I think that's Reactor #4. The green thing is a crane that is used for fueling/refueling the reactor.

Right below that is probably the spent fuel pool.

This XKCD pretty much sums up why this whole contained meltdown thing is overblown:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/blag/radiation.png

So if I read that right, if the radiation stays at the level it's at, then anyone in a town "near" the plant will be exceeding the yearly EPA radiation exposure limit?

It's not doomsday material, but still sucks. "Woooo my home wasn't destroyed by the tsunami or earthquakes, but if I continue to live here I'll probably develop cancer!"

However, yes the media has been having too much fun scaring ppl with words like radiation and meltdown.

Just how "free" is our PRESS these days? by FngrBANG - TribalWar Forums

What's the latest? Have they got power hooked up to all of the reactors now?

#5-6 have reached cold shutdown. #2 now has power and they are testing pumps and stuff. #3 pressure has risen but still within limits. Fiirefighters still spraying down #3 and now #4.

A drone flew around the reactors and got a lot of footage, but so far the Japanese government isn't releasing the footage.

There was a piece about the reactors on tonight's 60 minutes. The nuclear expert they had from the state department seemed to be pretty doomsday about the situation still.

all cleared up in a couple days. You just wait.

Status of Fukushima nuclear power plants Sunday midnight

TOKYO, March 20, Kyodo

The following is the known status as of Sunday evening of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and the four reactors at the Fukushima Daini plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, which were crippled by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11.

Fukushima Daiichi plant

-- Reactor No. 1 (Operation suspended after quake)

Partial melting of core, cooling failure, vapor vented, building housing containment of reactor damaged by hydrogen explosion, roof blown off, seawater being pumped in.

-- Reactor No. 2 (Operation suspended after quake)

Damage to reactor containment structure feared, cooling failure, seawater being pumped in, fuel rods fully exposed temporarily, vapor vented, building housing containment of reactor damaged by blast at adjacent reactor No. 3, blast sound heard near suppression chamber of containment vessel, seawater pumped into pool holding spent-fuel rods on Sunday, access to external power restored Sunday.

-- Reactor No. 3 (Operation suspended after quake)

Partial melting of core feared, cooling failure, vapor vented, seawater being pumped in, building housing containment of reactor badly damaged by hydrogen explosion, seawater dumped over spent-fuel storage pool by helicopter Thursday, water sprayed at it from ground for four days in a row through Sunday.

-- Reactor No. 4 (Under maintenance when quake struck)

Renewed nuclear chain reaction feared at spent-fuel storage pool, fire at building housing containment of reactor Tuesday and Wednesday, only frame remains of reactor building roof, temperature in the pool reached 84 C on March 14, water sprayed at pool on Sunday.

-- Reactor No. 5 (Under maintenance when quake struck)

Some fuel rods left in reactor core, cooling in spent-fuel storage pool resumed Saturday, cold shutdown at reactor on Sunday, access to external power restored Sunday.

-- Reactor No. 6 (Under maintenance when quake struck)

Some fuel rods left in reactor core, emergency power generator and cooling functions restored Saturday, cold shutdown at reactor on Sunday.

Fukushima Daini plant

-- Reactors No. 1, 2, 3, 4 (Operation suspended after quake)

Cold shutdown, not under emergency status.

==Kyodo

Status of Fukushima nuclear power plants Sunday midnight | Kyodo News

Gata love headlines like this.

Then later in the article

We have fluoride in our water around here..

Well that's a diff color of smoke

http://images.scribblelive.com/2011/...b9ee8f_500.jpg

Donations to Japan lag behind those for Katrina, Haiti - The Washington Post

[so] why is the world racist against japanese people?

White guilt only applies to nations full of black people.

Probably because people are tired of giving away their money.

i hope the 100k homeless people in japan have saved their money.

edit: i guess its 360k homeless people

Haiti is a piss poor country. As I understand it, there are still people living in tents. Nothing against Japan, but they will come through this. (in a few days I hear) :)

:lol:

Radiation anxiety grows in disaster-struck Japan - Yahoo! News

Radioactive iodine exceeding limit for infants found in Tokyo tap water

The Tokyo metropolitan government warned Wednesday that infants should not drink tap water as radioactive iodine exceeding the limit for them were detected in water at a purification plant.

According to the metropolitan government, 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine were detected per 1 kilogram of water against the limit of 100 becquerels.

The detection follows the devastating earthquake earlier this month that crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

So why has this thread died? Did the reactors calm down for the most part, or did the media's/America's attention span get the better of it again and no one cares now?

guessing both

We're all dead from radiation poisoning and have come back as zombies.

dude, shuuuuuut up:mecry:

I stopped updating it because things calmed down a bit but now appear to be picking back up.

In addition to the radioactive iodine in Tokyo water.

*Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned consumers Wednesday against eating leaf vegetables such as spinach harvested in Fukushima Prefecture in the first measure involving food consumption to be taken since radioactive materials far exceeding legal limits were found in vegetables there.


*Also, in reactor #2, radiation levels have climbed to 500 millisiieverts.

You can't prove its not true.

Friend at work is just back, having arrived home from Japan a few days ago (was there the whole time).

No sign of any superpowers yet, I suspect they're still incubating.

