Monday, May 14, 2012

US Physicist Michio Kaku: "Unit 2 we now know completely liquified"


That's from the link at enenews.

Original webcast (full) here, short clip at enenews here.

What does that mean?

Can anyone please explain what he means that "Unit 2 we now know completely liquified" and "A 100% liquification of a uranium core"? Does he mean "core melt" or something else entirely?

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think he means that all of the core melted, rather than a partial melt like Three Mile Island.

Anonymous said...

What about Reactors 1 and 3, then? Why did he pick Reactor 2 in particular?

Anonymous said...

Agree that it means Unit #2 suffered a 100 % meltdown. That is bad news, since they had previously stated that #2 only had a partial meltdown at around 50 % of the core. The other two (#1 and #3) were supposed to be around ~75 % or greater meltdowns.

This also means that if that much core melted down quickly in #2, there could have been some splash effects that sent some of the corium through the downcomers and into the lower torus structure. That could explain the deep explosion heard from the torus.

Tepco tried to negate that possibility by running a robot over the top of the torus to check for damage. Typical Tepco trick. The damage would have been in the bottom of the Torus. Where gravity would have taken the corium. Tepco cannot survey that bottom area. Physically impossible.

So #1 exploded due to a partial meltdown. And #3 exploded due to a partial meltdown and possible SFP complications. Looks like #2 melted down so quick that no large explosion occurred.

Anonymous said...

OK, so where is Kaku's data? Anything?

Anonymous said...

Been looking for the a paper or the wire he cites. Could not find any recent papers or news wire service. Could be some special wire service that only the connected get to see.

Thinking about this some more, perhaps this explains what happened in #4. We already saw rumors that possibly something from #2 traveled to #4 and caused the #4 explosion/fire/melt. The travel vector apparently was underground piping that runs between the reactors. What if some of the corium from #2 traveled underground to #4 RPV through this underground exhaust piping ? Might explain why #4 building melted and why #4 RPV shows hot on infrared. The reactor core had been removed from #4.

note - That is all pure speculation.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it would be possible for core material to travel from No. 2 to No. 4. You may be thinking about Tepco's explanation for the explosion at No. 4: that Hydrogen reached that reactor through shared pipes between No. 3 and No. 4.

About this interview, I think Kaku is just reacting now to the second endoscope survey into the containment vessel at No. 2, which was conducted some weeks ago.

Anonymous said...

The shared pipes are connected to all 4 reactors and they connect to a central building across the street from the reactors. That was the building where tons of nasty radioactive material was stored that had been filtered out of the gaseous exhaust over many years. Also is the building they are hiding at night with the large spotlight in the Tepco camera.

You are correct that it was hydrogen gas that the rumors were about. However, #4 melted/burned/exploded at the same time the deep explosion was heard under #2. Tepco stated it was actually the explosion in #4 that the workers heard and mistook for the deep torus explosion in #2.

Now, a massive injection of a super hot liquid, could allow the liquid to make its way through the pipes before the pipes themselves melted.

Anonymous said...

I started listening to the podcast and the host is talking about "fluoride, vaccines, secrete prisons...", what is Kaku doing there?

Anonymous said...

Kaku is an entertainer primarily and educator secondarily. Whatever he says is said for shock value and not to enlighten. Funny how he disappeared for a long time after his initial explosion in the media talking worse case scenarios that never happened. Instead of helping to promote awareness about the danger of Unit 4 he is making wild inexplicable claims meant to shock and awe and increase his visibility in the entertainment world.

Anonymous said...

Nah, Kaku is mixing reports about No. 2 and No. 3, he talks about 5 reactors at the plant... I don't think he is following the information very closely.

Anonymous said...

A bit OT, but some time ago TEPCO made a video of inside #2. They showed about 60cm of water if my memory is right. Back than I did not think much of it, but after looking at some pictures of the inside of Zwentendorf (Ex-SKF had a link), it seems to me, that the 60cm is kind of the hight in which the pipes running to the Torus start.
This just means, that the Torus is not filled with water either (only to the same hight as the surrounding cellar is filled with water).

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon at 4:27PM, TEPCO's later vid on Reactor 2 Torus room shows water in the torus.

