Fears Japanese nuclear reactor will explode as 'out of control' cooling system fails at plant

[irishspirit]

• 3,000 evacuated from area
  
• Pressure rises to 1.5 times normal level
  
• Experts warn the situation 'could turn grave'
  

Japan has declared a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant after its cooling system failed following today's massive earthquake.


The country's nuclear safety agency says pressure inside the reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. To reduce the pressure, slightly radioactive vapour may be released.



So far officials have said there is no leak of deadly radiation from the crippled facility in Onahama city, about 170 miles north-east of Tokyo in the Fukushima prefecture. But around 2,800 residents within a two-mile radius of the plant have been ordered to evacuate the area.


Danger: The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could explode after equipment used to cool down the reactor failed following the Japanese earthquake

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the nuclear power plant developed a mechanical failure in the system which cools the reactor after it was shut down in the earthquake.


He said the measure was a precaution, there was no radiation leak and the facility was not in immediate danger.
Plant workers are now scrambling to restore cooling water supplies, but warned there was no prospect for an immediate success.

Ablaze: An oil refinery is on fire in Chiba city - just one of many fires sparked by the 8.9 Richter scale earthquake - the sixth biggest ever recorded



Disaster scene: The Fukushima No. 1 power plant run by the Tokyo Electric Power Co. at Okuma in northern Japan, pictured in 2008

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1GJlsHX5H

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[irishspirit]

Catastrophe in Japan: Quake, tsunami wreak massive damage


TOKYO — Japan's massive earthquake caused a power outage that disabled a nuclear reactor's cooling system, triggering evacuation orders for about 3,000 residents as the government declared its first-ever state of emergency at a nuclear plant.
Pressure is rising inside the nuclear reactor, Japanese officials said, after a backup generator also failed and the cooling system was unable to supply water to cool the reactor, though at least one backup cooling system is being used. The reactor core remains hot even after a shutdown.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said that to reduce the pressure, slightly radioactive vapor may be released at the plant near Onahama city, some 170 miles northeast of Tokyo. It added that the vapor would not impact the environment or health.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42025882...s-asiapacific/

[irishspirit]

According to METI's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the Tokyo Electri in Fukushima Prefecture, the No. 1 and No. 2, No. 4 in the three groups it can be sufficiently cooled reactor it is gone. Therefore, TEPCO Nuclear Disaster Special Measures Law, "emergency" report made to the State to inform.

。

"Emergency" is following the report of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

。

NISA, the impact of the leak of radioactive material and immediately but not to the future, we need to examine whether to evacuate nearby residents.

http://translate.google.com/translat...0.html&act=url

[irishspirit]

The massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan has caused a potentially catastrophic situation at one of Japan?s nuclear power plants. The situation is still evolving, but here is a preliminary assessment based on the facts as we currently understand them.

The plant?s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), reported that at 2:46 p.m. local time (12:46 a.m. EST) ?turbines and reactors of Tokyo Electric Power Company?s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 ? and Units 2 and 3 ? automatically shut down due to the Miyagiken-oki Earthquake.?

These reactors are 3 of the 6 operating reactors at the Fukushima I nuclear facility. All are boiling water reactors. Unit 1 has a rated output of 460 megawatts, and Units 2 and 3 each have a rated output of 784 megawatts.
TEPCO went on to state the shutdowns were caused by the loss of off-site power ?due to malfunction of one out of two off-site power systems.? This loss of power triggered emergency diesel generators, which automatically started to provide backup power to the reactors.

However, at 3:41 p.m. local time (1:46 a.m. EST), the emergency diesel generators shut down ?due to malfunction, resulting in the complete loss of alternating current for all three units,? according to TEPCO. The failure of the diesel generators was most likely due to the arrival of the tsunami, which caused flooding in the area. The earthquake was centered 240 kilometers from Japan, and it would have taken the tsunami approximately an hour to reach the Japanese islands.

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/378...s-at-fukushima

[irishspirit]

Japan Orders Evacuation Near 2nd Nuclear Plant

WASHINGTON ? Japanese officials issued broad evacuation orders on Saturday for people living near two nuclear power plants whose cooling systems broke down as a result of the earthquake. The officials warned that small amounts of radioactive material were likely to leak from the plants.

The power plants, known as Daiichi and Daini and operated by Tokyo Electric Power, experienced critical failures of the cooling systems after the plants were shut down, as they were during the quake.

About 45,000 people were affected by the evacuation order at the Daiichi plant, where those living within a six-mile radius were told to leave. The evacuation of the second plant was for a one-mile radius because ?there is no sign that radiation has been emitted outside,? an official said.

Failure of the cooling systems allowed pressure to build up beyond the design capacity of the reactors. Small amounts of radioactive vapor were expected to be released into the atmosphere to prevent damage to the containment systems, safety officials said. They said that the levels of radiation were not large enough to threaten the health of people outside the plants, and that the evacuations had been ordered as a precaution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/wo...f9RA1iYs+VfByw

[irishspirit]

[irishspirit]

URGENT: Concerns of core partially melting at Fukushima nuke plant


TOKYO, March 12, Kyodo
The core at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor may be partially melting, the nuclear safety agency said Saturday.
Radioactive substance cesium was detected around the reactor, it said.


http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77025.html