25 mins old and translated:

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at a press conference Friday morning, the day before the No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Daiichi TEPCO announced that it was found that the temperature of 400 degrees in a nuclear reactor.

----
Now assuming that is C. That is 752 degrees F.

Looked up what a Boiling water reactor temp should be:
"The operating temperature of the reactor is approximately 570F"

That is around 299 C.

You need to jumpstart his new abilities. Trow him out of a window or something.

the crews have been evacuated again because smoke started again. and they have no idea where the smoke is coming from. doesn't seem good.

erryting a-ok?

That's the operating temperature. Remember, these reactors are in cold shutdown.




:lol:

Don't eat the food, don't drink the water.

Yeah everything is going shockingly well.

That's actually above the operating temperature by 101 C. On a reactor that has the control rods in place.

back to business as usual?

Well this is new:

Smoke disrupts nuke plant restoration work, radiation fears reach Tokyo | Kyodo News

Work to restore power and key cooling functions was disrupted again Wednesday at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as black smoke caused workers to evacuate, while the fear of radioactive pollution spread to Tokyo with an alert not to give tap water to infants.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano unveiled estimates that people outside of a 30-kilometer radius of the plant, in which residents have been ordered to evacuate or remain indoors, could be exposed to radiation of 100 millisieverts or more, an annual dose believed to be associated with an increased risk of cancer.

Based on the estimates, the top government spokesman urged residents in areas downwind from the power station to stay inside buildings and avoid exposure to air as much as possible as a precaution.

At the disaster-stricken plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., black smoke was seen rising at the east of the No. 3 reactor building, leading 11 workers to evacuate from four of the six reactors and water-spraying operations by fire trucks to be aborted.

The radiation level was unchanged shortly afterward, meaning the smoke did not result in a massive release of radioactive materials, the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Smoke was also seen billowing from the No. 3 reactor building on Monday but its cause remains unknown.

On Wednesday, it was also found that the surface temperatures of the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor vessels have topped the maximum levels set by their designers. The rise in temperatures came to light after data measuring instruments became available after power was restored Tuesday, the agency said.

In Tokyo, the metropolitan government said radioactive iodine exceeding the limit for infants was detected in water at a purification plant, apparently due to the ongoing crisis at the power station crippled by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

All six reactors at the plant were reconnected to external power as of Tuesday night and workers scrambled to check each piece of equipment, including data measuring tools and feed-water pumps, before transmitting power to them.

Lighting in a control room for the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors was partially restored Tuesday night. Operators had been unable to remain in any of the control rooms at the plant for extended periods due to high radiation levels and power outages.

The utility known as TEPCO is aiming to revive a pump, possibly by Thursday, to inject fresh water into the core of the No. 3 reactor, instead of seawater which has been poured in using fire pumps, the agency said.

While the maximum vessel temperature set by the reactors' designers is 302 C degrees, the surface temperature of the No. 1 reactor vessel briefly topped 400 C before dropping to around 305 C by 4 p.m., and that of the No. 3 reactor vessel stood at about 305 C in the morning, the agency said.

Although the facilities are not expected to start melting at those temperatures, according to agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama, TEPCO increased the amount of seawater injected into the No. 1 reactor by nine times to help cool it down.

Nishiyama said TEPCO injected massive amounts of water into the No. 1 reactor carefully so as not to raise the pressure in the reactor. A rise in the pressure increases the risk of damage to the facility and would require a release of radioactive steam from the reactor to lower the pressure.

At the No. 2 reactor, workers have been unable to replace a pump to help revive its internal cooling system since Friday as high-level radiation of at least 500 millisieverts per hour was detected at its turbine building, the spokesman said.

Although the troubled reactors remained unstable Wednesday, Nishiyama defended measures currently being taken by TEPCO to manage the crisis. ''We have come close to reestablishing sustainable cooling systems. I believe we are implementing the best possible ways and hope to stabilize the reactors as soon as possible,'' he said.

Also on Wednesday, a series of strong aftershocks jolted the coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled plant is located, but they did not affect the restoration work, the nuclear agency said.

TEPCO said, meanwhile, it had observed neutron beams, a kind of radioactive ray, 13 times on the premises of the Fukushima plant over the three days from March 13, but they were not at a dangerous level.

The detection of the beams suggests the possibility that uranium and plutonium have leaked from rods in the plant's reactors or spent nuclear fuel pools and have undergone nuclear fission.

Self-Defense Forces helicopters also monitored the surface temperatures of the plant above the reactors and found that they were all below 60 C.

After the devastating quake and tsunami knocked out power at the plant, the cooling functions failed at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, while the pools storing spent nuclear fuel at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 units have also lost all their cooling functions.

In addition to efforts to douse the pools with water sprayed from outside, workers also attempted to inject water by reviving internal cooling systems, according to the nuclear agency.

sounds like things are going from bad, to worse, to more worse

i would hate to be japanese right about now

invest in tepco, mitsubishi steel, and a big construction firm in japan

if you want to make a birrion dorrars

also, the rods dont melt till 2000c. Think we're ok from a meltdown standpoint

It appears I had not dotted this thread, but the other one instead.

This thread is far superior.

The surface temp was 400 C. I'm not sure what the surface is, Maybe the outside of the vessel through all the steel?