No room for complacency about Japan’s nuclear reactors

Every functional nuclear plant is being pushed to the limit and beyond in order to maintain a semblance of normality – but they are ALL in bad repair and are sitting ducks for the next mega-quake….or for ONE overworked plant manager to make a bad decision. Or simply overuse…………There also seem to be problems at :

Onagawa reactor #3
Fukushima Daini reactor #3
Tokai Reactor #3
Kashiwazaki reactor #3……the core is generating deadly radiation

Fukushima Could Be Worse — And It Will Be, April 25, 2011, Hawaii News Daily, By Tom Burnett “……..I  have information from Yoichi ‘boots on the ground’ that smoke was emitting from Kashiwazaki last week after the MAG 7,1 EQ. which occurred off Honshu on 7 APR 2011.  I have further information that in addition to Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear plants at Onagawa, Fukushima Daini, Tokai and now Kashiwazaki, were ALL damaged by the MAG 9.0 EQ of March 11 and are in shut-down status……..TEPCO wanted to re-start the three reactors at Kashiwazaki (which were damaged in a 2007 earthquake and have been off ever since).  That is not an example of forward thinking – it is pure, naked desperation.

Their idea of restarting Fukushima Daiichi reactors #5 and #6 further supports desperation.  There are so many problems at SEVERAL of their nuclear plants that rolling blackouts are now the norm.  Every functional nuclear plant is being pushed to the limit and beyond in order to maintain a semblance of normality – but they are ALL in bad repair and are sitting ducks for the next mega-quake….or for ONE overworked plant manager to make a bad decision. Or simply overuse.

As of March 23, neutron beams have been reported at least thirteen times at Fukushima Daiichi. The Japanese government states that these are not the result of criticality accidents and then go right on to state that limited fission may be occurring.

Do tell!  If a neutron beam is observed at Fukushima (or anywhere else on earth), it is from a fission excursion.  You can call it  ‘limited fission’, ‘not a criticality accident’, ‘bubbles in the bathtub’ or any other name you like but nuclear criticality is the only thing that produces a neutron beam.

They are almost certainly leaving the isle of denial by now and coming to the belated realization that they can’t stop it. Remember that 6 to 9 month plan for ‘repair’?  You won’t hear that anymore.  Do you remember the idea of constructing a huge, steel tank to hold radioactive water?  That probably won’t happen. They would simply fill it up and wait for the next earthquake to breach it. Huge, steel water tanks do not survive MAG 6.9 earthquakes.  But the water must keep flowing.  20 cubic meters of it an hour, or the genie wakes up.

Furthermore, it is now becoming more likely that a small Chernobyl-type explosion DID occur at Fukushima Daiichi reactor #3.  I have to write the name out instead of abbreviating because there also seem to be problems at :

Onagawa reactor #3
Fukushima Daini reactor #3
Tokai Reactor #3
Kashiwazaki reactor #3

The evacuation zones are not going to be reduced at all –  On April 23, while a school doctor was telling the kids that the radiation danger is over, the Japanese government was EXPANDING the evacuation zones.  I didn’t read the wording of that announcement yet but Jeff Rense’ source in Japan said “The wording on the upcoming evacuation sounds eerily like expectation of another larger blast/meltdown.”

Which is it?  We already know.  On March 12 when the fuel tubes ruptured and the fuel pellets began to fission and melt together, it no longer mattered whether ALL of them did or not. The ones which are fissioning will continue. The ones which haven’t YET are merely waiting for the water to be turned off.

Again: SOME amount of fissile material is fissioning and continues to fission.  It is in a steel can which is partially full of boiling water.  There is not enough water to cover the fuel rods and too much to risk putting more water in – the container was not designed to hold water and it may rupture from the weight. It is, in effect, a nuclear cauldron.  If they pump the boiling water out (and into the ocean), the core will probably explode.  If they don’t pump it out, the next earthquake will breach the can and spill boiling radioactive water all over… and THEN the core will explode.

They don’t know the status of the fuel core. They cannot get near it.  The heat and radioactivity melts robots and cameras.  The core is protected by a hardened concrete caisson (called a containment vessel) which surrounds the reactor itself and is designed to protect them from bombs and airplane strikes AND TO KEEP THIS VERY THING FROM HAPPENING – but it is now cracked – so the bad stuff can get out and nothing can get in except some water through secondary lines. And the core is generating deadly radiation…….http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2011/04/fukushima-could-be-worse-and-it-will-be/

April 27, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, safety