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Nuclear Crisis in Japan
- bootload 16y agoThis is a good article: Power failure due to turbine shutdown, failure in backup diesel generators due to tsunami means no AC power and loss of instruments & controls. The article states further that: "... According to technical documents translated by Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action in Japan, if the coolant level dropped to the top of the active fuel rods in the core, damage to the core would begin about 40 minutes later, and damage to the reactor vessel would occur 90 minutes after that. ..."
- serichsen 16y agoEven now, there is no need to fear contamination of the environment. The amounts of radioactive material released are not significant, and even if a complete meltdown happens (which is not very likely at all even now), it cannot breach the safety containment. Follow detailed reports at http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/ http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/
- llambda 16y ago> even if a complete meltdown happens...it cannot breach the safety containment. This is true assuming the containment chamber hasn't suffered structural damage during the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. However, given the magnitude it seems prudent to be as cautious as possible. Even as I type, the NYTimes is running a story about the latest developments: it seems emergency cooling efforts are failing in at least one of the troubled reactors: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15nuclear.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15nuclear.html