Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe

We know from history that the Japanese people are stoic and courageous and never surrender. Because they showed no sign of ever giving up during WWII, America's war plane Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" a 8,900 pound atomic bomb on Hiroshima on the 6th August 1945 and within eight days, Japan surrendered and the war was finally over.

I think we can see that same resolve of 'no surrender' in the way they have handled their nuclear disaster - they haven't asked for any help and are desperately trying to solve the problem themselves. But if we can believe the news media, Washington grew impatient and took matters into their own hands. The Pentagon is getting ready to send up to 450 radiological and disaster specialists to the site.

Japan's nuclear safety agency last night raised the Fukushima accident level to five from four but France's Nuclear Safety Authority has already rated it at a six. The Chernobyl disaster is the highest at seven.

Admiral Robert Willard who will head the US Mission said "I have requested a force of about 450 radiological and consequence management experts to be available to us. They are on 'prepare to deploy' orders." The Admiral believes a joint American-Japanese effort could avert a serious meltdown within the six Fukushima nuclear reactors.

He wouldn't be drawn on the suggestion that Japan had been keeping information secret from the public but according to the New York Times, the US is up to date on its own information - they were sending out unmanned aircraft equipped with radiation-detection equipment and image monitors. About 17,000 US military personnel are helping the Japanese with the relief effort, but they have been ordered to stay outside an 80km radius of plant. The Japanese continue to operate a 20km exclusion zone.

President Obama has called for a review of safety of their own 104 nuclear power plants. Public anxiety is running high and he is trying to assure his people that harmful raidation was not expected to reach the US.

The Japanese people are in dire straits, half a million people are homeless, they are grieving for lost family, it's freezing cold, there is no electricity, hardly any food, limited water supply, and now the country has to endure the fear of a nuclear catastrophe. And never one word of complaint.

Japan's Nuclear Catastrophe

Chernobyl Infant

William Pentland, a clean energy advocate, wrote this about the nuclear catastrophe that could be happening in Japan. When Australia is thinking about future energy needs, this terrible event in Japan makes one think very hard about nuclear energy.

The Institute for Public Accuracy issued the following statement by nuclear expert,Kevin Kamp, about the risk of nuclear disaster in post-Earthquake Japan: “The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.”

“In addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the pool’s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.”

Kamps is a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear and conducted research last year assessing the state of nuclear facilities in Japan.

Meanwhile, Japan has ordered thousands of residents near a northeastern nuclear power plant to evacuate today following a massive earthquake that caused a problem in the plant’s cooling system, according to the Associated Press.