TEPCO Quietly Admits Reactor 3 Could Be Melting Down NOW

[Nomad]

I didn't say that nothing in the world is safer – but that's a false dichotomy.

No form of power generation is completely safe.Hydroelectric plants typically required dams, which can fail and, in doing so, devastate huge areas. Coal plants produce hundreds of millions of tons of waste material (some of which is radioactive) and they can also explode to boot, leaving a huge crater behind. Need I go on?

Nuclear power – especially the fourth generation reactor designs – are very safe and, by design, are "fail safe" in the sense that they incorporate passive cooling and loss of control of the reaction results in a safe "automatic" shutdown because of the reactor chemistry.

The U.S. Navy, which has been utilizing nuclear power for decades, has an excellent safety record and has proven that running nuclear power plants can be done safely.

Does that mean nuclear power is all sunshine and lollipops? Of course not. Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima all serve as reminders. It is something that needs be designed correctly, built correctly, operated correctly and maintained correctly.

You will find that in every case of failure, the failure was, ultimately, attributed to failing to do one of those four things (or maybe more than one).

It's not a pleasant thought, but examining the evidence rationally tilts the scale in favor of nuclear power over other power generation processes.

It would, of course, be wonderful if we could rely exclusively on solar and wind power generation, but we don't live in a fairy tale. We live in the real world and in the real world we need reliable and constant power; solar and wind just aren't able to sustain us at this point.

I doubt anybody "spouted" the sort of statements being made today about 4th generation reactors for previous generation designs.

Facts are facts: new designs don't require active cooling and use molten salts instead of steam, do not require pressurized vessels, have reaction chemistries that inherently scram the reactor if reactor control is compromised and consume high-level nuclear waste and actinides. These are easily verifiable facts: the physics and the numbers speak volumes. You may not care to listen (or know how to read) but those of us that do can see how much better the 4th generation reactor designs are.

The gullible are those that don't understand the topic, who don't have the ability to understand it and who rely on parroting the opinion of others (who may not know better either). And there's plenty of gullible people to go around. Look at how many idiots are complaining about wifi causing cancer, vaccines causing autism, gmo foods causing deformities and so on.

Chernobyl didn't even have a containment vessel for the reactor vessel. Essentially the Russians took a Home Depot esque building and put a nuclear reactor in it with cooling pipes, turbines and electronics

If you guys are interested look up Westinghouse AP600 and AP1000 as well as General Electric ESWBR. Both types rely exclusively on passive cooling for emergencies meaning the primary components of the emergency cooling system do not require electrical power whatsoever.

[avxo]

All you are is a parrot.

Coming from a troll, I think that's actually high praise.

Chernobyl didn't even have a containment vessel for the reactor vessel. Essentially the Russians took a Home Depot esque building and put a nuclear reactor in it with cooling pipes, turbines and electronics

Right. The Chernobyl reactor was built with minimal safeties (including no containment vessel) because the Russians felt pretty confident in the design.

If you guys are interested look up Westinghouse AP600 and AP1000 as well as General Electric ESWBR. Both types rely exclusively on passive cooling for emergencies meaning the primary components of the emergency cooling system do not require electrical power whatsoever.

Ugh, I'm not big on pressurized water designs. There are serious cavitation issues that can develop. The newer molten salt designs are genuinely much better. Of course, the newer pressurized water designs, like the Westinghouse reactors, are orders of magnitude better and safer than the stuff that was running over at Fukushima.

[Anabol]

Those stuped Japs. Never were clever. Never.

[sync pulse]

Nuclear fission is the only process that can generate dense energy on an industrial scale that doesn't require burning anything.

[Radical Plato]

Those stuped Japs. Never were clever. Never.

That's ridiculous, they actually have a reputation for high quality engineering and innovation.  Sales man everywhere have uttered the phrase  “Made in Japan” to help sell their products.  Think 'Toyota' or 'Sony'. The Japanese build great electronic equipment, cars, motorcycles etc.  Their reputation has dwindled somewhat but they are still considered far superior to countries such as China and America.  In engineering terms, America was long the laughing stock of the world, building cars that were inefficient and unreliable.  If you were to compare a Honda Motorcycle with a Harley Davidson in terms of quality, engineering, modern technology use, reliability and efficiency, there really is NO comparison.  Although modern Harleys have improved somewhat thanks to using foreign parts made in asian Countries.  During the era (1969 – 1981), Harley Davidson motorcycles were known as ‘Hardly-Ableson.’.

[Tapeworm]

That's ridiculous, they actually have a reputation for high quality engineering and innovation.  They build great electronic equipment, cars, motorcycles etc.  Their reputation has dwindled somewhat but still considered for superior to countries such as China and America.  In engineering terms, America was long the laughing stock of the world, building cars that were inefficient and unreliable.  If you were to compare a Honda Motorcycle with a Harley Davidson in terms of quality, engineering, modern technology use, reliability and efficiency, there really is NO comparison.

