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Post by rsmith7 on Mar 15, 2011 23:07:50 GMT 1
Trying to get a handle on what's happening.
Seems like the second last line of defence has been breached in one of the reactor cores. Split concrete that surrounds the steel core.
Surely if fission has been shut down the reactors are cooling down and the danger is diminishing.
It's difficult to find any truth among the nonsense spouted from the MSM.
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Post by Progenitor A on Mar 16, 2011 8:10:45 GMT 1
Trying to get a handle on what's happening. Seems like the second last line of defence has been breached in one of the reactor cores. Split concrete that surrounds the steel core. Surely if fission has been shut down the reactors are cooling down and the danger is diminishing. It's difficult to find any truth among the nonsense spouted from the MSM. I guess you are right but the problem seemed to be that the radioctive material was very hot and the energy had to be extracted by pumping in water and converting it to steam. Without that energy extraction (the water supplies have failed), the danger is the reactor will overheat and explode That is my interpretation |
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Post by principled on Mar 16, 2011 13:09:45 GMT 1
A quote from 1 hr ago (midday, 16/3)
High levels of radiation prevented helicopters on Wednesday from dropping water over a quake and tsunami-damaged nuclear reactor in north-eastern Japan, a news report said.
Military helicopters have been unable to pour water over reactor number 3 at a power plant in Fukushima, whose cooling systems failed after Friday’s magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami, the public broadcaster NHK reported.
The inner shell of the reactor might be damaged and a release of radioactive steam was feared, the government said earlier in the day.
But preparations to cool down the nuclear reactors from land were in their final stages, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said
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Post by carnyx on Mar 16, 2011 20:52:56 GMT 1
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Post by speakertoanimals on Mar 16, 2011 22:57:55 GMT 1
The problem I think is that although fission reaction has stoppd, considerable HEAT is still generated from the radioactive decay of the products of the fission process. Which is why the fuel needs to be kept cool even when the reactor has been shut down.
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Post by principled on Mar 17, 2011 13:59:35 GMT 1
On another thread I posted a link to a comment by someone involved in the 3 mile island incident. He seemed to think that the "coolant" that H. Clinton said the Americans were sending was actually a Borax solution (see Carnyx's Wiki link). The guy also implied that some may have been supplied from the nuclear powered aircraft carrier that the Americans have in the region.
From reading the Wiki link, it would seem that even with the reactor shut down, around 7% of the steady state power remains, I assume this is the heat they are talking about having to remove plus the heat from the radioactive decay.
STA
I'm a little confused about the difference between the fission process and the radioactive decay. Both produce heat, do they not? An explanation would be good.
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