Godzilla! Huge Earthquake in Japan

(Reuters) - The United Nations atomic watchdog said on Monday there were no signs, at the moment, that fuel was melting at the Japanese nuclear plant stricken by a huge earthquake and tsunami.

"I think at this time we don't have any indication of fuel ...currently melting," James Lyons, a senior nuclear safety official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference on the situation in Japan
 
It never will be a catastrophe unless an outer force destroys the whole defense structure.
Even if a core would melt 100%, the material would never ever ever ever ever ever get through the concrete. It would probably not even get through the actual reactor.
Chernobyl still has over 90% of it's fuel in some solid form in the basement. It never got through.
 
I know this is TW and everything, but maybe LGBR has taken enough lumps over this. He's young, imperfect and enthusiastic about Japanese culture. He made rash predictions and received his smackdown. I'm guessing there are other targets that deserve more attention. But, hey ... if you don't agree, then flame on!
 
Kyodo News said:
A crisis continued Tuesday at the troubled No. 2 reactor at the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, as fuel rods became fully exposed again after workers recovered water levels to cover half of them in a bid to prevent overheating.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said steam vents of the pressure container of the reactor that houses the rods were closed probably due to the battery problem, raising fears that its core will melt at a faster pace.

The firm said it will first lower the pressure of the reactor by releasing radioactive steam and open the vents with new batteries to resume the operation to inject seawater to cool down the reactor.

Earlier, cooling functions of the reactor failed, causing water levels to sharply fall and fully exposing the fuel rods for about 140 minutes. TEPCO said they could not pour water into the reactor soon as it took time for workers to release steam from the reactor to lower its pressure, the government's nuclear safety agency said.

As TEPCO began pouring coolant water into the reactor, water levels went up at one point to cover more than half of the rods that measure about 4 meters.

Prior to the second full exposure of the rods around 11 p.m. Monday, radiation was detected at 9:37 p.m. at a level twice the maximum seen so far -- 3,130 micro sievert per hour -- near the main gate of the No. 1 plant, according to TEPCO.

The radiation amount is equivalent to reach by 20 minutes the permissible level for a person in one year.

To ease concerns, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said he believes the problem at the plant ''will not develop into a situation similar to the (1986 accident at the atomic power reactor in) Chernobyl'' in the Soviet Union, even in the worst case.

Officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also said the worst case scenario will be less destructive than the Chernobyl incident, as TEPCO has depressurized the reactors by releasing radioactive steam.

The utility said a hydrogen explosion at the nearby No. 3 reactor that occurred Monday morning may have caused a glitch in the cooling system of the No. 2 reactor.

Similar cooling down efforts have been made at the plant's No. 1 and No. 3 reactors and explosions occurred at both reactors in the process, blowing away the roofs and walls of the buildings that house the reactors.

Edano denied the possibility that the No. 2 reactor will follow the same path, as the blast at the No. 3 reactor created a gap in the wall of the building that houses the No. 2 reactor. Hydrogen will be released from the space, he said.

However, TEPCO officials did not completely rule out the possibility that a blast will happen, saying hydrogen may have been accumulating while the fuel rods are exposed.

The blast earlier in the day injured 11 people but the reactor's containment vessel was not damaged, with the government dismissing the possibility of a large amount of radioactive material being dispersed, as radiation levels did not jump after the explosion.

TEPCO said seven workers at the site and four members of the Self-Defense Forces were injured in the explosion.

Since the magnitude 9.0 quake hit northeastern Japan last Friday, some reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant have lost their cooling functions, leading to brief rises in radiation levels.

As a result, the cores of the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors have partially melted.

TEPCO said the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at its Fukushima No. 2 plant, which is adjacent to the No. 1 plant, have successfully cooled down to exit critical situations.

The government ordered residents within a 20-kilometer radius of the No. 1 plant to evacuate Saturday in the wake of the initial blast at the plant's No. 1 reactor. A total of 354 people are still attempting to leave the area, according to the nuclear agency.

The agency ruled out the possibility of broadening the area subject to the evacuation order for now.
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Looks like everything is completely under control.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said there were signs that the fuel rods were melting in all three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.

"Although we cannot directly check it, it's highly likely happening," he told reporters.
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But the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) has cast doubt on Japan's classification of the crisis at Fukushima as level 4 of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Chernobyl was classified as level 7.

"Level four is a serious level," ASN chief Andre-Claude Lacoste said, but added: "We feel that we are at least at level five or even at level six."
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BBC News - Japan earthquake: Meltdown alert at Fukushima reactor
 
According to the definitions on wikipwdia we're still nowhere near a 5 / 6 unless they are keeping a lot of details private at this point.
 
Musashi said:
In other news, we are going to be facing a shortage of tentacle porn in the coming months.
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But the door is wide open for exciting new storylines involving tentacle beasts that are pushed from the depths into villages during a tsunami disaster.
 
What kind of volume is actually required to pump through the reactor? I wonder why it isn't feasible to have a large water tower high above the reactor so water can be drawn through passively.
 
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