Fukishima

[timwilky]

I have spent 25 years working on power stations, ok most of them coal and gas but I have worked on a couple of nuclear jobs in China.

I have never considered a BWR design particularly safe and like most who have an interest in nuclear power generation would question right now just what risk analysis was done for a failure to have power to the feedwater and condensate pumps etc.

I would also wonder what systems were in place in an earth quake prone zone to enable a rapid but safe shutdown.

[timwilky]

You would also have to question why the 4th reactor that was already shut down got into trouble. I heard somewhere that the ponds are now so hot and need cooling befoe the fuel rods go off. The trouble you have is nobody is telling the whole story

...including on here

Not saying it is correct but do you think that instead of flooding the reactors completely and ruining the rods/reactors they are possibly trying to salvage something from the situation which will allow them to restore a certain amount of power at a later date, considering the percentage of the electricity demand that is placed on nuclear reactors in Japan.The overall impact on recovery can possibly be a lot quicker than if they have to start rebuilding from scratch.
Alternatively the are so clever they are stupid.

I think the main thind is that Western culture can't get to grips with the Eastern culture. The reporting that they are doing is what they always do. its how they do it.
and its different from us so of course we are going to get paranoid and think that something is amiss

The problem with deisel generators is that they require fuel, somethng that japan has very little of and getting more in anytime soon is easier said than done, given that it needs to settle after transport before it can be used.
I dont understand why they dont start up the turbines of the reactors to allow the reactors to power they're own cooling but i'm guessing there is some greater reason for that

Originally Posted by collis

The problem with deisel generators is that they require fuel, somethng that japan has very little of and getting more in anytime soon is easier said than done, given that it needs to settle after transport before it can be used.
I dont understand why they dont start up the turbines of the reactors to allow the reactors to power they're own cooling but i'm guessing there is some greater reason for that

if the substations are down where does the power go?

Our generators are fuelled and ready to run for three days, after which they can be refuelled direct from a tanker without interruption. Datacentre generators may be very different of course. In either case I think the news said the generators themselves were damaged in the Tsunami.