Nuclear accident follows Japanese earthqauke

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Ippoippo
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Post by Ippoippo »

biffvernon wrote: Meanwhile
A radioactive substance exceeding the state limit has been detected in pasture grass and vegetables in Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures, neighboring Fukushima Prefecture.

3,480 becquerels of radioactive cesium were detected in one kilogram of pasture grass collected on May 5th in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture. The figure exceeds the state limit of 300 becquerels.

Also, at two different locations in Nasushiobara City, 3,600 becquerels and 860 becquerels of radioactive cesium respectively were detected in one kilogram of pasture grass collected on May 3rd.

Tochigi Prefecture requested farmers in the area where the radioactive substance was detected not to feed pasture grass to livestock.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/13_01.html

Nikko City is about 170km southwest of the Fukushima Diiachi, way outside the exclusion zone. Not feeding grass to the cows is going to be a bit of challenge for farmers.
:shock: Arse!
Nikko area was my backup (behind Shirakawa, Fukushima) relocation option. Right then, lets have a gander at what's going on in Hokkaido.
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UndercoverElephant
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Post by UndercoverElephant »

Ippoippo wrote:
biffvernon wrote: Meanwhile
A radioactive substance exceeding the state limit has been detected in pasture grass and vegetables in Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures, neighboring Fukushima Prefecture.

3,480 becquerels of radioactive cesium were detected in one kilogram of pasture grass collected on May 5th in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture. The figure exceeds the state limit of 300 becquerels.

Also, at two different locations in Nasushiobara City, 3,600 becquerels and 860 becquerels of radioactive cesium respectively were detected in one kilogram of pasture grass collected on May 3rd.

Tochigi Prefecture requested farmers in the area where the radioactive substance was detected not to feed pasture grass to livestock.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/13_01.html

Nikko City is about 170km southwest of the Fukushima Diiachi, way outside the exclusion zone. Not feeding grass to the cows is going to be a bit of challenge for farmers.
:shock: Arse!
Nikko area was my backup (behind Shirakawa, Fukushima) relocation option. Right then, lets have a gander at what's going on in Hokkaido.
I'd be thinking about staying in Cardiff if I was you.... :)
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biffvernon
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Post by biffvernon »

Here's a jolly account http://www.ecoshock.org/transcripts/ES_ ... script.htm
though I'm afraid it's already a few days out of date, written just before the acknowledgement that #1 sufferred complete meltdown.
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biffvernon
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Post by biffvernon »

Now we have the report that the power plant was damaged by the earthquake itself, before the tsunami and the subsequent loss of power supply and cooling system:
Data taken at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on the night of March 11 showing a high level of radiation at a reactor building suggest the possibility that key facilities there may have been damaged by the quake itself that day rather than tsunami-caused power loss that failed the reactor's cooling function, a utility source said Saturday.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/05/91126.html
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clv101
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Post by clv101 »

biffvernon wrote:...the power plant was damaged by the earthquake itself...
This make the incident more significant, as there are a number of power stations of similar designs in areas of the world with magnitude 9 earthquakes are a distinct possibility.
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emordnilap
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Post by emordnilap »

foodimista wrote:1. Nuclear power is a highly complex, expensive and dangerous way to boil water to create steam to turn turbines.
...to generate electricity to boil water. :lol:

Fancy a cuppa?
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
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PS_RalphW
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Post by PS_RalphW »

Surprise surprise. Reactor cores 2 and 3 are now assumed to have melted through the bottom of their reaction chambers as well.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/damage ... 6056447710

Plan to flood reactor 1 containment chamber abandoned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13404548
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Ippoippo
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Post by Ippoippo »

Not Fukushima Daiichi... but a story about Monju plant.

Recovery of fallen device from Monju reactor slated for June
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency will undertake the work in June of recovering a fallen 3.3-ton device from its prototype fast-breeder reactor Monju in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. Agency officials said a team of experts set up under the government’s instruction endorsed the procedures proposed by the agency to collect the device which accidentally fell into the reactor vessel last August.
... meanwhile, over at Hamaoka
Seawater found in coolant at Hamaoka Plant
At the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in central Japan, seawater has been found in coolant at one reactor.

Five nuclear reactors at the Hamaoka plant in Omaezaki City, Shizuoka Prefecture, were all shut down on Saturday due to concern that a massive earthquake might hit the area. The move was in line with a request by Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

In the course of shutdown, plant operator Chubu Electric Power Company found impure substances in coolant water at the No.5 reactor.

The company reports damage to a pipe connected to a condenser, a system that turns the steam generated by a nuclear reactor to water through the use of seawater.
Chubu Electric Power Company says 400 tons of seawater may be mixed into the cooling water that goes through the reactor.

It says 400 tons would not severely affect the reactor, and that no radioactive substances were detected outside the building.

But in order to prevent the reactor being eroded by seawater, the operator will take measures to remove salt from the cooling water.
Monday, May 16, 2011 05:31 +0900 (JST)
:roll:
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biffvernon
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Post by biffvernon »

Allowing seawater into the Hamaoka reactor is just too dumb to have been made up. It was meant to be a temporary shutdown while they improved the tsunami resistance. I doubt this power station will ever be used again.

Meanwhile, back at Fukushima Daiitchi, TEPCO have now admitted that meltdown in #1 occurred within 16 hours of losing the coolant on March 11th. The stuff that almost everybody said was impossible at the time had actually already happened.
An Inspector Calls

Post by An Inspector Calls »

The stuff that almost everybody said was impossible at the time . . .

. . . see page 2 of this thread.

I'm not surprised in the slightest.
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Post by kenneal - lagger »

An Inspector Calls wrote:The stuff that almost everybody said was impossible at the time . . .

. . . see page 2 of this thread.

I'm not surprised in the slightest.
:?:
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biffvernon
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Post by biffvernon »

I expect he was bleating about my sentence "The stuff that almost everybody said was impossible at the time had actually already happened." He pointed out that on our page 2 there is evidence that some people at the time suggested that meltdown was indeed possible. Of course I was referring to the media at large and the Japanese authorities in particular, rather than a report in the Guardian that AIC will be the first to point out is not 'almost everybody'.
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