Godzilla! Huge Earthquake in Japan

[Golbez-RG-] said:
LOL, do you REALLY think that if the reaction stops the radiation stops? You know Chernobyl had NO containment building, right? If the containment building fails on top, as the other troll was saying would happen, you're dead wrong about no radiation getting in the atmosphere. I personally don't think the containment building will fail, but if it does... there will still be pretty bad fallout. That's the whole point of a containment building. There doesn't have to be a reaction occurring for radiation to stay around or get into the atmosphere. Why do you think Chernobyl is still radioactive? The control rods are probably melted at this point, nobody really knows what the current status is because nobody can get close to the plant to see what's going on inside the reactor, from you guessed it, RADIATION.
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I'm somewhat confused as to how you read my post and came to the conclusion that I think there is going to be no residual radiation after the core is shut down. The entire purpose of the concrete and steel containment building is to keep the harmful radiation contained so it can't get out into the surrounding areas or the atmosphere.

Of course there are going to be extremely high levels of radiation inside but as long as the containment vessel is in place it's not going anywhere. The only way that could have happened would have been if the earthquake had damaged it. Thus far there is absolutely no indication that this is the case. The vessel is designed to withstand extreme seismic activity, hurricanes, and acts of sabotage. You are right when you say a breach of containment would cause contamination but there is absolutely no indication that this is the case. If this were to happen I would agree that it would be time for the Japanese to panic.

There is no runaway chain reaction that can take place inside this type of reactor, the slagged fuel isn't going to plow through the drywell, breach the containment vessel, and dig into the watertable/the core/the other side of the planet. The reactors are going to be rendered inoperable and the economic impact will be enormous but the damage to the environment and people will be nothing at all like Chernobyl.

I've also explained multiple times that there was no such structure surrounding Chernobyl so I am also somewhat confused as to why you are trying to explain this to me. It was an essential point in a few of my posts trying to explain the difference between the situations in Japan/Ukraine to everyone here (RBMK/BWR, Graphite/Water, Negative/Positive void coefficients). The media hype surrounding this is absolutely ridiculous, I'm simply trying to help explain what I can based off the information available.
 
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Gow said:
I'm somewhat confused as to how you read my post and came to the conclusion that I think there is going to be no residual radiation after the core is shut down. The entire purpose of the concrete and steel containment building is to keep the harmful radiation contained so it can't get out into the surrounding areas or the atmosphere.

Of course there are going to be extremely high levels of radiation inside but as long as the containment vessel is in place it's not going anywhere. The only way that could have happened would have been if the earthquake had damaged it. Thus far there is absolutely no indication that this is the case. The vessel is designed to withstand extreme seismic activity, hurricanes, and acts of sabotage. You are right when you say a breach of containment would cause contamination but there is absolutely no indication that this is the case. If this were to happen I would agree that it would be time for the Japanese to panic.

There is no runaway chain reaction that can take place inside this type of reactor, the slagged fuel isn't going to plow through the drywell, breach the containment vessel, and dig into the watertable/the core/the other side of the planet. The reactors are going to be rendered inoperable and the economic impact will be enormous but the damage to the environment and people will be nothing at all like Chernobyl.

I've also explained multiple times that there was no such structure surrounding Chernobyl so I am also somewhat confused as to why you are trying to explain this to me. It was an essential point in a few of my posts trying to explain the difference between the situations in Japan/Ukraine to everyone here (RBMK/BWR, Graphite/Water, Negative/Positive void coefficients). The media hype surrounding this is absolutely ridiculous, I'm simply trying to help explain what I can based off the information available.
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You seem to confuse yourself a lot, because I never said it was likely to melt through to the water table. :lol:

EDIT: There is however already enough radiation surrounding the facility for a 20-30km exclusion zone though, and it will probably be like that for a very long time.
 
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All the folks driving by on that road likely became flotsam...

Too soon?

Residents from California to Alaska are reaping a windfall of new cars and electronics that were swept from Japan by the tsunami. One formerly homeless man is said to have scored a new Lexus with less than 1,000 KM on it's speedo when it washed up on a beach north of San Francisco. "The steering wheel is on the wrong side and I can't afford gasoline," said the unnamed man, "but it's a lot warmer than the packing crates I've lived in before".

People in other states are quickly lining up on the beaches, staking out territories and trusting that more aftershocks will keeps the flow of free goods coming. One Oregon resident was disappointed in her find- "Two large plasma screen TV's washed up into my backyard but I was hoping for a nice LCD one", she said.
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Radiation levels 20x above normal were reported around the plant. However you always get 50x radiation when you are sitting in an aeroplane. The only factor is how long you stay radiated..

People around the globe are already buying tons of Iodine tablets. The ignorance makes me feel sick. "OH MY GOD, THERE'S A NUCLEAR DISASTER IN JAPAN. Be readyt for total contamination!"
 
look at this bullshit fear mongering that msnbc is doing.

Open Channel - General Electric-designed reactors in Fukushima have 23 sisters in U.S.

The General Electric-designed nuclear reactors involved in the Japanese emergency are very similar to 23 reactors in use in the United States, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission records.

The NRC database of nuclear power plants shows that 23 of the 104 nuclear plants in the U.S. are GE boiling-water reactors with GE's Mark I systems for containing radioactivity, the same containment system used by the reactors in trouble at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The U.S. reactors are in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
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Well shit, next 9.1 quake induced tsunami to hit that plant in Nebraska, and there's a few miles around it that could well be in for some trouble.
 
[Golbez-RG-] said:
You seem to confuse yourself a lot, because I never said it was likely to melt through to the water table. :lol:

EDIT: There is however already enough radiation surrounding the facility for a 20-30km exclusion zone though, and it will probably be like that for a very long time.
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I wasn't referencing you specifically; it was more a jab at the media giving doomsday scenarios and citing the china syndrome as a possible outcome. When the media is calling this Chernobyl 2.0 or saying the slagged fuel is gonna melt down into the water table and cause a massive release of contaminants they are peddling misinformation and causing unnecessary panic.

As for the evacuation zone surrounding the plant, that's really just a safety precaution at this point. As long as containment is not breached there's very little chance that any of the surrounding areas will suffer any contamination whatsoever. The steam they have vented so far is mainly composed of noble gasses and other short lived isotopes that pose no lasting danger.
 
ICFire said:
Frankly I'd say the fact they haven't went china syndrome yet speaks well to the safety involved considering the magnitude of the quake.
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yes, this is true and I agree, but that's not the point of his article.
 
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US helis detect radiation 60mi from plant
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yea, no big deal. this isn't going to be a danger to the environment or populace like chernobyl was. its not possible. go about your business. nothing to see here.
 
REAKING NEWS: Tsunami feared to reach Pacific coast in northeastern Japan in minutes (11:08)

BREAKING NEWS: Evacuation order issued in Hachinohe
 
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