As opposed to here where it's chinese quality at australian prices.    Do they even make anything here?  It's like one big warehouse.

[Anabol]

That's ridiculous, they actually have a reputation for high quality engineering and innovation.  Sales man everywhere have uttered the phrase  “Made in Japan” to help sell their products.  Think 'Toyota' or 'Sony'. The Japanese build great electronic equipment, cars, motorcycles etc.  Their reputation has dwindled somewhat but they are still considered far superior to countries such as China and America.  In engineering terms, America was long the laughing stock of the world, building cars that were inefficient and unreliable.  If you were to compare a Honda Motorcycle with a Harley Davidson in terms of quality, engineering, modern technology use, reliability and efficiency, there really is NO comparison.  Although modern Harleys have improved somewhat thanks to using foreign parts made in asian Countries. 

You are wrong. No Innovations at all. Just reusage of allready invented stuff, nothing more. I mean really new stuff in science.
For example motorcycles, you were mentioning: electronics were invented by white ppl, internal combustion engine were invented by white ppl.
All modern stuff were discovered/invented by white ppl. WTF even wheel's were invented by white ppl.
Radioctivity were discovered by white ppl (Marie Curie, Henri Becquerel); nucklear fussion were discovered by white man (Otto Hahn).
What else ?

[agenda21nwo]

Those stuped Japs. Never were clever. Never.

What are you so cocky about?  It's gonna happen in America too.

[MONSTER_TRICEPS]

I'd prefer a quick death over what some victims of extreme radiation exposure had to go through.

Google "Tokaimura nuclear accident" and first go to wiki and then go to Google pictures. Not for the faint of heart.

Why didn't they just kill these people... would have been way more humane.



Anyway I agree with Avxo, I think it is possible to build and maintain a relatively safe reactor. But we all know how people act when money is on the line. Design, maintenance etc. will be comromised because of human greed, and this is the biggest danger of nuclear energy. How on earth is it possible that there are still RMBK reactors operational in 2014?

[falco]

Karma is a biatch.
First the usa drop radiation in japan, 70 years later payback happens.

[Radical Plato]

You are wrong. No Innovations at all. Just reusage of allready invented stuff, nothing more. I mean really new stuff in science.
For example motorcycles, you were mentioning: electronics were invented by white ppl, internal combustion engine were invented by white ppl.
All modern stuff were discovered/invented by white ppl. WTF even wheel's were invented by white ppl.
Radioctivity were discovered by white ppl (Marie Curie, Henri Becquerel); nucklear fussion were discovered by white man (Otto Hahn).
What else ?

For starters, the Japanese are linked with countless innovations, such as: Wireless transmission, Flat panel displays, Bullet trains, Flash memory, Blue laser, Compact Discs, Blu-ray Discs, Android (robots), Motion-sensing controllers, Pocket calculators, General anesthesia, the Digital Camera just to name a few.

And secondly, who cares who invented all that stuff, the fact is who has utilised it the best.  And the Japanese are far superior when making high quality products than most of Europe , China and America.  This is common knowledge.  

Richard Lynn’s books “IQ and the Wealth of Nations” and “Race Differences in Intelligence" based on Worldwide Cultural IQ comparisons sees the Japanese come in 5th with an an above average score of 105.  The top 5 are all from the East Asian Countries. Moving over to Europe, the UK scores 100, Germany is just behind on 99 along with several countries like Finland.  The US is just behind on 98.  Only a fool would think the Japanese are fools.

Not only this, the reactor at Fukushima was American designed and made and the Americans decided how close to the water the reactor should be. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric. In 1971, General Electric designed, built and delivered the first, now-exploded, Mark 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and that design was also used for four of the other five reactors.

Also,there was a Whistleblower by the name of  Dale Bridenbaugh, a former engineer for GE, he exposed a critical flaw in the reactor design that was so bad, he recommended all Mark 1 reactors be shut down to repair them. This didn't happen.  God Bless Americans love of putting profit over other peoples welfare.
 

[_aj_]

There is a lot of politics in play with nuke energy too. The greens hate it, and actively agitate against it and lobby hard against it. The a Saudis hate it (obviously) and finance the greens.

With no new plants having been built in th US in over 30 years, it's not hard to see how the operating plants get obsolete fast, but you can't replace them with a new one, because that would require a DOE cert, which the US is not permitting.

We need several hundred gen4 reactors built immediately, IMHO.

Also, I like the idea of the Thorium or Sodium-6 mini reactor "nuclear batteries" that generate enough power for several neighborhoods, are the size of a large car, and are encased in concrete and self-sufficient for decades. Even the byproducts are not refineable for weapons-purposes. I would love to see towns raise a bond to go off the grid completely, now THAT'S local governance.

[_aj_]

http://www.eutimes.net/2014/01/underground-nuclear-explosion-at-crippled-japan-atomic-plant-shocks-world/

Dunno how reliable the "EU Times" is, but this shit is starting to concern me.

[Kim Jong Bob]

What a tragic time in history this has become for the Japanese people.  

