Japan’s nuclear meltdown: 2nd blast possible

JapaneseTsunami-aftermath

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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JapaneseTsunami-aftermathCanada: Sunday @ 2pm : Japan: Monday @ 3am

Workers at Fukushima are flooding reactors with seawater in a last ditch attempt to prevent a meltdown. On Saturday, overheating caused a build-up of hydrogen which resulted in an explosion so powerful, it literally blew the roof off the concrete building housing reactor number one. (see video below) Officials said the reactor and its containment system were not damaged but workers have released some gas from reactor number three in the hopes of avoiding a similar explosion.

Even though the reactors were shut down because of the quake, one has to remember that shutting down a reactor is not like turning off a light bulb. A reactor remains “hot” or active for days after the control rods are shoved into the core and it is paramount that the core still be cooled. If not, the heat will build up to a point where the fuel can literally melt along with the reactor vessel. This is a meltdown and the risk is having radioactive fuel get outside into the environment.

The Washington Post has an excellent series of diagrams which show how a reactor runs and is cooled and what exactly went wrong at the Fukushima plant: How the nuclear emergency unfolded (Mar 12/2011).

Reuters has reported that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency has rated the incident at Tokyo Electric Power’s nuclear plant north of Tokyo a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). To compare, Three Mile Island in 1979 was rated 5 while Chernobyl in 1986 was rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale.

From there though, reports are quite confusing. One headline reads “Official says 2nd explosion possible”. Another says “Health risks from reactor quite low”. It’s obvious that nobody really knows where this story is going. While the quake and the tsunami are tragic disasters, it almost seems like this entire situation with the Fukushima reactors has turned what’s bad into something which could potentially become catastrophic.

ABC reports that Japanese health authorities are screening evacuees from the 13-mile-radius danger zone surrounding Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant and have now confirmed that at least 22 people have been exposed to radiation following the hydrogen explosion at the plant’s No. 1 reactor building early Saturday morning. Another 160 are suspected to have been exposed while waiting for evacuation in the nearby town of Futabe.

The Telegraph has a video interview with a British nuclear expert who describes a frightening worst case scenario of what may be going on at the nuclear plant. True? False? Nobody knows for sure but he reiterates that the Japanese authorities evacuating such a large area around the plant means they are planning for that worst case scenario.

There can be no doubt that the fallout, and I mean figurative fallout, from all this is why built something like a nuclear reactor in an area prone to dangerous seismic activity and why did redundant systems fail to work? Of course, reports have stated that the quake was one thing, but then the resulting tsunami damaged the backup generators so the plant ended up with no functioning cooling system. Hard questions need to be asked.

Casualties

The National Police Agency has officially confirmed 1597 people dead, 1923 injured, and 1481 missing across sixteen prefectures. These numbers are expected to significantly increase, with casualties expected to reach tens of thousands.

Prefectural officials and the Kyodo News Agency, quoting local officials, said that 9,500 people from Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture—about a half of the town′s population—were unaccounted for. NHK has reported that the death toll in Iwate Prefecture alone may reach 10,000.

Officials in Wakabayashi-ku, Sendai, which was heavily damaged by tsunami waves, stated that they had found the bodies of 200–300 victims.

(Wikipedia)

Russia Today – Mar 13/2011

Radiation up 400 times in Miyagi, new blast feared at Fukushima

Japanese police say the death toll following Friday’s mega-quake and tsunami has now exceeded 1000 people. But fears remain it’ll easily be 10 times that. It all comes amid warnings of new threats in the country. Officials fear there’s a risk of another explosion at the Fukoshima power plant but remain confident it can withstand the blast like the first reactor did on Saturday. The government is also saying that a second reactor in Fukushima could be experiencing a partial meltdown.

Meanwhile, radiation has increased 400-fold in the region of Miyagi which lies dozens of kilometres further north. It’s not clear at the moment if the radiation came from the local nuclear plant or drifted up from the facility in Fukushima following Saturday’s explosion. Officials claims the radioactivity released so far does not pose a threat to human health. Having said that, the number of people admitted to hospital suffering exposure is said to be rising amid a series of aftershocks that continue to rock the country.

The Japanese Prime Minister has been addressing the situation and he said that 12,000 people have been rescued so far. He called it was the hardest time for the country since World War II. Meanwhile the emergency services are on high alert in Russia’s Far East.

Associated Press – Mar 13/2011

Japan Warns of Fresh Nuclear Blast Risk

Japan’s top government spokesman is warning of a fresh threat of explosion from a nuclear unit at a power plant the country’s earthquake-ravaged northeast.

Al Jazeera – Mar 12/2011

Explosion at nuclear plant in Japan

After the devastating earthquake off the coast of north-east Japan damaged the cooling system of several reactors at Fukushima’s nuclear power facility, a large explosion appears to have blown the external walls and roof off one of the reactor buildings.

Tsunami Sweeps Through Kesennuma City in Japan

[OMG! This is amazing footage. I can’t believe the amount of water that came into the city. It starts slow then it grows and grows until there is literally a torrent of strong water pushing anything in its path: cars, debris, knocking over buildings]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmyuOWzWsM4

Huge tsunami wave sweeps Quake across Japan

[Aerial footage of the tsunami sweeping across the countryside. It’s a a huge wave of water carrying all sorts of debris.]

Time Magazine photo essay

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2058378_2254571,00.html

This is a must see series of photographs taken in various locales in Japan. The photos are stunningly clear, in high resolution and they all capture the unbelievable after effects of both the quake and the tsunami.

Russia Today – Mar 12/2011

Video of blast at Fukushima nuke plant, radiation leak reported

References

Wikipedia: 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Sendai_earthquake_and_tsunami

Click HERE to read more from William Belle

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