Nuclear fuel at Fukushima No. 1 unit melted after full exposure. May 12, Kyodo
Nuclear fuel at Fukushima No. 1 unit melted after full exposure
TOKYO, May 12, Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, revealed Thursday that HOLES had been created by melted nuclear fuel at the bottom of the No. 1 reactor's pressure vessel.
Japan Nuclear Tech Inst always said RODS WERE TOTALLY MELTED
Close to two weeks ago, Michio Ishikawa of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute on the situation at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, as he appeared on Asahi TV on April 29. Here's a translation of what he said which is slowly becoming truth as more media starts reporting it.
Mr. Ishikawa continues to believe in the safety of nuclear power generation. He didn't mince his words and said what they are doing at Fukushima I Nuke Plant is not working. That surprised some, including the host of the show, as Ishikawa is known as a strong proponent for the nuclear power generation and the nuclear industry.
About the condition of the reactor cores:
"I believe the fuel rods are completely melted. They may already have escaped the pressure vessel. Yes, they say 55% or 30%, but I believe they are all melted down. When the fuel rods melt, they melt from the middle part on down.
"I think the temperature inside the melted core is 2000 degrees to 2000 and several hundred degrees Celsius. A crust has formed on the surface where the water hits. Decay heat is 2000 to 3000 kilowatts, and through the cracks on the crust the radioactive materials (mostly noble gas and iodine) are escaping into the air.
"Volatile gas has almost all escaped from the reactor by now.
"The water [inside the pressure vessel] is highly contaminated with uranium, plutonium, cesium, cobalt, in the concentration we've never seen before.
"My old colleague contacted me and shared his calculation with me. At the decay heat of 2000 kilowatt... There's a substance called cobalt 60. Highly radioactive, needs 1 to 1.5 meter thick shields. It kills people at 1000 curies. He calculated that there are 10 million curies of cobalt-60 in the reactor core. If 10% of cobalt-60 in the core dissolve into water, it's 1 million curies." [10 million curies equals 370,000 terabecquerels, and 1 million curies equals 37,000 terabecquerels. I used this conversion table. Tell me I'm wrong! Cobalt-60 alone would make a Level 7 disaster...]
"They (TEPCO) want to circulate this highly contaminated water to cool the reactor core. Even if they are able to set up the circulation system, it will be a very difficult task to shield the radiation. It will be a very difficult work to build the system, but it has to be done.
"It is imperative to know the current condition of the reactor cores. It is my assumption [that the cores have melted], but wait one day, and we have water more contaminated with radioactive materials. This is a war, and we need to build a "bridgehead" at the reactor itself instead of fooling around with the turbine buildings or transporting contaminated water."
Here's the video of the show, for those of you who can understand Japanese ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO0flpwmjJI&feature=player_embedded
I watched and interpreted this Japanese show ...
I watched 5 video clips posted by someone else regarding Asahi TV and Michio Ishikawa of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute. (the latter episodes discuss politics and distrust amongst residents – a bit off-topic). Here are the main takeaways:
· Ishikawa and several other specialists on the round table believe that 75-85% of the cores have melted, if not all, as opposed to the 55, 35, 30% figures released by the Japanese government for reactors 1, 2, 3, respectively.
· The figures released by the Japanese government are essentially bogus because nobody or no robot has entered the reactors and witness what is exactly going on. They are releasing percentages based on wishful calculations.
· Their primary objective should be to enter the reactor and assess the real damage. This would include removing concrete debris from the plant exterior and clearing space for heavy machinery to be installed. That way a human in a heavily-fortified capsule could propelled into the core. Many of the initiatives being planned and executed to channel radioactive water to outside tanks should be of secondary concern.
· Since the gas seeping into the atmosphere as a result of radioactive matter being cooled, radiation levels outside the plant are not as high as Chernobyl, where gas a result of a full nuclear meltdown seeped into the atmosphere.
· As the plant is water-cooled, uranium-235, plutonium, cobalt-60 continues to accumulate in the water tanks and subsequently released into the ocean. Approx. 1,000 to 10,000 times the safe dosage of cobalt-60 are being released from the reactors – it is uncertain what percentage of this is directly being pumped out to sea.
important to continue the testing
With the continuing catastrophe of the meltdown,
it is of utmost importance that the monitoring done
by the Brawm team be continued. All that black smoke
being reported in the last few days may have significant releases of
radioactive matter coming our way SOON.
Please, BRAWM team... any
Please, BRAWM team... any comment? or no coment?
Well theres no containment
Well theres no containment and While tepco has been stating they were keeping 12 foot fuel rods under water they kept saying at least partially it turns out the inner containment vessel has holes in it from the original meltdown so this whole time they have been pouring 150 tones of water a day in vessel it is running out the holes created by the liquid molten .once again the situation has been downplayed and is way worse .my question is is it really possible to cool melted fuel by using the outer containment vessel only and how effective can that be?
O weLl
Sorry outer vessel is leaking too never mind .
Water likely leaking from No.1 reactor
Tokyo Electric Power Company says water may be leaking from breaches in the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing a sharp drop in the water level inside the reactor.
Tokyo Electric sent workers inside the building to adjust the water gauge of the reactor.
The utility had suspected the gauge wasn't working properly because the water level hasn't been rising despite pumping in 150 tons of water daily to cool the reactor.
On Thursday morning, it was found that the water level was more than one meter below the bottom of the fuel rods, suggesting a large volume of water is leaking into the containment vessel.
The utility company also believes that the water is leaking from the containment vessel into the reactor building. This is because the estimated volume of water inside the containment vessel appears to be less than what leaked into it from the reactor.
Ok so if the water is a
Ok so if the water is a meter below fuel rods how deep is water or is there no water essentially?
Ty tepco
But a spokesman for the power giant said when a faulty gauge had been repaired, it showed water levels in the pressure vessel 5m (16ft) below the level needed to cover fuel rods.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13374153
If u want to read physists
If u want to read physists opinions on situation go here.These guys are engineers here .
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=480200&page=431