It's hard to exaggerate the (temporary) demoralizing effect of this grim, radiation-rich, steam that is threatening to bring about a second round of havoc to the recovering Japanese people after the prior quake, wave and radiation trifecta that practically devastated their country.  My Japanese broker friends are stunned into speechlessness and a kind of bottled mania.  You've seen how the Japanese act in the videos and pictures: stoic, orderly, no looters, patient -- they are a brave and quality brilliant people, a far cry from the knuckle-dragging behemoths that heavily mass our cities and are only moved by the idea of celebrity gossip or cheap consumer products.

Some people I know feel that this will *cure* a certain malaise that has deadened the culture for the last generation.  Few economies have had to endure Japan's deflationary puncture after having risen so fast.  But the effort of the recovery and the spur to invention this immense labor will provoke, bode well for the young people coming up right now.  They needed a challenge and a purpose.  They have it now.

We are blessed gentlemen.  We can still come home to endless reruns of reality tv shows and still shoot the shit with our brothers on Getbig, while not having to worry about opening our backyard door to an impending doom.

To those GetBiggers in Japan, I wish you the very best...

"1"

well put omr, you are not as dumb as shizzo looks

[HandsomeMOFO]

http://www.eutimes.net/2014/01/underground-nuclear-explosion-at-crippled-japan-atomic-plant-shocks-world/

Dunno how reliable the "EU Times" is, but this shit is starting to concern me.

more reliable than msnbc

[Mr Anabolic]

For anyone who wants updates about what is going on in Fukushima and other frightening nuclear concerns around the world, here's the site for you...

http://enenews.com

[Man of Steel]

I suggest everyone on the West Coast run out and stockpile duct tape, bottled watter, potted meat and generators.

[Shockwave]

This is some horrifying shit. I think im going to head back to Texas.
Is this real? It feels surreal and I want to pass it off as typical conspiracy theorist alarmism but there is a lot of info out there and something is telling me that I need to be concerned......

[Mr Anabolic]

This is some horrifying shit. I think im going to head back to Texas.
Is this real? It feels surreal and I want to pass it off as typical conspiracy theorist alarmism but there is a lot of info out there and something is telling me that I need to be concerned......

The real conspiracy is the attempted cover-up of all of it.

[youandme]

For starters, the Japanese are linked with countless innovations, such as: Wireless transmission, Flat panel displays, Bullet trains, Flash memory, Blue laser, Compact Discs, Blu-ray Discs, Android (robots), Motion-sensing controllers, Pocket calculators, General anesthesia, the Digital Camera just to name a few.

And secondly, who cares who invented all that stuff, the fact is who has utilised it the best.  And the Japanese are far superior when making high quality products than most of Europe , China and America.  This is common knowledge.  

Richard Lynn’s books “IQ and the Wealth of Nations” and “Race Differences in Intelligence" based on Worldwide Cultural IQ comparisons sees the Japanese come in 5th with an an above average score of 105.  The top 5 are all from the East Asian Countries. Moving over to Europe, the UK scores 100, Germany is just behind on 99 along with several countries like Finland.  The US is just behind on 98.  Only a fool would think the Japanese are fools.

Not only this, the reactor at Fukushima was American designed and made and the Americans decided how close to the water the reactor should be. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric. In 1971, General Electric designed, built and delivered the first, now-exploded, Mark 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and that design was also used for four of the other five reactors.

Also,there was a Whistleblower by the name of  Dale Bridenbaugh, a former engineer for GE, he exposed a critical flaw in the reactor design that was so bad, he recommended all Mark 1 reactors be shut down to repair them. This didn't happen.  God Bless Americans love of putting profit over other peoples welfare.
 

Good post.

After all this time and no solution not even efficient temporary solutions. Gesh.

[Irongrip400]

This is some horrifying shit. I think im going to head back to Texas.
Is this real? It feels surreal and I want to pass it off as typical conspiracy theorist alarmism but there is a lot of info out there and something is telling me that I need to be concerned......

No shit.  I've seen nothing about it on BBC or the news.  Goes to show, that getbig being my first source of breaking news is spot on.

[loco]

This is some horrifying shit. I think im going to head back to Texas.
Is this real? It feels surreal and I want to pass it off as typical conspiracy theorist alarmism but there is a lot of info out there and something is telling me that I need to be concerned......

I don't know, but I do know the massive earthquake was very much real.  The devastating tsunami that followed the earthquake was very much real.  The nuclear plant explosions that followed the tsunami were very much real.

But the government and TEPCO have been saying all along that there is nothing to worry about.

[_aj_]

And there was a 5.1 magnitude quake reported in Japan last week. It was quickly in and out of my twitter feed and forgotten.

[thebrink]

The real conspiracy is the attempted cover-up of all of it.

Conspiracy    Oh brother

[tu_holmes]

"The page shows a photograph of Reactor 3 steaming vigorously to lend support to the contention above.

The problem? It is a photo from March 2011 right after the building blew up."