A fresh explosion rocked a damaged Japanese nuclear power plant on Tuesday where engineers have been pumping sea water into a reactor to prevent a catastrophic meltdown in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said Tuesday's explosion at the plant's No.2 reactor was caused by hydrogen. There was no immediate word on damage, but Jiji news agency quoted the trade ministry as saying radiation levels remained low after the blast, the third at the plant since Saturday.
Japan has asked the United States for more equipment to help cool reactors at the Fukushima nuclear complex, which was hit on Monday by a dangerous drop in cooling water levels that exposed fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor.
It gets worse. No. 2 was the big reactor, and the source of the explosion is almost assuredly an indication of a containment vessel breach.
An explosion early Tuesday morning may have damaged the inner steel containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, leading to the wide release of radioactive materials there and forcing the evacuation of some emergency workers, the plant’s operator said.
The blast appeared to be different — and more severe — than those that at two other troubled reactor at the same nuclear complex because this one, reported to have occurred at 6:14 a.m., happened in the “pressure suppression room” in the cooling area of the reactor, raising the possibility to damage to the reactor’s containment vessel.
All three reactors have now exploded. Damage to at least one of the reactor containment vessels is pretty much guaranteed at this point. The prognosis is grim.
Yukio Edano, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, said he could not rule out the possibility of a meltdown at all three troubled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.
While sea water was being pumped into the reactors in an effort to prevent further damage, "It cannot necessarily be called a stable situation," Edano said early Tuesday.
Kenneth Bergeron, a physicist who used to work at the U.S. Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, said that "the release of hydrogen and the fission products (suggests) these reactors have probably had fuel rods exposed for significant periods of time."
Edano's comments come amid news about an "explosive impact" that happened Tuesday morning at the No. 2 reactor.
Cooling has been a problem for days at reactors No. 1 and 3, because the earthquake and the tsunami damaged those reactors' cooling systems. But cooling problems at No. 2 began Monday, when a blast at the building that contains No. 3 - said to be caused by a buildup of hydrogen - damaged No. 2's cooling system.
The seawater option is simply not working. The multiple explosions -- large enough to shatter buildings, mind you -- almost certainly have damaged one or more of the containment vessels in one, two, or possibly all three reactors. At this point it's only a matter of time. And just to make the situation worse, the wind is blowing inland from Fukushima Daiichi southward...towards Tokyo.
The Japanese government has lost nearly all credibility in this situation. You can't expect people to believe three explosions at three reactors are all "just hydrogen" and that everything is fine. The death toll from the quake and tsunami alone will far, far exceed 10,000. And when the truth comes out about the Fukushima Daiichi reactor complex, the real toll may be massive.
This one isn't going away, folks. Not in my lifetime.
[UPDATE] Reactor Number 4 is now on fire from hydrogen burnoff. That's four reactors of the six at the plant that are now damaged. PM Naoto Kan is saying that the likelihood of a leak is increasing, particularly the worry is about Number 2. Asking people from 20km - 30 km to stay indoors and keep the windows shut. 750 of the 800 staff have been evacuated from the plant.
Last stand, folks. The 50 or so guys remaining at this plant are Big Damn Heroes(tm). Radiation levels up at least four-fold now, at 8k microsieverts. About a million or so is widespread radiation sickness level.
This is Japan preparing for the worst as far as the damage to Reactor 2.
Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of three reactors at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Station damaged its crucial steel containment structure, emergency workers were withdrawn from the plant, and much larger emissions of radioactive materials appeared immiment, according to official statements and industry executives informed about the developments.
The men trying to prevent the worst, trying to buy time for people to evacuate, should never be forgotten.
[UPDATE 2] The press conference was...surreal. Bottom line is that the radiation has gotten to the point where it's now 400k microsieverts, or 400 milisieverts (so we're at 40% of oh crap levels). 1 sievert is the measure of "enough radiation to cause radiation sickness." This is a major spike in radiation levels due to the fire at reactor 4.
This is mind-numbing. I cannot fathom what it's like.
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