Japanese reactor crisis

[suebee]

Originally Posted by Linus

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories...ffects-110314/

Seems to be a bit of a contradiction to what Camo Eagle's source said, wouldn't you think? However, the article you posted had as it's source a statement given on Sunday. Things have changed considerably since then.

[Linus]

Originally Posted by suebee

Seems to be a bit of a contradiction to what Camo Eagle's source said, wouldn't you think? However, the article you posted had as it's source a statement given on Sunday. Things have changed considerably since then.

I checked Health Canada but they didn't have any statement. And neither does BC Health:

http://www.gov.bc.ca/health/

[Medusa]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...japan.nuclear/

[Linus]

I have a question: would the potassium iodide be helpful for dogs and cats?

[Medusa]

I found this:

http://www.mbah.state.ms.us/emergenc...ms/ki_vets.htm


Also called my vet and she said that as long as the pups don't have an iodine allergy or sensitivity, they should be fine dosed as a child (and added that she was going to need to research this further because she doesn't have anything "official" on this but that she had received a couple of calls about it since Sunday).


edited to add: child dosages would be based on the animal's weight and she is guestimating that 20mg would be plenty for a cat and that it would go up from there but she wants to confer with another vet before telling me anything "on the record".

Anyone have a vet they can ask too? Im curious what the consensus is?

[Andrew, Jr.]

I have been watching the news on Japan. I am not understanding what is going to happen to the outter core if it totally comes down or falls apart. It is already damaged.

I am thinking about the long term effects of radiation on people and animals. Harmful just isn't answering my question. The ripple effect of this crisis is going to last generations if you ask me.

[dreadgeek]

Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 20:35 UTC)
The Japanese government today requested assistance from the IAEA in the areas of environmental monitoring and the effects of radiation on human health, asking for IAEA teams of experts to be sent to Japan to assist local experts. Preparations for these missions are currently under way.

The missions will draw on IAEA resources and may also possibly involve Response and Assistance Network (RANET) and Member States' capabilities.

This development follows the IAEA's offer to Japan of its "Good Offices" - i.e. making available the Agency's direct support and coordination of international assistance.

RANET is a network of resources made available by IAEA Member States that can be offered in the event of a radiation incident or emergency. Coordination of RANET is done by the IAEA within the framework of the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency.

The IAEA continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities and is monitoring the situation as it evolves.

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/...iupdate01.html

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

I have been watching the news on Japan. I am not understanding what is going to happen to the outter core if it totally comes down or falls apart. It is already damaged.

I am thinking about the long term effects of radiation on people and animals. Harmful just isn't answering my question. The ripple effect of this crisis is going to last generations if you ask me.

Andrew:

I will do my best to explain to the limit of my own understanding.

IF the worst of all possible scenarios were to happen and one or more reactors experienced a catastrophic meltdown of the entire pile and IF it then melted through the primary containment vessel AND the outer containment vessel and IF it then melted into the earth and had enough energy to keep melting material until it reached the water table THEN there could be an explosive release of steam and what would then be highly radioactive dirt into the environment. But notice that there are a lot of conditionals before it gets there. A lot of things would have to go wrong for things to get that bad.

However, that is vanishingly unlikely while still having a probability that is larger than 0 (where 0 means that there's no chance of it happening and 1 means that it is certain to happen).

As I understand it, right now NONE of the reactors are undergoing active fission. This is good. That means that all they have to do is keep pumping water into the cores, keeping them submerged, until such time as the decay heat reaches a manageable level. Think about the inside of the core like you would either fireworks (the kind you buy from the Boy Scouts) or a hot pan. When I was a kid and we would do fireworks on the 4th of July, my job was to fill up a bucket or washtub with water. My dad would light the fireworks, they'd burn, we'd dunk them in water and the next day pour the water out and then dispose of the fireworks. So the reactor is the firework, the sea water represents the bucket of water. Even after the fuel rods are pulled from the core (meaning they are no longer undergoing fission) there is residual heat--this is called the decay heat. That's why the cores have to be covered by water until the rods and the core cool down.

The fires (and as I was writing this another fire broke out) are actually happening in a storage area for spent fuel rods. The problem is that the area around this pool is now too hot (radioactively, not thermally) for workers to approach to put water in to fill the pools to keep the spent fuel rods (which are in cases) from becoming uncovered. This is where I wish we had more sophisticated robotics.


Cheers
Aj

[Martina]

i read they were considering using heliocopters to drop water into the pool.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

Andrew:

I will do my best to explain to the limit of my own understanding.

IF the worst of all possible scenarios were to happen and one or more reactors experienced a catastrophic meltdown of the entire pile and IF it then melted through the primary containment vessel AND the outer containment vessel and IF it then melted into the earth and had enough energy to keep melting material until it reached the water table THEN there could be an explosive release of steam and what would then be highly radioactive dirt into the environment. But notice that there are a lot of conditionals before it gets there. A lot of things would have to go wrong for things to get that bad.

However, that is vanishingly unlikely while still having a probability that is larger than 0 (where 0 means that there's no chance of it happening and 1 means that it is certain to happen).

As I understand it, right now NONE of the reactors are undergoing active fission. This is good. That means that all they have to do is keep pumping water into the cores, keeping them submerged, until such time as the decay heat reaches a manageable level. Think about the inside of the core like you would either fireworks (the kind you buy from the Boy Scouts) or a hot pan. When I was a kid and we would do fireworks on the 4th of July, my job was to fill up a bucket or washtub with water. My dad would light the fireworks, they'd burn, we'd dunk them in water and the next day pour the water out and then dispose of the fireworks. So the reactor is the firework, the sea water represents the bucket of water. Even after the fuel rods are pulled from the core (meaning they are no longer undergoing fission) there is residual heat--this is called the decay heat. That's why the cores have to be covered by water until the rods and the core cool down.

The fires (and as I was writing this another fire broke out) are actually happening in a storage area for spent fuel rods. The problem is that the area around this pool is now too hot (radioactively, not thermally) for workers to approach to put water in to fill the pools to keep the spent fuel rods (which are in cases) from becoming uncovered. This is where I wish we had more sophisticated robotics.


Cheers
Aj

Yes, I have to say that I was quite intrigued with the robotic capabilities used to deal with the Gulf deep water oil spill. Amazing, but a very different set of variable.