Thread: Nuclear power plant damaged by quake in Japan

IAEA seeks details on Japan’s quake-hit nuclear reactors

By James Blitz in London
Published: March 11 2011 14:05 | Last updated: March 11 2011 14:05

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s nuclear watchdog, said on Friday that it was seeking further details about the situation at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has been hit by a strong earthquake.

Japan has declared a heightened state of alert at the nuclear power plant, which is a boiling water reactor with six units.

“The IAEA is seeking further details on the situation at Fukushima Daiichi and other nuclear power plants and research reactors, including information on off-site and on-site electrical power supplies, cooling systems and the condition of the reactor buildings,â€

Mar 11, 2011

Japan to release slightly radioactive vapor at disabled reactor

01:39 PM

Japanese authorities will release slightly radioactive vapor to ease pressure at a disabled nuclear power plant reactor near Tokyo .

Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal, the Associated Press reports.

The agency says the radioactive element in the vapor would not affect the environment or human health.

Officials have declared Japan's first ever nuclear emergency and ordered the evacuation of 3,000 nearby residents as a precaution.

The 40-year-old plant in Onahama, about 170 miles northeast of Tokyo, is not leaking radiation.

''We have a situation where one of the reactors (of the plant) cannot be cooled down,'' top government spokesman Yukio Edano said, according to Kyodo News.

The U.S. government has sent over coolant for the nuclear plant aboard U.S. Air Force planes, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today, according to CNN.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... -reactor/1

Mar 11, 2011

Radiation 1,000 times normal detected around crippled Japanese plant

04:23 PM

Radiation 1,000 times normal has been detected at a crippled nuclear plant in northeastern Japan where utility managers have released radioactive steam to reduce mounting reactor pressure, the Kyodo news service is reporting, citing the government's safety agency.

That suggests radioactivity could spread around Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 plant, where thousands of residents within a 6-miles were ordered to leave before dawn Saturday.

There's potential danger to the public from three of at least 11 nuclear power reactors that are shut down because of Friday's 8.9 earthquake, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Managers at Fukushima No. 1 said before the planned release of steam that any radiation would be "very low and the safety of nearby residents has been ensured," Kyodo news service reported earlier. Within the hour ago plant officials said some radiation may have already been released, according to Kyodo.

About 3,000 people within a 2-mile radius had been ordered to leave late Friday, while thousands more within a 6-mile radius were told to stay indoors. Before dawn, however, mandatory evacuations were extended to 6 miles.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to visit the plant later Saturday.

A U.S. nuclear specialist calls it "a dicey situation."

"They're operating on battery power now, and if they lose the batteries, they lose core cooling," Edwin Lyman, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Monitor. He said the military is supposed to be bringing batteries to keep the backup cooling system operating to prevent the reactor's uranium core from overheating and melting.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... se-plant/1

There's potential danger to the public from three of at least 11 nuclear power reactors that are shut down because of Friday's 8.9 earthquake, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

That seems like a lot of power plants for the land mass, compared to the US which has around 100.

The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion acres. Japan around 2.5 million acres.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

That seems like a lot of power plants for the land mass, compared to the US which has around 100.

The United States has a total land area of nearly 2.3 billion acres. Japan around 2.5 million acres.
Dixie

Japan doesn't have much in the way of natural resources.
It cost a lot to import oil and gas so they went almost all nuke.

Nuclear emergency declared at quake-damaged reactor
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-231101.html