My limited understanding of nuclear power lead me to believe that modern plants can’t suffer meltdowns - that they are simply not a possible outcome of the way they work, any more than you can have a meltdown at a coal power plant. Was I misinformed, or is the reactor in question here not a modern plant? Or is something else going on?
Oh great. As if there weren’t already enough evidence on display here that this heralds the end times.
oh yeah, you can prove anything with facts.
First of all, this ain’t Chernobyl. You can’t compare the failing of a Soviet reactor built and operated within a culture of corruption and lack of accountability with this situation. If there’s a way to contain the damage, they will figure it out. If not, they will take the appropriate steps to protect their population.
Nothing is free of risk. The remote chance of radiation leaks has to be balanced against the certainty of ill effects from the alternatives. Coal plants as mentioned are dirty and contribute to global warming. Other sources either are uneconomical or have limited availability. Nuclear power has its place.
Well, you can always eat the fish from the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Jersey if you want some nice clean fish.
Attention please.
I need you all to quietly evacuate the Pit immediately.
Please proceed to the nearest exit.
Do not panic.
Fuck, so much for nuclear power making a comeback in the US. Bring on the goddamn windmills and solar panels!
Man, the enviro-pussies won’t allow a shovel of dirt being moved in preparation for a new plant for the next 20 years if ever. Fuck.
I think you’re talking about a pebble bed reactor, which is a particular design of nuclear power plant.
And that just about exhausts my knowledge in this area. 
I thought the same thing when I saw this on CNN. There goes the chance for any rational progress towards nuclear power in the USA.
Dammit.
From the stories I’ve seen, the nuclear power plants withstood the earthquakes fairly well, but the tsunami interfered with the generators circulating the coolant. So two of the worst types of disaster a place can be hit by, and it “might” be a problem. Any other type of power plant built anywhere else would be rubble by now.
This made me laugh like a drain.
Perhaps I am naive, but it seems to me that if you have to investigate to find out if a meltdown occurred, it might not be all that devastating. I’m no expert, of course.
Regards,
Shodan
This has to be one of the stupidest fucking OPs I have seen in quite a while. I thought it was supposed to be a parody at first.
Meltdown? Do people even know what a meltdown is?
Fish deep in the ocean getting poisoned by radioactivity? Fuck me. It just keeps getting more and more idiotic.
This disaster has enough real horror without ignorant, histrionic retardation adding to it.
Fish that poaches itself as soon as you open the lead foil package? Yummmmm…
Fox just had a distant shot of the facility. It looks like the explosion blew all the concrete out of the containment structure, but left the steel frame and/or reinforcing.
The shot of the actual explosion clearly showed a shockwave, does this rule out a steam explosion and pretty much confirm a hydrogen (chemical) explosion?
I love this thread. I almost never get to agree with either Der Trihs or Shodan, and now I’m doing both at once. (Throw in Bricker and it’s a trifecta.)
Ex USN nuclear power technician here. I want to mention that regardless of the damage to the reactor building that’s clear from the video and photos, the important consideration is that the containment vessel appears to be uncompromised at Fukushima Daiichi. Also, since very early in the event, the reactor has been “shut down”, which is to say it was placed in a condition where the necessary geometry to sustain a chain fission reaction can’t be achieved. Thus, the reactor is not producing further heat through fission, only through radioactive decay of the material, which is much easier to remove.
On the other hand, the containment vessel has had to be vented at least once to relieve pressure, releasing vapor containing short lived radioactive isotopes produced from contact of the water with the reactor core. These by themselves aren’t a long term hazard and will disperse quickly over the ocean to the east of the site. But observers have also measured some amounts of radioisotopes of cesium and iodine in the area, from which we can be fairly certain the reactor core has in fact been damaged.
Whether this can be termed a “meltdown” or a “partial meltdown” will have to be determined, but the OP is a tiny bit less hyperbolic than perhaps it might be.
I have to say I’m very impressed with the handling of this event so far by the Japanese. I predict there will be no casualties resulting from the [possible] meltdown which can be attributed to release of radiation. -There may have been injuries as a result of the explosion which destroyed the reactor building (probably a hydrogen explosion, per BBC reporting), but I haven’t seen firm reports of that. It’ll be interesting to compare the bottom line at Fukushima with the damage at other conventional plants on the east coast of Japan.
Ignorant histrionic retardation always follows disaster. How long before certain ‘religious leaders’ blame this on the Japanese peoples heathen ways?
Cue Airport announcer voice:
Phelps, party of 12, you may now board the plane..
Jeez, let’s not even contemplate inflicting the Phelps family on Japan right now…
This is probably obvious, but I’ll ask anyway: Just because the reactor core has been damaged does not mean that radiation will necessarily be released to the environment, right? That would require a breach of the containment vessel, which has not happened?
I feel the possibility of a Godzilla-like mutation outweighs any fears regarding nuclear safety