8.9 quake hits Japan

[DancingQueen]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

This is seriously getting scarier by the day. We almost need a miracle to stop the melt down...its now being said this disaster is on par with Chernobyl

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/972641--japan-nuclear-crisis-may-be-on-par-with-chernobyl

[Kat]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

what i dont get is why they would even build a nuclear power plant on the shore thats very likely to be hit by a tsunami in the country where earthquakes are expected to happen often
??

and they got hit again, this is breaking my heart

[feather]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

From the first quake and what I read, I think they factored in quakes but not tsunamis.

[floridaorange]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

what i dont get is why they would even build a nuclear power plant on the shore(

The nuclear plants are water intensive and in the event of a meltdown need the water (salt or fresh) to cool down the reactors.

[runningman]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world-news/japan-to-raise-fukushima-nuclear-crisis-level-to-7_535612.html

[Kat]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

The nuclear plants are water intensive and in the event of a meltdown need the water (salt or fresh) to cool down the reactors.

yeah i get that but that didnt work obviously

[DIDI]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

Well it did for 40 years. Sad thing is it coming up to it's use by date anyway.

[Kat]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

as i have heard salt water damages the reactors permanently, so i dont think they've been using it for 40 years.
just to big of a risk in my opinion, but i'm no expert

[DIDI]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

I meant the reactor has been working for 40 years .

[bobjuice]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

Under normal circumstances the reactor is water cooled by it's own cooling system. The meltdown began to occur when this cooling system failed and it's back-up system also failed. These pumps failed as a result of the tsunami, not the meltdown that followed.

Once a meltdown looked more likely and the restarting of the cooling system less so, seawater was used in an attempt to cool the reactor by simply hosing the plant with the stuff or dropping seawater into the reactor.

Cooling in this way is nothing like how the plant cools itself under normal conditions but maybe that's where the confusion comes from?

[bobjuice]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

A good comparison would be your car's cooling system. Imagine how quickly heat builds up if your water pump fails? Then imagine you have no means of switching off the engine so it's just gonna get hotter and hotter till it blows.

Imagine your best efforts at cooling it down is by throwing a cup of water onto it every 5 minutes from 10 feet away, that's about what you're looking at.

[Dhar_2]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

what if you pee into it?

[bobjuice]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

burn willy

[Alexudis]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

what if you pee into it?

explodes

[res0nat0r]

Re: 8.9 quake hits Japan

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=is-fukushima-really-as-bad-as-chern-2011-04-12

Article about this and Chernobyl.