Published: November 12th, 2011 at 7:38 am ET
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Worker taken to hospital after nuclear lab incident, Reuters, Nov. 11, 2011:
Project engineer Karen Moore on the INL sodium fire
- It “occurred when sodium being stabilized for safer storage was exposed to moisture in the air, releasing hydrogen”
- “Such a reaction [...] can range in magnitude from a flash to an explosion”
- “There was insufficient information on Friday afternoon to determine if the incident could be classified as an explosion”
“The lab said in a written statement that the sodium reaction resulted in a sudden pressure release that compromised system integrity” [...]
Published: November 12th, 2011 at 7:38 am ET
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well thought fuku at least was “more stable”, now the dream within a dream (within a dream …) continues …. strange days, could we just pass 2012 and switch to 2013 plz …
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Sodium is very difficult to work with when used as storage medium for nuclear facilities. The fact the site has issues with “aging” systems while in the process of decommissioning should open up some eyes! Hanford is another site with decommissioning troubles. Its easy to BUILD the plants and lots of money made..BUT what about paying for damages due to accidents which happen during the life of the plants (and later?), what happens to the fuel? it does not go away, and what about maintaining the old systems–? They are as dangerous in old age as they ever were while in full operation.
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For the used fuel – they should melt it down and use it for Executive Achievement plaques and trophies.
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*like*
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Japan Ground Zero: Latest images from Fukushima nuke plant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-8_fL3VpjA&feature=player_embedded
NO SOUND? I hear nothing SEE only pictures of plants
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at 3:30 – 4:50 are we looking at fuel fragments?
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Why would they be looking for fuel fragments when this is not a reactor? This building is not in the containment building.
This is the sodium boiler (secondary system) for the old EBR II reactor that Clinton shut down. Fuel removed long ago. No radioactive materials to deal with. The sodium had been drained from this system and they have been treating the residual sodium for a few months with water. This should have been an expected possibility.
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so whe are we goin to tell these children they are no long alowed to play with their nuclear toys…? i think that they have f’d up enough already. since the begining of the nuclear age it has been one oops after another…
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oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oooooooooooooopppppsssss (chernobyl) oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssfukushimasssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssooppppppppppppps oops oops oops oops oops oops oops oops ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++—————————————————————————————————————————————-
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World’s first fatal atomic accident occurred here in 1961–SL-1 Reactor accident:
http://www.radiationworks.com/sl1reactor.htm
As quoted by Arlington National Cemetery Records:
“3 January 1961: A reactor explosion (attributed by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission source to sabotage) at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, killed one navy technician and two army technicians, and released radioactivity “largely confined” (words of John A. McCone, Director of the Atomic Energy Commission) to the reactor building. The three men were killed as they moved fuel rods in a “routine” preparation for the reactor start-up. One technician was blown to the ceiling of the containment dome and impaled on a control rod. His body remained there until it was taken down six days later. The men were so heavily exposed to radiation that their hands had to be buried separately with other radioactive waste, and their bodies were interred in lead coffins.”
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Experimental reactors that operate in a narrower range of stability that require more caution and have less reliability are used to generate more pluto to MOX out the plutospere (atmosphere). The uranium stocks are low so the nuke bomb cores will be used as fuel stock for the fast breeders. We don’t need to fear nuke weapons just the spread of nuke plants is terrifying enough or is it the piles of waste ….reminds me of that cow stuck in his own shit.
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@dpl plutospere haha
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“.. resulted in a sudden pressure release that compromised system integrity.”
AKA ‘..an explosion that blew the containment apart and spewed molten sodium into the environment’
Cannot but be reminded of Fuku 3!
Sigh.
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more like a delegation not an explosion. This is not in the containment. The reactor was shut down by Clinton. No Radioactive material. sorry to disappoint you.
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“.. resulted in a sudden pressure release that compromised system integrity.”
The Sodium Boiler did not explode. It simply had an “Energetic disassembly”
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There is really no such thing as “low-level” Plutonium contamination. If you are contaminated by Plutonium, this would have to mean that it got into the body, entered a cut, or contaminated the tissues of the eye or other thin-skin mucosa tissue without being washed or flushed off and was allowed to enter the blood. Plutonium is the most toxic radionuclide known, by no small measure. Plutonium cannot penetrate the skin in particulate or solid form, unless it’s on fire and burns through, which, I imagine, which might not be surprising as Pu is a very “porphyric” substance–It bursts into flames easily. Generally, however, Plutonium has no effect outside the body in proper gas and moisture inert conditions, unless it was being worked with in amounts that run the risk of bursting into flames or going critical from a bad chemical reaction or when water or air is accidentally introduced. In that case, Plutonium (Pu) is very prone to fire and/or criticality in wet and O2-rich environments. In the case of accidental fission of Pu, if one is too close or even sees the “blue flash”, one will die within hours or one will at least become very sick. If the victim is further away, one will be contaminated; but in different ways. The accidental Plutonium criticality event will produce, not just gamma, but also, extremely damaging free neutrons in abundance—this generous and immediate or “fast”-neutron generation is why Pu is used as the trigger for 99.9% of the world’s more than 50,000 nuclear bombs. Neutrons are hardest to shield in an accident. Safety uniforms present no barrier. Neutrons were detected from Fukushima at least 30 Kilometers away on occasion of different uncontrolled criticalities of coriums. The body’s living cells are changed forever by neutrons passing through from non-radioactive to radioactive versions of themselves. This is different from how alpha (a highly energetic freed helium particle), beta and gamma (X-ray) radiation contamination and damage…
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“There is no cause for concern” is a standard but intensely dishonest public relations and calming mantra from covert organizations, and is nearly always used to interface the public whenever there is actually an inordinate cause for concern. When the message, “no cause for concern” appears from covert orgs like nuke plants after an accident of any kind and you see other words, such as, “Plutonium” or “hydrogen explosion” (another jingoism), it’s best to demand immediate oversight by the public. This “no cause for concern” mantra is rather ridiculous and seems to be appearing with greater regularity since Chernobyl (1986), but with greatest frequency in these past nine months following the 3/11 Japanese Tohoku quake that caused the cataclysmic meltdowns and ongoing and absolutely uncontained cyclic corium criticalities at Fukushima Dai Ichi. The mantra will be heard increasingly from these and other nuke interests as the world’s roughly 1000 commercial nuclear power plants begin a long period of aggregating decline, failure and accident starting usually with those facilities 30+ years old, or older, particularly for those that have been recertified for an additional 20-30 years operating life beyond their original designed life term. Nuke power sites are highly corrosive/radioactive environments that contribute to rapid decrepitude of what we ordinarily think of as their long-lasting and totally solid construction materials, such as inches thick tempered rigid metal alloys and meters thick stone reinforced concrete. These materials would last for at least 100’s of years, if not for far longer, if they were not in nuke plants. They probably aren’t lasting more than 20-25 years without severe diminishment of architectural engineering design tolerances, even without earthquakes, floods, fires, or technical oversight failures.
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