Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor

From The Guardian

The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site.

The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.

Workers have been pumping water into three reactors at the stricken plant in a desperate bid to keep the fuel rods from melting down, but the fuel is at least partially exposed in all the reactors.

At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel “lower head” of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said.

17 thoughts on “Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor”

  1. Myst!, it was either yesterday or the day before (this shit just blends for me) I was ready to engage enquiring as to your whereabouts (not bad timing!). It’s good to see your voice again, friend. (I won’t ask,.. now.. but feel free to share what ya know.)

    All Smiles (with a little bit of trepidation, in an aware/conscious sense), toward the task we’ve all got in front of us.

    Peace and Love, and Creativity!

    Jere

  2. mystes, that might explain a lot (body tingles etc). I prayed while swimming today; water in water about water…..may our Love be Felt.

  3. As a water sign with fire on the horizon, I’ve been hearing from the local guardians about this. (LGs: the subastral governors who keep the fibonnacci sequences in order throughout what we call the ‘natural’ world.) It is a little difficult to translate what they are expressing but imagine a tonal language that is communicated entirely through skin-contact. The shape/tone is that cold/hot have now tilted into one another, creating a synclasm of sorts in the temperature continuum. What we are experiencing as weirding of the weather is one of the outlying expressions of that entanglement.

    We have a particularly active aquifer here in Central Texas (my daughter’s ashes are disseminated throughout), and I have a secret but very lively wellspring near my house who keeps me updated.

    I’m not super-clear about what the LHC and this nuke situation have to do with these alterations, but I suspect they are connected. And my instinct says that there are steep but very very good adaptive pressures in play here.

    At noon we’ll sing together (or in waves) — remember that it’s water singing to water.

    All love (the other rain, dear)

    M

  5. I’m seeing very little on this. FDL’s coverage ends on March 28, three days ago. Nobody even picked up the Guardian piece there. So that’s not exactly dependable. I will check in on the All Things Nuclear site to see what happened during Thursday’s press briefing.

    Even their briefing site drops off after Monday.

    http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_risk/safety/japan-nuclear-crisis-briefings.html

    I have reposted the latest from NIRS last night. They usually update in the morning.

    This is the latest FDL – verging on useless.

    Japan Nuclear Watch, 3/29: Defense In Depth Now Has Sandbags!
    3/28/11 – Scarecrow

    Japan Nuclear Watch, Sunday 3/28: Pools, Puddles, Panic and Apologies
    3/27/11 – Scarecrow

    Fukushima Heralds the End of Capitalism
    3/26/11 – lobster

  7. There is an ongoing discussion at http://www.firedoglake.com under the special coverage session “Japan in Crisis”. It is pesky if you are using a hand held device. The threads are long and in order to refresh you have lots of scrolling to do. IMHO this has the most up to date postings with links to news sources, government agencies, etc. They have a March 30 discussion up. Look for the latest date thread at the very end of discussion under tags.

  8. There has not been one new nuke put online since 1979 — a small accident like TMI is all it took. Yes, I think this is a big step toward the end. This is not going to go away, and it was a worst case scenario in the worst possible place. Now everyone knows they cannot control these things.They simply cannot, and we know they’re lying when they say they can.

  9. Oh, would that work?

    Caldicott did say this spells the end of nuclear power generation. I sure hope that prediction is correct.

  10. Here is how the Daily Mail, an old school conservative rag, is spinning it:

    Japan has finally conceded it has lost the battle to contain radiation at four of its crippled reactors and they will be closed down.

    Details of what that will entail have yet to be revealed, but officials said it would mean switching off all power and abandoning attempts to keep the nuclear fuel rods cool.

    The final move would involve pouring tonnes of concrete on the reactors to seal them in tombs and ensure radiation does not leak out.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371793/Fukushima-nuclear-plant-entombed-concrete-Japan-admits-lost-battle-crippled-reactors.html#ixzz1I8oKwH8A

  11. I think this prayer is in order for all the living things that are suffering. Thanks word for this reminder and thanks to all.

