What is the smoke plume all about? It appears to be near but not at
the site of the explosion? Unrelated?
http://gakuranman.com/eng/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/fukushima-
nuclear-plant-explosion-550x347.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/4hbqspt
The above image from:
http://gakuranman.com/great-tohoku-earthquake/
and was labeled: "Explosion at 3.36pm, Fukushima nuclear power plant:"
This seems in conflict with the excellent before and after shots of
the containment building on this site.
In other news:
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-11/world/japan.nuclear_1_nuclear-
reactors-nuclear-plants-tokyo-electric-power?_s=PM:WORLD
http://tinyurl.com/4dznkbj
"Atomic material has seeped out of one of the Fukushima Daiichi
plant's five nuclear reactors, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north
of Tokyo, said Kazuo Kodama, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear
regulatory agency."
"Temperatures of the coolant water in that plant's reactors soared to
above 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), Japan's Kyodo
News Agency reported, an indication that the cooling system wasn't
working."
Question is - where did all that hydrogen come from to cause the
explosion? Here is one possibility:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_meltdown
"The next stage of core damage, beginning at approximately 1500 K, is
the rapid oxidation of the Zircaloy by steam. In the oxidation
process, hydrogen is produced and a large amount of heat is released.
Above 1500 K, the power from oxidation exceeds that from decay heat
(4,5) unless the oxidation rate is limited by the supply of either
zircaloy or steam."[6]
and some now obviously flawed logic:
"Another speculative scenario sees a buildup of hydrogen within the
containment. If hydrogen were allowed to build up within the
containment, it could lead to a deflagration event. The numerous
catalytic hydrogen recombiners located within the reactor core and
containment will prevent this from occurring; however, prior to the
installation of these recombiners in the 1980s, the Three Mile Island
containment (in 1979) suffered a massive hydrogen explosion event in
the accident there. The containment withstood this event and no
radioactivity was released by the hydrogen explosion, clearly
demonstrating the level of punishment that containments can take, and
validating the industry's approach of defense in depth against all
contingencies. Some, however, do not accept the Three Mile Island
incident as sufficient proof that a hydrogen deflagration event will
not result in containment breach."
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
