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Meltdown



Now, the remaining 50 workers at the nuclear plants in Japan have suspended operations. We are in a big load of trouble. The reality is that these 50 workers were left behind most likely as sacrificial lambs so to speak... prepared to give their lives to try to stop the meltdowns, but now even they are leaving. There is no one manning the broken site. This is a situation that will make Chernobyl seem unfortunately tame in comparison.

I decided to gather some formal information about what constitutes a nuclear meltdowh. Read the following description of the effects of a nuclear meltdown and see if it sounds familiar:

The effects of a nuclear meltdown depend on the safety features designed into a reactor. A modern reactor is designed both to make a meltdown unlikely, and to contain one should it occur.

In a modern reactor, a nuclear meltdown, whether partial or total, should be contained inside the reactor's containment structure. Thus (assuming that no other major disasters occur) while the meltdown will severely damage the reactor itself, possibly contaminating the whole structure with highly radioactive material, a meltdown alone should not lead to significant radiation release or danger to the public.[16]

In practice, however, a nuclear meltdown is often part of a larger chain of disasters (although there have been so few meltdowns in the history of nuclear power that there is not a large pool of statistical information from which to draw a credible conclusion as to what "often" happens in such circumstances). For example, in the Chernobyl accident, by the time the core melted, there had already been a large steam explosion and graphite fire and major release of radioactive contamination (as with almost all Soviet reactors, there was no containment structure at Chernobyl). Also, before a possible meltdown occurs, pressure can already be rising in the reactor, and to prevent a meltdown by restoring the cooling of the core, operators are allowed to reduce the pressure in the reactor by releasing (radioactive) steam into the environment. This enables them to inject additional cooling water into the reactor again.* * * * *

So, what do we have now? The INES for Japan is now currently at a "6" when only a matter of days ago, people were dismissing it as MABEY a "4" but more likley a "3". I am still firmly of the belief that the actions being taken and the desperation of these measures means we actually have or will have a "7" recorded for this event in the historical record... presuming we have one. This is an unimaginable disaster and tragedy.

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