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Japan has declared a state of emergency because of the failure of the cooling system at one nuclear plant, according to the Associated Press. Officials say ther
by koski 16y ago
Japan has declared a state of emergency because of the failure of the cooling system at one nuclear plant, according to the Associated Press. Officials say there has been no leak of radiation.
Let's hope this does not get any worse than it is right now.
- koski 16y agoJapanese authorities are urging some 2,000 residents living within a 2km radius of a nuclear plant in Fukushima to evacuate, the AFP reports. The plant has been shut down after its cooling system failed.
- koski 16y agoFire out at Onagawa nuclear power plant. Oh dear ...
- nazgulnarsil 16y agothat fire was put out. hope everything will be okay at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Another blow to the public's perception of nuclear energy. :(
- Alex3917 16y agoIf the power going out is enough to potentially cause a nuclear meltdown, I'm pretty sure that's indicative of flawed technology rather than some problem with public perception.
- epochwolf 16y agoMost nuclear reactors will automatically scram if they lose power. The control rods are held up with electromagnets so they will drop if power is lost. Losing power isn't too dangerous. Loss of coolant is quite dangerous but there are backup systems that can flood the reactor with an alternative coolant source. For example a submarines can flood their reactors with seawater. You just don't want to do that except in an extreme emergency because it will destroy the reactor equipment. Edit: It looks like the reactor had a coolant pump failure. The loops are intact. There is time to do something about this. The water has to boil off before anything really bad starts happening. At this point they would be concerned with saving the reactor from damage. Declaring a nuclear emergency is still a good idea. This is dangerous but not anywhere near three mile island. They know what's happening inside the reactor and can handle things accordingly.
- Confusion 16y agoIt seems they are going to be doing what they did in the case of Three Mile Island: vent steam. That steam should not be significantly radioactive.
- thingie 16y agoIn my perception, it shows that nuclear plants are able to sustain damage during such a massive earthquake without causing significant harm to their surrounding, all while the oil refineries are burning…
- borism 16y agotoo early to jump to any conclusions. in case of radioactive leak the area affected will be million times larger than any refinery fire.
- koski 16y agoThe World Nuclear Association has said it understands the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is "under control", and that water is now being pumped into its cooling system. The Japanese government earlier declared an emergency as a precaution and evacuated people living nearby, after there was a malfunction and the water level began to fall. A WNA analyst said the back-up battery power system was now online.
- koski 16y agoUS Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US Air Force in Japan has transported coolant to the plant. Officials say the facility should be back to normal soon. That's good news.
- ars 16y agoI was wondering about this. What kind of coolant are they sending? Don't nuclear plants just use water?
- burgerbrain 16y agoDepends on the type of plant. Some use more exotic things like molten lead or sodium.