It seems there has been a deficit of “new” news recently.
As I understand it there appears to be 3 different scenarios possible:
1. The cores are still largely contained in the containment vessels or have pooled and cooled on the floor of the reactors
2. The melted cores melted through parts of the concrete and cooled as they melted, either in small globlets or in the Chernobyl style elephant-foot
3. The melted cores continue to melt through the breached reactor containment and/or the concrete floor
4. The iodine chart http://www.bfs.de/de/ion/imis/ctbto_aktivitaetskonzentrationen_jod.gif showed increased iodine on May 23 and 27.
A commentator (Sandra I think) at e-news http://enenews.com/ suggestedthere could have been one spike rather than 2 but the implication is that at least during that period fission may have occurred…
I would like to know what people think about these 3 options and also whether there are others I’ve not listed.
ADDITIONALLY, it is next to impossible to get any radiation readings other than UC Berkeley’s infrequent testing data. Does anyone know any other site doing and publishing their data that can be trusted?
For a good summary of the current news as known, see the following links
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/05/update-on-japanese-nuclear-crisis.html
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/p/japan-nuclear-information.html
As I understand it there appears to be 3 different scenarios possible:
1. The cores are still largely contained in the containment vessels or have pooled and cooled on the floor of the reactors
2. The melted cores melted through parts of the concrete and cooled as they melted, either in small globlets or in the Chernobyl style elephant-foot
3. The melted cores continue to melt through the breached reactor containment and/or the concrete floor
4. The iodine chart http://www.bfs.de/de/ion/imis/ctbto_aktivitaetskonzentrationen_jod.gif showed increased iodine on May 23 and 27.
A commentator (Sandra I think) at e-news http://enenews.com/ suggestedthere could have been one spike rather than 2 but the implication is that at least during that period fission may have occurred…
I would like to know what people think about these 3 options and also whether there are others I’ve not listed.
ADDITIONALLY, it is next to impossible to get any radiation readings other than UC Berkeley’s infrequent testing data. Does anyone know any other site doing and publishing their data that can be trusted?
For a good summary of the current news as known, see the following links
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/05/update-on-japanese-nuclear-crisis.html
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/p/japan-nuclear-information.html
Very simply, when the nuclear fuel is close enough to more nuclear fuel (be it uranium, Mox, plutonium, or corium, what have you), it causes a process of fission...of ever increasing energy levels, heat generated. Separation is effective, blocking/absorbing neutrons (which boron) is effective. Temporary cooling by splashing with water of any type, is not effective. Wherever the fuel is, until it is separated and neutron blocked it won't stop going off--whether it be underground, melting through a crack in the slab, etc. It will be around 5000 deg F, and producing lots of emissions of radiation. Even thick concrete won't like that forever.
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