  12. speaking of water, this is from a link carol van strum sent:

    One major problem, said Murray E. Jennex, an associate professor at San Diego State University with 20 years of experience in examining nuclear containment structures, was that all the water the Japanese were spraying had soaked important machinery like generators and pumps, further hampering efforts to restore the reactors’ electricity supply. The use of helicopters in the first week to drop water on the rectors from above was especially ineffective in hitting the target and may have done more harm than good, he said.

    “They dumped water all over the place,” he said. “They keep on generating more contamination. That’s the consequence of doing it. They got water on things that shouldn’t be wet.”

    Tokyo Electric is also struggling to replace workers at the crippled plant, who must be cycled out as they approach a cumulative radiation exposure limit set by the Japanese government.

    The company is leaning on its contractors to provide more workers, sometimes offering many times normal wages for the increasing risks of working at Fukushima, according to local news reports.

    The risks that Japan could export its nuclear problems by allowing radioactive contaminants to get into the air and sea are among the reasons why the government and Tokyo Electric have enlisted the help of experts from France, the United States and elsewhere to make sure conditions do not spiral out of control.

    On Tuesday, Peter B. Lyons, a senior United States nuclear energy official, said the Energy Department was preparing a shipment to Japan of radiation-hardened robots, and the personnel to demonstrate how to use them.

    In an admission of how long the cooling process may take, Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Japan’s nuclear regulator, said late Tuesday: “We will have to continue cooling for quite a long period. We should be thinking years.”

    Kuni Yogo, a former atomic energy policy planner in the Japan Science and Technology Agency, said: “There is some trial and error, but this is the beginning of a three- to five-year effort.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/world/asia/30japan.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

    water water everywhere, and… *sigh* yeah, i’m thinking a global water-healing prayer is in order…

  13. At noon tomorrow and probaboy thfrough my dreams tonight: “The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you.”

    Thanks word and all.

  14. Aaaaahhhhh…….

    A Word, thanks for posting Maseru Emoto’s call here.

    Today a local headline tells of radiation found in Washington state milk (in Spokane) But it is compared to that “background radiation” which as I understand Helen Caldicott to have taught us, is not at all the same.

    I guess we better get our transmutational genes activated tout suite!

    “Waters of the Earth, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you. We love you.”

  15. NIRS is reporting:

    UPDATE, 3:30 pm, Tuesday, March 29, 2011. The Guardian (U.K.) is reporting that “Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.” Lahey said he believes a full core meltdown, with breach of the steel liner containment, is in process at Unit 2. While his statement about no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe appears meant to reassure, he admitted that, “it’s not going to be good news for the environment.”

    However, there has been no confirmation yet of this hypothesis from other sources; the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told a Senate hearing this morning that it does not yet know the source of the leaks that have sparked extremely high radiation levels in water inside the reactor building at three units, as well as in nearby turbine buildings and in trenches outside.

    Meanwhile, Japanese newspapers are reporting that the government is considering taking over TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co.), the utility that owns Fukushima, either temporarily or permanently. TEPCO has lost 70% of its value since March 11 and its chief executive officer has not been seen in public since March 13 and did not even attend crisis meetings at TEPCO’s Tokyo headquarters from at least March 16-22.

  17. Dr. Masaru Emoto asking/reminding us of prayer for water re: the nuclear situation in Japan. (I’ll put the UTube link up next. it’s laborious at best and transcript is here:)

    http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish/grand_bahama_labyrinth/URGENT_Call_to_Prayer_from_DrMasuru_Emoto_for_water_of_Japan15177.shtml

    “The following is a message from Barbara Chester of the Grand Bahama Labyrinth: The situation in Japan, now with regard to the contaminated water, is become dire. Even the tap water in Tokyo is affected. This is a situation affecting all mankind and all creation.

    We have just received an urgent appeal from the famous Scientist, Emoto Masaru, whose message is written and on Youtube. I invite you to watch, read and to join in a short but very important ceremony at 12 noon tomorrow, Thursday, 31 March 2011 (all time zones).

    Wherever you are, please put your hands together in prayer and, from your heart, aloud or silently say the following words:

    “The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you.”

    “The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you.”

    “The water of Fukushima Nuclear Plant, we are sorry to make you suffer. Please forgive us. We thank you, and we love you.”

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