New Problems at Japanese Plant Subdue Optimism (March 24)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/world/asia/24nuclear.html?_r=1&ref=us

The Japanese electricians who bravely strung wires this week to all six reactor buildings at a stricken nuclear power plant succeeded despite waves of heat and blasts of radioactive steam.
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The restoration of electricity at the plant, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, stirred hopes that the crisis was ebbing. But nuclear engineers say some of the most difficult and dangerous tasks are still ahead — and time is not necessarily on the side of the repair teams.

The tasks include manually draining hundreds of gallons of radioactive water and venting radioactive gas from the pumps and piping of the emergency cooling systems, which are located diagonally underneath the overheated reactor vessels. The urgency of halting the spread of radioactive contamination from the site was underlined on Wednesday by the health warning that infants should not drink tap water — even in Tokyo, 140 miles southwest of the stricken plant — which raised alarms about extensive contamination.

“We’ve got at least 10 days to two weeks of potential drama before you can declare the accident over,” said Michael Friedlander, who worked as a nuclear plant operator for 13 years.

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There's still hope.

Nor were there dangerous levels of radiation released during those extended years.

The problem in Japan is that it might NOT take that many years. They don't seem to have the option of just leaving the cooling systems running for years and years while activity levels die down. Too many systems have been destroyed.

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Bound to be some kind of record.

the anti-NNadir.

:rofl:

:rofl:

:toast:

reactors at Fukushima - emitting dangerous quantities of fission products over wide areas of northern Japan and endangering the lives of Japanese emergency workers and civilians nearby.

It will take decades and many billions of dollars to clean this up.

Once we find out the true extent of this DISASTER

Nuclear apologists can squeal all the want - but this is a major nuclear DISASTER and they cannot wish it away.

nope

WHY did it take 14 years to clean up TMI?

Were they working roud the clock and that was just how long it took? Or were there years and years spent doing essentially nothing?

There are three severely damaged reactors at Fukushima - emitting dangerous quantities of fission products over wide areas of northern Japan and endangering the lives of Japanese emergency workers and civilians nearby.

But the only thing you're willing to quantify is the number of reactors, right (and it's actually four)?

Just use lots of scary sounding words... yeah, that'll make the situation seem worse.

It will take decades and many billions of dollars to clean this up.

Billions, yes... decades, no. At TMI they had the luxury of letting the plant just sit there as activity levels fell. The Fukushima plant is too damaged to assume that they can just run the pumps for a decade or two.

Their situation is far worse than TMI... but that doesn't mean that it will take longer, it means it will take LESS time (but at greater danger).

yup

What a surprise.

Of course the translation of that BS is "oops... busted again!"

We'll all pretend that it wasn't obvious. :)

or their families.
It won't be over for others affected by the radiation, including the farmers and the people who used to live close to the reactors.