First the good news:
At Fukushima-ken's Dai-ichi nuclear reactor facility, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) workers have plugged a 20 centimetre crack in the concrete pit below Reactor No. 2 that had been leaking radioactive water into the nearby Pacific Ocean. TEPCO owns the nuclear reactor complex.
Of course, right now no one is sure if this is the only leak.
“Right now, just because the leak has stopped, we are not relieved yet,” says Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio (surname first) at a press conference on April 6, 2011.
Here's some bad news:
Apparently TEPCO is preparing to inject Nitrogen into Dai-ichi's Reactor No. 1 in an attempt to prevent a hydrogen explosion.
Reactor No. 1's fuel rods were badly damaged over the past several weeks, with some rods experiencing up to 70 per cent melting - which is very bad. Scientists are concerned that radiation from the damaged fuel rod could split water into oxygen and hydrogen, which is a combustible mixture. The injection of nitrogen, an inert gas, is intended to displace this bad mix.
Nishiyama Hidehiko (surname first), a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency notes that the injection of Nitrogen does not mean that Reactor No. 1 is in any immediate danger of exploding.
Good News to Finish:
Airborne radiation doses outside of a 60-kilometer (35-mile) radius from Fukushima's Dai-ichi nuclear facility now are close to normal.
Files compiled by Andrew Joseph
At Fukushima-ken's Dai-ichi nuclear reactor facility, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) workers have plugged a 20 centimetre crack in the concrete pit below Reactor No. 2 that had been leaking radioactive water into the nearby Pacific Ocean. TEPCO owns the nuclear reactor complex.
Of course, right now no one is sure if this is the only leak.
“Right now, just because the leak has stopped, we are not relieved yet,” says Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio (surname first) at a press conference on April 6, 2011.
Here's some bad news:
Apparently TEPCO is preparing to inject Nitrogen into Dai-ichi's Reactor No. 1 in an attempt to prevent a hydrogen explosion.
Reactor No. 1's fuel rods were badly damaged over the past several weeks, with some rods experiencing up to 70 per cent melting - which is very bad. Scientists are concerned that radiation from the damaged fuel rod could split water into oxygen and hydrogen, which is a combustible mixture. The injection of nitrogen, an inert gas, is intended to displace this bad mix.
Nishiyama Hidehiko (surname first), a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency notes that the injection of Nitrogen does not mean that Reactor No. 1 is in any immediate danger of exploding.
Good News to Finish:
Airborne radiation doses outside of a 60-kilometer (35-mile) radius from Fukushima's Dai-ichi nuclear facility now are close to normal.
Files compiled by Andrew Joseph
