• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Japan authorities: TEPCO plant fuel rods may have melted -Jiji

I've been watching news wires for a lot of years now. This series of incidents, from the quake to this, is some of the most horrifying stuff I've ever seen. Just terrible.
 
Why does the world seem to be getting increasingly ****ed up the closer we get to 2012?
 
GhostlyJoe said:
It's always been ****ed up.
Click to expand...

Yeah but come on, we've got unrest in the middle east, a failing economy, natural disasters happening like nobodies business, and now we've got what could be a nuclear disaster. They just all kind feels like things that happen right before a major ****storm.
 
Arcadius said:
Why does the world seem to be getting increasingly ****ed up the closer we get to 2012?
Click to expand...

Simple - the time is up and the civilization is exhausted.
Besides, we haven't reached Super Moon yet. We'll see. But better pray too.
 
Arcadius said:
Why does the world seem to be getting increasingly ****ed up the closer we get to 2012?
Click to expand...

Rolfchopter, I do however wonder if this might have something to it know. I mean with the Haiti earthquake, and the Japanese earthquake it really makes me wonder along with the earthquake in Arkansas. My sister said that with the event in Haiti it messed up the plates a lot so we should here a lot more about earthquakes this year. Thought this is also probably due to the moon as well as it will be at it closet to earth in the coming week which can effect the earth in a geocentric stance but don't worry I am not saying it will cause catastrophic events but we might see a few strong earthquakes. This is one of the strongest since 1900's on the pacific coast which as a armature geologist I find this both sad and cool at the same time.
 
Arcadius said:
Yeah but come on, we've got unrest in the middle east, a failing economy, natural disasters happening like nobodies business, and now we've got what could be a nuclear disaster. They just all kind feels like things that happen right before a major ****storm.
Click to expand...
Everything you just mentioned could be used to describe the 1970s and nobody would think twice about it.

As GhostlyJoe said, the world has always been screwed up in some way or another. This is not something new.
 
Spaceman_Spiff said:
Everything you just mentioned could be used to describe the 1970s and nobody would think twice about it.

As GhostlyJoe said, the world has always been screwed up in some way or another. This is not something new.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just being overly-imaginative.
 
MrVicchio said:


Vidoe of the incident. Close up of detonation at 0:47
Click to expand...


Yikes... also, it is hard to see, but is the report also showing a graphic with 1400 dead so far??? this still has a lot of legs to it... this is bad... Given the winds in the region, the northwest coast of North America (including Alaska) and parts of Russia will have to keep an eye on this...
 
Temporal said:
Most news sources I'm reading say it's unrelated to the reactor. The maintenance technology for reactors is complex and in of itself can break down or explode.
Click to expand...

Well, that's news. The maintenance technology for boiling water and pressurized water reactors is that required to keep water in pipes, with pumps and valves, too. That's reasonably simple tech and when proper maintenance and operational protocols are followed, safe and non-explosive.

What's almost certainly happened in Japan is a complete loss of flow due to breakdown in the electrical system leading to a loss of coolant accident. This will pull a bubble over the core and the buildup of heat from fission product decay almost certainly cracked the H2O into a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. That was the biggest concern at Three Mile Island, and the US didn't have a megaquake shaking their reactor to pieces.

So the bubble probably burst, and that was because the japanese didn't engineer their reactor to handle such shocks.

Oops.
 
Canell said:
People, stay cool. From the Reuters blog:



The explosion is most likely to be the hydrogen that is used to cool the plant.
Click to expand...

Nobody in their right mind uses hydrogen to cool anything. Outside the expense of making the hydrogen in the first place, it's not an optimal coolant.

WATER, that's what's used practically everywhere, cheap, accessible, chemically benign, simple to handle.

Edit:

in certain circumstances hydrogen is a desired coolant. Like for the combustion chamber cooling fluid in rocket engines...which serves to preheat the hydrogen and ensure it's vaporized before combustion.

But it's not a routine thing, and it's fraught with hazards.
 
Last edited:
Mayor Snorkum said:
Well, that's news. The maintenance technology for boiling water and pressurized water reactors is that required to keep water in pipes, with pumps and valves, too. That's reasonably simple tech and when proper maintenance and operational protocols are followed, safe and non-explosive.

What's almost certainly happened in Japan is a complete loss of flow due to breakdown in the electrical system leading to a loss of coolant accident. This will pull a bubble over the core and the buildup of heat from fission product decay almost certainly cracked the H2O into a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. That was the biggest concern at Three Mile Island, and the US didn't have a megaquake shaking their reactor to pieces.

So the bubble probably burst, and that was because the japanese didn't engineer their reactor to handle such shocks.

Oops.
Click to expand...
can't agree with your diagnosis
engineering the facility to withstand shocks of an earthquake does not appear to be the problem
losing power - resulting from the flood waters knocking out the power system to cool the reactor - was
 
I've lived a long time, seen a lot of scary sh*t happen around the globe, but this quake/tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan is the worst natural catastrophe I've seen. 10,000 people are missing, well over a thousand confirmed dead, three nuclear workers are confirmed to have been contaminated with radiation... My god, that poor country. :(

Edit: I should back up a bit and acknowledge that the overall devastation and immense loss of life caused by the Indonesian tsunami was worse, but the potential destruction by Japan's nuclear meltdowns could potentially be much worse, and spread the result globally.
 
Last edited:
Mayor Snorkum said:
So the bubble probably burst, and that was because the japanese didn't engineer their reactor to handle such shocks.

Oops.
Click to expand...

The assumption on which the above quote rests ignores the magnitude of the earthquake's power. The reality is that there are limits to engineering. Even if engineering capabilities were perfect--and they aren't--there are also limits to the stresses materials can withstand (pressure, temperature, etc.), hence the concepts of tolerances, etc., in engineering. Once an earthquake surpasses 8.0 or above, even the best-constructed structures can be compromised to varying degrees.
 
donsutherland1 said:
The assumption on which the above quote rests ignores the magnitude of the earthquake's power. The reality is that there are limits to engineering. Even if engineering capabilities were perfect--and they aren't--there are also limits to the stresses materials can withstand (pressure, temperature, etc.), hence the concepts of tolerances, etc., in engineering. Once an earthquake surpasses 8.0 or above, even the best-constructed structures can be compromised to varying degrees.
Click to expand...

And the problem seems to be as much caused by the effects on the power grid of the disaster as much as the direct effect on the reactors themselves. The fact that we haven't seen a major radioactive cloud yet is as much a testament to the design and response of the Japanese engineers as anything else. You know guys, some of you want to sensationalize it, but there really isn't much to this at this point...
 
ludahai said:
And the problem seems to be as much caused by the effects on the power grid...
Click to expand...

From all that I have read so far, it is the impact on the grid that has made power rationing necessary. I also strongly agree with you about the design and response of the Japanese engineers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom