Breaking: New Explosion At The Fukushima Nuclear Reactor; UPDATE: Rolling Black Outs; Linked By Instapundit
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This is late breaking for us here in America, about noon in Japan. From Reuters:
A new explosion rocked Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex on Monday, sending a plume of smoke into the air.
Japan’s nuclear safety agency said it could not confirm whether or not the hydrogen explosion at the plant’s No.3 reactor had led to an uncontrolled leak of radioactivity.
I will see if I can get in touch with my mom in Tokyo. Sounds like the reactor blast was contained in the structure.
UPDATE:
I talked to my mom and the country is now having to do rolling blackouts because of the problems at the nuclear reactors (or unable to operate them under current conditions). Her school has canceled classes for the week but the teachers have to go in for four hours a day and email the students their assignments then next week the have a week off, so who knows what the situation will be then.
UPDATE 2:
Thanks to Instapundit for the link.
UPDATE 3:
Video of the blast.
My mom says that people in Japan are skeptical about the reports dealing with the reactor leaks. She assumes it is worse than they are being told.
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7 Responses and Counting...
[...] ROLLING BLACKOUTS IN JAPAN due to reactors being offline. [...]
All the nation's reactors have been shut down as a safety precaution on purpose, Todd, not because they're all having problems like Fukushima and are now "inoperable" (as the link misinforms). They work but are not being run.
And I hope your mother is getting along okay.
The constant aftershocks have got her nerves on edge. She was going to retire last year but decided to go back for one more. Hindsight is 20/20 on that one. Maybe the "inoperable" refers to the situation more than damage at the other reactors? They cannot safely operate them until things settle down?
It's a bit OT, but this was just posted at Hot Air, Todd, from the WSJ about how this isn't a second Chernobyl situation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704…
When the three mile island reactor accident occurred, the staff turned off the emergency water supply to the core and left it off for something like 24 hours. As a result, the core melted, but this had no significant effects on any population through radiation, though it did leave the plant ruined. What radiation was released came early in the accident when water that had leaked out of the machine was in an area that staff decided to vent.
When there is no water in the core there is almost no removal of heat but there is also no chain reaction going on. The heat that is generated comes from the radioactive decay of the fission products previously produced in the fuel rods, which is far less than what is produced when the machine is in operation. If the core is exposed the rods will heat up and eventually experience melting, but the lesson of Three Mile Island is that this will only ruin the plant. There will be little or no effect outside it. The difference between Three Mile Island and today is that now there are sophisticated robots available that may be able to salvage the material in the rods and even conceivably repair the plant. A significant problem in repairing is the huge size of the reactor..
Thanks for the info Daniel.
It's getting worse:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/…
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