It seems time to post a snap of events as of three weeks after the disaster in Japan. First is the status of the damaged power plants. I have read some reports that are not correct so I gathered the info from source documents.
The easiest description of cold shutdown was from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A reactor is in cold shutdown when, in addition, its coolant system is at atmospheric pressure and at a temperature below 200 degrees Fahrenheit (approx. 95 degrees Celsius).[1] This temperature is low enough that the water cooling the fuel in a light water reactor does not boil even when the reactor coolant system is de-pressurized.
For the four units not at cold shutdown pressure readings are not available and some may be leaking as known by radiation found in the air and ground around the plant.
NISA as of March 29, 2011 almost three weeks after the disaster. Up date 4-1
Note: The first four reactors have (-) negative water levels.
Dai-ichi
Unit 1 (460MWe): automatic shutdown Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] -1,650
Temperature at the bottom head of RPV: 135.8℃
Unit 2 (784MWe): automatic shutdown Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] -1,500
Temperature at the bottom head of RPV: 143.6℃
Unit 3 (784MWe): automatic shutdown Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] -2,250
Temperature at the bottom head of RPV: 121.1℃
Unit 4 (784MWe): in periodic inspection outage Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] ?
Reactor water temperature ℃ ?
Unit 5 (784MWe): in periodic inspection outage, cold shutdown at 14:30 March 20th Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] +2,333
Reactor water temperature ℃ 3-29 40.5 4-1 44.1
Unit 6 (1,100MWe): in periodic inspection outage, cold shutdown at 19:27 March 20th Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] +1,904
Reactor water temperature ℃ 3-29 30.3 4-1 29.8
Dai-ni
Unit1 (1,100MWe): automatic shutdown, cold shut down at 17:00,
March 14th Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] +9,296
Reactor water temperature ℃ 27.2
Unit2 (1,100MWe): automatic shutdown, cold shut down at 18:00,
March 14th Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] +10,296
Reactor water temperature ℃ 27.7
Unit3 (1,100MWe): automatic shutdown, cold shut down at 12:15,
March 12th Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] +7,823
Reactor water temperature ℃ 39.2
Unit4 (1,100MWe): automatic shutdown, cold shut down at 07:15,
March 15th Reactor Water Level*2 [mm] +8,036
Reactor water temperature ℃ 34.0
This got me thinking about what training and preparations are made to respond to these events. Reading the reports reminded me of the roadster drivers telling about the things they do during spins and after all the steering, switching off systems and pulling the chute it all ends up with "hold on tight", wait for the spinning to stop and check for damage. Just what is a Monte Carlo Dynamic Event Tree – MCDET? And why is Monte Carlo part of the name?
Then I investigated environmental changes over the years from previous radioactive release events, i.e. Chernobyl because I came across an article on radioactive wild boars in Germany, which led me to other releases of radioactive material.
And taking another step to finding out what happens to radioactive waste at nuclear power plants and can this be applied to the Japan debris field around the plant?
Enjoy the links and be concerned because the people in charge seem to have the Alfred E. Neuman approach "What me worry?" Perhaps they do not worry enough$
An intriguing report that brings up the issues causing and resulting from the Japan incident without a good outlook for the future safety. Much of what we have been discussing here. Not much hope when a disaster occurs.
http://www.euronuclear.org/pdf/HIGHLIGHTS-TOPSAFE2008.pdfAll papers from TOPSAFE can be downloaded freely from
http://www.euronuclear.org/events/topsafe/transactions.htm.
A well thought out disaster scenario that needs updating after the Japan incident to make it closer to reality.
http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1158672136SARNET - Severe Accident Research NETwork
http://www.sar-net.eu/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11345935http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,709345,00.htmlhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_germany_radioactive_boarsCanadian water release
http://www.opg.com/news/releases/110316lowlevelwaterrelease.pdfGround water contamination events. Wow, quite a lot.
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/tritium/sites-grndwtr-contam.htmlIncident reports
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/tritium/plant-info.htmlWhat may become of the vast debris field caused by the tsunami destroying the adjacent town?
Is there a rapid response team for cleanup of radioactive debris like the fire department has?
Waste management
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull314/31404683742.pdfhttp://www.nucleartourist.com/systems/rw.htmNew reactors produce more rapid release isotopes than old style reactors.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/new-nuclear-plants-will-produce-far-more-radiation-1604051.htmlGeo