Reports are heavy radiation release. The containment has ruptured. The plant is being evacuated. Radiation levels are climbing south of the plant. This is bad.
yes, after much questioning by the reporters they finally revealed that plant operators have been evacuated
I thought Tokyo was 70 miles from Fukushima but I may have been misinformed . The evacuation zone was 12 miles. After this explosion the evacuation zone is over 140 miles now.
Some live streaming of news about the Fukushima Nuclear Plants here: http://jibtv.com/program/?page=0
From what I understand, the core catcher (or a lack one one) would have nothing to do with the explosion. IIRC, the core catcher is only there to "catch" the melted fuel in the event of a meltdown. And I'm still not aware of any confirmation one way or the other regarding whether the reactors have one (I'd assume they would). The explosion occurred due to the venting of the steam (among other things), which likely involved hydrogen reacting with the oxygen in the air. Doesn't even require a meltdown, although I'm guessing the steam was being vented in order to prevent/minimize one. Unfortunately, things sound pretty bad right now. Radiation levels (around the plant?) have definitely spiked. And certainly not the "levels equivalent to a chest x-ray" kind that seemed to be mentioned earlier. Sounds like a fire on reactor #4, which was actually offline the whole time. Read something about potential issues with the spent fuel? Then there's reactor #2 and the possible breach in the containment structure (I assumed the levels were elevated because of that, but I think I read that they said it was from #4? OK...). Pretty confused by all this info, but hopefully things work out. I missed this. Is there a link? I heard they increased the evacuation to 20KM (~12 miles). People within 30KM should stay within doors. (think it was 10KM/20KM before?)
Probably too early to tell...unless they've already said and I missed it. I'm still confused as to what caused the spike. #2 would make sense if the containment vessel was breached (and that would be bad). But #4? I have no idea how it could be increasing the radiation levels. Would love more info about that. Hopefully everything stays relatively confined to the plant, or at worst, the 10KM-20KM area (depending on the radioactive elements, it might be harmless after some time and cleanup). I'm worried about the breach though. I would think the fuel by itself won't really do much even if the containment structure had issues, but if there is another explosion (from within the reactor) which puts it into the atmosphere...that would be bad. Too much to speculate at this point. I'm not even sure how much of this is possible, let alone likely. Definitely more reason to be worried now than when that was posted. Although still would like more info.
should be some interesting panic trades in the morning. has anyone heard anything confirming that the containment dome is failing? i was just listening to someone on bloomberg who was saying that he still feels very sure this will be contained.
is the nikkei down 1000+??? yahoo has it at 620, but someone just posted a chart on a message board with the nikkei's low at 8390.
Apparently containment for #1 and #3 are doing OK ("undamaged" despite the explosions outside the reactors). #2 is the one with issues from what I understand (although to be honest, I don't really know much about that). And #4 is just weird. I think the chances are still pretty good that everything will be contained (although that may depend on your definition). But definitely a lot lower now than say 24 hours ago. Meltdown or no, as long as those structures are staying strong, probably no reason to worry much. But once there's a problem (leak, breach, whatever)...I'd start to get pretty concerned. edit: Also, it is going on almost 4 days since the shutdown (I think?). Seriously, how much longer until these cores become relatively stable? I know it might take weeks until they are completely cooled, but as I mentioned earlier, I was under the assumption that the heat from the decay would only be generated for a couple of days. I would think it would be cooling on its own by now, regardless of what water can or can't be pumped in.
Per the Times, [rquoter]TOKYO — Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station damaged its crucial steel containment structure, emergency workers were withdrawn from the plant, and a fire at a fourth reactor spewed large amounts of radioactive material into the air, according to official statements and industry executives informed about the developments....[/rquoter] [rquoter]They initially suggested that the damage was limited and that emergency operations aimed at cooling the nuclear fuel at three stricken reactors with seawater would continue. But industry executives said that in fact the situation had spiraled out of control and that all plant workers needed to leave the plant to avoid excessive exposure to radioactive leaks. If all workers do in fact leave the plant, the nuclear fuel in all three reactors is likely to melt down, which would lead to wholesale releases of radioactive material — by far the largest accident of its kind since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. [/rquoter] Somebody correct me. If they've evacuated the emergency workers, then there's no one to try to cool the cores with saltwater. If there's no saltwater, the cores are exposed, and melt down. If the cores melt down, they will not be contained, and northern Japan is good and truly ----ed. And the only thing keeping it away from Tokyo is what, the fickleness of today's wind patterns? A generation of birth defects.
i see it down 995...the yahoo probably had not updated from the daily intermission the nikkei has regarding the containment vessel, i have seen numerous reports that it has been breached in reactor #2 at fukushima daiichi
agreed, with the caveat that the markets are a telling indicator of how serious the situation on the ground must be
apologies...moving to the stock market thread. but like pippen said it does show how serious the toll could possibly be with the japanese market shedding over half a trillion dollars in value in 2 days.
