Earth quake in Japan!

[lordedmond]

BigOnSteam

I believe that the cooling pumps are similar size to boiler feed pumps and the start at 4Mw they are huge , We used v16 Cat standby gennys at work they were 11 tons but only 750 kw

for size a 1.5mw ID fan motor is the size of a house and from past experience it would need at least a 6Mw prime mover to get it going

In local coal fired power stations I believe they need something like 50Mw just to run the ancillaries they normally use gas turbines but they would not stand a earth quake



Stuart

 

[Ken I]

Pat J, Stewart, Bigonsteam - all correct this stuff is huge and not a simple matter - add to that the "colatteral" damage done by explosions and falling masonry to control and instrumentation lines - its a mess - the playbook goes out the window.

As one expert said on CNN you need a disciplined team to run a reactor - you need a completely different team of "creative" specialists to deal with a disaster.

They are now reporting #1, #2 & #3 as under control - I'm guessing #4 with its fresh fuel load and (possibly) cracked lid is proving a bit more problematic.

I presume they have therefore got at least one pump running and by various Heath Robinson arrangements are getting these reactors and waste fuel ponds cooled down.

If they can get the reactor fully cooled (presuming no melted portion is trying to run-away on its own) then these stop being a problem.
The spent fuel ponds are the problem - keeping them cool is priority No.1.

They can't simply bury the plant they must first remove the fuel - to do that they must first decontaminate - to do that they must first remove the spent fuel (to where ? who knows) - to do that they must first supress the radiation and remove the damaged upper works and masonry. (Obviously this is stated in the reverse order that they must tackle the problem - but that's the logic of the situation).

This is going to take months but I believe the worst is behind us but the situation is going to remain perilous for some weeks.

Nuclear energy is going to be considerably set back by this but I doubt that we can simply not use it. We need to use the modern fail-safe - natuarally cooled reactor designs with sufficient back up "muscle" at remote loactions to tackle such disasters. Furthermore we need to formulate a disposal strategy - without which we should not continue as is.

Ken