Japan: Nuclear Reactor Storage Pool May be Boiling

Tsunami Relief:  Network for Good

Yesterday afternoon as I was watching the cable news shows, was struck by the fact that they were all reporting that Tapco, the company in charge of these nuclear reactors most affected, has had a penchant for not telling the truth since 2002. Are they telling the truth now. With the evacuations ordered by the Japanese Government we have our doubts.

Prime Minister Kan and other officials warned there is danger of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid exposure that could make people sick.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told residents in the danger zone.

"These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that," he said.

This video of Kan ordering the evacuations and sealing up of residences of those who cannot evacuate is chilling. The radiation levels have gotten higher in that area and evacuations have been ordered to evacuate. Would not have to tell most people twice to leave.




One of the first questions I would have is why are there so many nuclear power plants in Japan on what is known as an earthquake zone? This should be a message to the Obama Administration to take it very slow on nuclear energy and think long and hard before attempting to put any nuclear power plants in an earthquake zone or anywhere a disaster could strike like tornadoes or hurricanes. We never figured out why they were in California.

Call us a skeptic but we grew up with a small reactor in Piqua, Ohio. Took a tour of it while in high school. They gave us badges to wear during the tour which made us feel grown up as we saw them on the workers. As a teenager thought it was neat, but later when working at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, realized they were radiation dosimeter badges we wore for the tour. Then it hit me and the question was asked was "Why would you take school kids on a tour of a facility where there was a chance of radiation?" Four years it provided the power to Piqua in the 60's -- get that four years and they shut it down. Why close down after only four years?

Japan: Nuclear Reactor Storage Pool May Be BoilingMar 15, 2011 – 6:11 AM

Eric Talmadge and Shino Yuasa
AP

SOMA, Japan -- Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.

Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a storage pond and that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere." Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool, where used nuclear fuel is kept cool, might be boiling.

"We cannot deny the possibility of water boiling" in the pool, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, an official with the economy ministry, which oversees nuclear safety.

That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.

If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, nuclear officials said, downplaying the risk of that happening.

But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.

Though Kan and other officials urged calm, Tuesday's developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next. In the worst-case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.

"I worry a lot about fallout," said Yuta Tadano, a 20-year-old pump technician at the Fukushima plant, who said he was in the complex when quake hit.

"If we could see it we could escape, but we can't," he said, cradling his 4-month-old baby, Shoma, at an evacuation center.

The radiation fears added to the catastrophe that has been unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people have spent four nights with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures as they dealt with the loss of homes and loved ones. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.

(snip)

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, along that battered coastline, has been the focus of the worries. Workers there have been desperately trying to use seawater to cool the fuel rods in the complex's three reactors, all of which lost their cooling ability after Friday's quake and tsunami.

On Tuesday, the complex was hit by its third explosion since Friday, and then a fire in a separate reactor.

Afterward, officials just south of the area reported up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation, Kyodo News agency reported. While those figures are worrying if there is prolonged exposure, they are far from fatal.

Tokyo reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) away. Closer to the stricken nuclear complex, the streets in the coastal city of Soma were empty as the few residents who remained there heeded the government's warning to stay indoors.

Excerpt: Read More at AOL News

Each day the news out of the nuclear reactors in northern Japan seems to get worse. Are the people being told the truth or a version of the truth? Only time will tell which is a sad state of affairs. The way government officials are beginning to talk, it must be frightening to the people who live in that area.

People right now are having trouble getting water and food without having to face the the threat of nuclear radiation. Our greatest hope is that the Japanese people get the truth about what is going on with the radiation from these nuclear plants. They deserve no less. Until that threat is over, it will be hard to start the major rebuilding needed in Japan.


Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Japan as they continue to struggle with this huge disaster.

We are now totally opposed to any more nuclear power plants in the United States until a lot more is known about this tragedy. What we need right now is using more of our own energy resources something Obama and his Administration cannot seem to get through their small minded brains. To ignore the vast resources of oil and gas and push forward with the boondoggle of wind mills and nuclear energy is foolish.

Why should we also rely so much on foreign oil when we have the resources right here in the United States including offshore? The Obama Administration giving out one lease to BP and keeping on the moratorium in the Gulf should be an impeachable offense as they ignoring the order of a federal judge. He is harming the economy of the Gulf States and putting the future of gasoline in the hands of foreign countries from the unstable Middle East.

Time for Obama and his Administration to approve more oil leases NOW not sometime in the future.  Obama does not have the necessary experience to even be involved in running this Country as he is demonstrating on a daily basis.  Note to people considering running for President in 2012:  Do not apply unless you have plenty of experience.  One experiment with someone with little experience who seemed to quit jobs at will is enough for this Country.