nuclear-news

Fukushima nuclear disaster like a slow motion collision

Q&A: Japan nuclear crisis ‘getting worse’ : World News Australia on SBS, 1 April 11, “…….Where to now for the people around Fukushima? What we’re seeing now, it’s rather like a slow motion collision, taking part over weeks. In a way we’re being reassured all the time it’s not going to get worse. But it is getting apparently worse.

Initially people were told to stay indoors and they were told to evacuate out to 30 kilometres, the US said evacuate out to 80 kilometres. Then they said we should evacuate the next 10 kilometres out and people who can are no doubt doing so.But the problem is that the problem is getting worse, and we’re seeing now highly radioactive water in large quantities accumulating at the reactor site, especially around, it seems like a leak from unit 2, which may well be a very substantial core meltdown, with the so-called corium, the liquid fuel burning its way through the metal of the primary vessel and possibly accumulating then on the concrete chamber beneath it and we don’t know where it’s going or what it’s going to do after that.

So we don’t know for sure that that’s the situation, but now there are some indications from the sort of isotopic mix that we’re getting that that’s the case. So we have a worsening situation, and it’d be a good thing to be a considerable way away from the reactor site.
Is the Japanese government being sufficiently cautious?

It is quite common with all major nuclear reactor accidents, the authorities tend not to want to frighten people, they tend to try and calm people, they tend to avoid what could happen, and they tend to be reluctant to evacuate unless they really feel they absolutely have to, and they often leave it too late, and they often give too insufficient information. And all of those things have been characteristic of this particular chain of events…..
Q&A: Japan nuclear crisis ‘getting worse’ : World News Australia on SBS

April 2, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general