hr and do the math. And lets not mention what an average Iraqi (or US soldier in Iraq) inhales every day in the form of depleted uranium dust.