Spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, confirm that the No.2 reactor at the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan has had a core meltdown that has leaked through the containment vessel. Water from the reactor used in efforts to cool the core′s fuel rods is highly radioactive, some 3,300 times more than legal limits. Also, more evidence of plutonium released from the No.3 reactor was also confirmed. TEPCO officials have finally admitted that they see no alternative but to shutdown and seal the four damaged reactors.
Other news from the site of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl is of the appalling working conditions at the facility. The brave staff and volunteers risking their lives to battle the troubled reactors have been facing shortages of food, water and protective clothing. Several workers have been hospitalized due to a lack of proper boots. So short, contaminated water was able to seep above the tops of the boots, exposing the men to dangerous doses of Beta-rays. There has also been a lack of freshwater for showering, an essential part of decontamination procedures.
Now, some 19 days after the crisis began with the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, a U.S.-built robot, designed for measuring radiation and assessing damage, is being flown to Japan. Hallelujah! Will wonders never cease? One might consider sending them a case of tall boots, too. Maybe some MREs and other items the plant workers need as well? I can understand that Japan has its pride and may have some cultural issues when it comes to requesting help. But given that they were hot with not one, but three major disasters all at once, their government should have been more open to outside help.
TEPCO officials have finally admitted that the four damaged reactors at the Fukishima Daiichi nuclear power plant cannot be salvaged and must be entombed. They also finally confirmed that the core of the No.2 reactor did meltdown so badly that the radioactive fuel burned through the containment vessel. The radiation levels of the water from that reactor are now some 3,300 times above legal limits. The leakage of plutonium from No.3 reactor also appears to be more serious than previously reported. Tokyo Electric Power Company officials are now also facing the issue of what to do with all of the water that had been used to efforts to cool the fuel rods? As I have written in previous articles, this is going to be a lengthy process of entombing and dealing with the damaged reactors. Chernobyl took nearly 3 months. I suspect Japan will need to plan on six months to a year, if not longer, before their plant is properly sealed. Only after which, can an accurate, methodical survey of the surrounding area, if not the whole nation, reveal just how badly water and soil contamination is.
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Japan likely to scrap all reactors at contaminated Fukushima nuke plant
US sending robots to Japan to help nuclear plant
March 30th, 2011 at 11:09 am
What does the meltdown mean for Japan and the world. All I hear is catastrophic. In what way? Will the entire country of Japan be contaminated? What will happen to their economy? Will it effect other countries? I don’t understand the specific outcomes of the nuclear diaster. Why isn’t there more coverage of this on the news.
Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:28 am
I’m anxious to get answers to Shelber’s questions, i too dont know what the possible outcome of all of this can be.What should we expect?How do we prepare for the looming dangers that might result from the meltdown?Does Japan still get to keep their remaining reactors?What if God forbid something like this should happen again?Were do we come to the realization that nuclear reactors should never under any circumstance be erected on or even close to the fault line?This is scary, gives me thoughts of zombie-like, radioactive beings walking around.Could someone please break it down for the benefit of those (like me) who dont understand?Thanks in advance.
March 30th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
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March 30th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Hey Phillip, If you ever get an answer to our questions let me know. I think I’m going to find another site and ask the same things.
Shelbar
March 30th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
Well, it’s very simple. Google “Chernobyl” and “Zone of Alienation”. Check out a map of the area where humans are forbidden to enter or live in. Mind you, about 500 people do work there, but wearing protective gear and limited exposure times. There is even a tour where you can spend some time in certain areas. But, obviously not the red-hot zones.
Then read another piece I wrote comparing Japan with Chernobyl and California, to give you perspective:
http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=2928
There are probably going to be areas near Fukushima that will be uninhabitable for the next 30 years, some for even much longer. Plutonium 239 has a half-live of about 80,000 years, while Iodine-131, is only 8 days and Cesium-137 is 30 years.
Just the damage from the earthquake and tsunami is going to cost Japan trillions of dollars. Right now they’re still guestimating $400-500 Billion. But I’d say it’s a safe bet that the final cost will be much higher. Add the cost of relocating a million or so more people from the Fukushima plant. How much does it cost to build a city for a million people from scratch?
As for the world, Japan rolls-over about $10 Billion a month in just our T-Bills, plus bonds from other nations and private companies. They are already deep in debt anyway. This will probably trigger another global economic meltdown, once the full impact is calculated.
March 30th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
If that isn’t enough to worry about, I’ll be happy to provide more grim realities.
March 30th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Thanks Andy. I read the article you wrote and wow, just wow. It did put things inperspective for me. I’m about to see what other articles you wrote. I don’t know why I am so worried about this event in Japan. I live in eastern Pa and 3 mile island didn’t phase me. Maybe because I was in my 20’s going to college, raising a family and didn’t have time to watch the news and obviously no internet. 911 was a big wake up call for me. I became politically active and now soon to be a very vocal antinuclear activist. Or nutcase. I haven’t decided yet.
shelbar
March 30th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Well Shelbar, while I would encourage political activism, you should think twice about becoming anti-nuke. Nuclear fission power can be safe. One of things that bug me is that since no new plants have been built here since 3-Mile Island is that what we have running is all old technology.
I would suggest reading a biography on Admiral Hyman Rickover, there are several out there. He was the father of the ‘Nuclear Navy’ and fanatical about training and quality. There was a company back in the early 90s, Idaho Nuclear, that tried to get the government to allow them to use the reactors from all the ships we decommissioned after the Cold War for civilian power generation. But Clinton wouldn’t go for it.
If you read the piece I wrote about the Soviet Lunokhod robot, http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=8415 you’ll see that when Chernobyl happened, a team of gifted engineers slapped together a robot in one week that helped save Europe from becoming a wasteland. It boggles my mind why the Japanese were so ill prepared for this disaster. I suspect it is a cultural thing, much like the fact that during WW2, they did very little to introduce new weapon systems or adopt different strategies when they started losing.
With present technology, we can build plants that are not only ‘bullet-proof’, but are robot-friendly so at the first sign of trouble, things can get done without risking people’s lives. At 3-Mile Island, the first ten minutes was when mistakes were made. It took about 3-4 days or so to catch-up, but they did, largely because of Rickover-trained personnel, including Jimmy Carter!
Carter actually visited the plant at a crucial moment, with his wife no less, listened to both sides of the story, assessed the situation himself and went with the ex-Navy engineer rather than the academic egg-head from Washington. He made the right call and the situation was resolved.
March 30th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Who needs nukes when I’ve got a Flux Capacitor.
My roach collection alone can take me to the moon.
@ Shelbar
Nuclear is cool as long as we stop building them on fault lines…
duh
March 30th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Yes, Micky,
Or putting all the electrical and water pump controls in the basement of a plant built right next to an ocean!
April 6th, 2011 at 3:43 am
They continue to pump millions of gallons of water over the reactor cores and over the spent fuel rods in these various power plants. They have no way of capturing and holding this water that is contaminated and cleaning it before it is going to flow back into the ocean or seep down into the fresh water table there in Japan.