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/04/videos-of-reactor-2-torus-room-at.html

Anonymous said...

Might mean there are holes in the bottom of the Torus. Also note that Tepco had to install large metal plates on the ground around some of the reactors.

Anonymous said...

Definitely water in that video. But what were they looking at exactly ? A pooling area where the downcomer overflow water might collect before flowing over the pool walls and then down and out a possible bottom corium hole ? Difficult to say. But we have conflicting data. Water too low in the dry well. Water collecting at some point within the torus. Missing water has to be flowing out somewhere.

Anonymous said...

So Kaku is an entertainer, but not Gundersen or Alvarez? They seem all the same to me. And Koide, too.

Anonymous said...

From the Interim Report dated Dec 2, 2011 (http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/images/111202e14.pdf):

Please refer to the section beginning on page 105 of the pdf (pg. 95 of the report) titled "9 Plant Hydrogen Explosion Assessment." There were 5 different observation points within Fukuichi where seismometers picked up vibrations from the explosions. The report states:

"Regardless of the cause, whether from an earthquake or explosion, vibration comprises P waves (longitudinal waves) and S waves (transverse waves), and the conduction velocity of each is different. Generally, the conduction velocity of S waves is slower than that of P waves, and for vibration emanating from the same vibration source, the S wave will arrive later than the P wave. On account of this, the farther away the location of the vibration source is from the location of the observation point, the greater the difference that will result in the times that the P and S waves arrive."

The difference in velocity permits location of the explosion by triangulation (nominally using 3 stations, but here there were 5). Reading the next few pages and looking at the diagrams there is a very convincing argument that there was NO explosion at Unit 2 (supposedly heard coming from the torus) at 6:12 AM on March 15, but rather that this explosion originated in unit 4.

In short, NO explosion EVER at unit 2 as shown convincingly in the diagram on page 107 of the pdf (pg. 97 of the report). Breach of containment seems clear by analysis of the water in unit 2 and by rad levels there, but this happened apparently without any explosion.

Anonymous said...

To hell with Fukushima. Just switch that other reactor on in Fukui. We need the nuclear power so badly. And Fukui needs the revenue so desperately. So just say 'yes'. And inspire the next.
Fingers crossed now.

Anonymous said...

If you can't tell the difference between Kaka and Gunderson then I don't know what to say. Arnie has produced a large body of work thus far that documents what he says (and he wrote a book in Japanese) whereas Kaka is a mainstream media egomaniac. End of story. Listen to what they say not what their hairstyle looks like, duhhh.....

Anonymous said...

If you don't know what it means, why are spreading false information on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Drawing attention to the words of a famous scientist discussing a topic rarely mentioned in the media... for shame. lol 8:15

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon at 8:15, my not knowing what it means doesn't mean it is false information, does it?

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Gundersen documents what he says. So where his "documentation" on Unit 4 tilting, SFP boiling, and SFP leaking from the bottom?

He wrote a book in Japanese? No. His posts at his now-upgraded site got translated by a famous translator into Japanese, and he went there to hold a press conference in the exclusive Japan Press Club.

Besides, it's Kaku, not Kaka.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 10:58

Some Japanese publisher made a book based on interviews with Gundersen. But whatever, he has been wrong about every technical analysis he has done so far, so only very stupid people with very short attention spans would still listen to what he has to say at this point.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Anon at 5:45 You are right. Although besides consideration of P & S waves, also do not forget too that the gamma waves from the first explosions are the most likely trigger of the meltdown in 2. This is prime lesson on why a country should not build reactors so close together. If one gets into serious trouble, it can create a dominoe effect.

Atomfritz said...

I understand it that way that he means the complete rods fallen down and melted in a sort of corium lens in the RPV bottom.

RPV cylinder metal would have gotten hottest at top level of the molten mass sea and softened the steel at this level, leading into deformation and possible spill/break.
However, the latter doesn't require a complete core melt.

And, if the RPV didn't break and the control rod penetrations didn't melt through, this would have led to a large boil-out of low-vapor-temperature fission products. Which would possibly have contributed to high radiation blowouts.

However, I don't like Gundersen's alarmism and and don't believe that we can put faith into Kaku's statement either.

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