Legalectric

The nuclear mess in Japan is just slowly getting worse, with radiation leaking out at higher levels, more radioactive water from the plant leaking out, nowhere to store what they are able to pump out, and efforts to pump water in aren’t sufficient to provide cooling.  The good news is that they are finally openly admitting that the plants will have to be “scrapped.”

Here are some updates from around the world:

Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor

Japan nuclear crisis: evacuees turned away from shelters

Link to photos from plant

Japan to scrap stricken nuclear reactors

Here’s a view of our own Monticello reactor, the same GE as some of the Fukushima plants:

For some technical info and photos of this type of GE reactor, check this “Virtual Nuclear Tourist” site, put together by Joseph Gunyeau (here’s some background on him) who I think is based in nearby Cannon Falls, he has been a contractor at many nuclear plants — and he says that a Fukushima page is in the works:

Monticello Page from Virtual Nuclear Tourist

The saga at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear site continues, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, officials continue to report the situation as “grave.”

Radiation doses spread unequally – Daily Yomiuri Online

TEPCO workers not warned of radiation risk- Daily Yomiuri Online

Iodine 1,250times over limit – Daily Yomiuri Online

Radiation spikes in sea off Fukushima plant – Market Watch

Radioactivity rises in seawater near Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant – Washington Post

Japan PM calls situation at nuclear plant “grave” – Business Week

The nuclear disaster in Japan continues, new twists unfolding each day…

Japan agency says crippled nuclear plant operator missed inspections before disaster struck – STrib

In a report released March 2, nine days before the disasters, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency cited Tokyo Electric Power Co. for ignoring inspection schedules and failing to examine 33 pieces of equipment at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

And as for conditions at the Fukushima nuclear site, an update from Bloomberg News:

Cooling pools holding spent-fuel rods atop the plant’s six reactors were below 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit), the boiling point of water, Japan Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said last night in a news conference. The company said it needs to replace power components at reactors 1, 2, 3 and 4.

No. 1: The temperature outside the reactor’s pressure vessel fell to 385 degrees Celsius, as of 3 a.m. from 400 degrees as of 3 a.m. yesterday, Hikaru Kuroda, an official in Tokyo Electric’s nuclear management department, said today. The reactor was damaged on March 12 by a hydrogen explosion that destroyed the building’s walls. The reactor is rated level five in terms of threat on an international scale of 1-7.

No. 2: The temperature outside the reactor’s pressure vessel fell below 160 degrees Celsius, as of 3 a.m., Kuroda said. Workers reconnected a 1.5-kilometer (1 mile) power cable on March 19 to the unit. A March 15 explosion may have damaged the containment chamber. The reactor is rated a level-five threat.

No. 3: Smoke was seen rising from the building of the reactor at about 3:55 p.m. local time. Workers were evacuated from the building, spokesman Kaoru Yoshida said. Workers connected a power cable to the No. 3 and 4 reactors. The temperature inside the reactor dropped below 200 degrees Celsius, the Fukushima plant operator said earlier today. The Japanese Self Defense Force and firefighters have doused a total of 3,742 metric tons of water on the reactor since March 17, the government agency said in a statement. A March 14 explosion damaged the unit’s fuel cover. The reactor is rated a level-five threat.

No. 4: Japanese Self Defense Forces have sprayed a total of 255 tons of water toward the reactor building since yesterday. A fire broke out in the pond containing spent-fuel rods. The nuclear agency said March 17 there may be no water in the cooling pool. It’s rated four in terms of threat. This reactor was undergoing maintenance when the earthquake hit.

No. 5: The reactor achieved cold shutdown at 2:30 p.m. local time yesterday when the temperature fell below 100 degrees Celsius yesterday, Megumi Iwashita, Tepco spokeswoman, said. The unit was idle for maintenance before the earthquake.

No. 6: The reactor achieved cold shutdown at 7:27 p.m. when the temperature fell below 100 degrees Celsius yesterday, Iwashita said. A backup generator was fixed March 19, according to a company press release. The unit was idle for maintenance before the earthquake.

Isn’t it time for those who did the deal allowing new and increased dry cask storage at Monticello (same boiling water reactor as Fukushima’s) and Prairie Island to say NO!   From the New York Times, for those of us here in Minnesota by our own GE boiling water plant in Minnesota, info on the design of that type of plant:

Deconstructing a Controversial Design

New Explosion at Japan nuclear facility – CBS News

BOOM!

Oh great… I dug through my pile o’ mail and found our voucher to get potassium iodide — we can get it at the Target here in Red Wing or in Cottage Grove.  Now I feel safe… right… life in a nuclear town.

Three injured, seven missing after explosion at nuclear plant

Hydrogen explosion rocks Japan nuclear facility…

Are people getting how serious this is?  Two reactors melting down?

Below, yesterday’s blast — today’s was much the same: