If you have been watching the news or seen any news sites today you have likely heard about the reports of an explosion at a French nuclear facility.   The explosion has repeatedly been reported to have happened at a “nuclear power station” or “nuclear plant.”   This is false.   Reports of fears of radiation releases are also not accurate since the explosion did not actually occurs anywhere near high level waste material or any nuclear reactor.

Background of the Marcoule Site:

The Marcoule site is a large industrial site that conducts activities related to nuclear technology and nuclear energy. It was first setup to produce and process materials for the French nuclear weapons program in the 1950’s. The last French reactors dedicated to plutonium production for weapons were shut down in the 1980’s and activities related to refining and processing weapons materials at Marcoule ceased in 1997.

Beginning in the 1970’s, the Marcoule site has shifted from weapons-related activities to nuclear energy and nuclear materials-related activities in support of the French nuclear energy program. This includes research and development of nuclear energy systems, fuel fabrication and materials processing, remediation and disposal. In 1995, a MOX fuel fabrication plant opened at Marcoule, making the site an integral part of France’s nuclear fuel reprocessing program.

Activities at the site also include such things as the remediation and recycling of low level materials from nuclear reactors, processing of medical radiological waste and the fabrication of components and materials for nuclear systems.   Marcoule is the primary site in France for receiving materials from decommissioned nuclear reactors.

There are currently no active nuclear reactors on the site, although it has hosted some nuclear reactors in years past.   The site has three inactive UNGG reactors, which were built starting in 1955.   The last of these reactors was shut down in 1984.   These reactors are gas cooled, graphite moderated reactors, similar in principle to the British Magnox reactors, though developed entirely separately.  Like early Magnox reactors, the UNGG reactors did produce electricity, but were primarily built to breed weapons-grade plutonium.  The site is also the home of the Phénix reactor, an experimental fast-spectrum sodium cooled reactor which was operated from 1968 until 2009. Phénix is now in cold shutdown and is expected to be fully decommissioned in the near future.

As an industrial nuclear site which now functions largely for civilian purposes, but which was originally built for weapons material, the Marcoule site may be considered analogous to the Savannah River or Hanford Site in the United States or to the Sellafield site in the UK.

Information On the Explosion:

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For those of you who do not know, I live In Connecticut. Recently my area was hit by Hurricane Irene, which caused the most extensive power outages in the regions history. Much has been made about how forecasters allegedly over-hyped Irene, because, as it turns out, it didn’t cause much flooding in New York City. While that may be true, it still decimated much of the East Coast and caused massive flooding elsewhere and damage to infrastructure to a massive extent.

In Connecticut, every single city and town experienced some power outages with the Shoreline being hit hardest. In Guilford CT, the town my parents live in and where I am employed, 100% of customers were without power by morning of Sunday, August 28. The damage to the power grid was extremely extensive. I drove down one major street and in a single mile I counted five locations where either power lines were down or trees had fallen and come into contact with power lines. In all, over one hundred of line breaks were reported in the town of Guildford. Many of them were more than simple line breaks. In at least a few circumstances, large trees came down and took down major distribution polls, crushing transformers and ripping wires down from several poles on each side. This is only one town! In the neighboring towns of Branford, North Branford, Madison, Clinton, Old Saybrook and all throughout Southern Connecticut things were just as bad.

Restoration of power was painfully slow, though this is understandable given the circumstances. The day after the storm, power was only beginning to be restored to a handful of customers, mostly in cities. By Wednesday, August 31, power began to be restored to a few of the central areas of the Southern Connecticut suburbs. On Tuesday the 30st of September, power was restored to my employer, which is located on a major road in the downtown area of Guildford CT. Residential areas began to flicker on this same day.  Also on Wensday, power came back at my apartment in Hamden Connecticut, a somewhat more urban and commercial area than Guildford. By the end of the week power was restored to the majority of Guildford and the surrounding area, but certainly not all of it. When I went to the bank on Friday the 2nd, they were running off a generator.

My parents home was unfortunate in being one of the last to have power restored in the area. The primary through street that feeds their street power had service by Friday, but a fault was detected in an underground cable on their street. I’m told by a utility worker that water from the saturated ground had found its way into the cable conduit and into a cable splice. The cable ended up needing to be dug up. It was not until Monday the 5th that power was restored to their home.

As of this posting, power has finally been restored to approximately 100% of the state.

Here are a few of my observations from what was the longest outage I’ve yet experienced:

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Recently a story has been making the rounds about how the elderly in Japan (or at least some of them) are now are volunteering to help clean up the Fukushima nuclear plant. It’s the kind of story which tugs at the heartstrings, implying self-sacrifice for the greater good.

Via the BBC:

Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis
The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.

They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.

It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.

No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him.

For weeks now Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends, sending out e-mails and even messages on Twitter.

Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.

“I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live,” he says.

“Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer.”

Mr Yamada is lobbying the government hard for his volunteers to be allowed into the power station. The government has expressed gratitude for the offer but is cautious.

Certainly a couple of MPs are supporting Mr Yamada.

While there is some truth to the claim that older individuals are at less risk from ionizing radiation, due to the fact that there are fewer years left in their life for cancer to develop, I’m still going to say that this is a BAD idea. The danger to workers really is not radiation. Even the workers with the highest exposure have not gotten anywhere near the point of acute radiation poisoning and only increase their lifetime cancer risk by a trivial amount. At this point the reactors are stable and it’s highly unlikely that a major radiation-related accident will occur.

There are dangers, however. The one fatality to occur at Fukushima since the earthquake was a man in his 50’s who died of an apparent heart attack. That risk, along with the risk of general workplace accidents is much greater than the risk of radiation. The elderly are not suited for the kind of work that is needed. Long days, no air conditioning or creature comforts and heavy lifting are the kind of things that quickly will leave an elderly person fatigued or worse, cause a heart attack, stroke or other health problem. Worrying about these health issues and potentially having to treat those who succumb to the stresses or simply reach the point of exhaustion is likely to cause enough of a problem to outweigh any contribution by older workers.

It’s also not clear whether these retirees are actually up to the task of doing the work when it comes to skill and ability. Some may be engineers or former nuclear workers, but they are long out of practice and may not be familiar with newer instruments and procedures. In the years since retirement, vision, reflexes and hearing may have degraded. At this point it would be a burden to do all the retesting and retraining that might be necessary to bring retirees back to work in this kind of setting, even if they had worked there in years past.

To be perfectly frank, someone who is not necessarily in the best of health or may have impaired vision, hearing, balance or reflexes can be downright dangerous in this kind of work environment.

So, therefore, to demonstrate that I don’t actually think there is any radiation danger to worry about, and I stress NOT because I feel brave or want to make any kind of self-sacrifice, I offer to go help with the cleanup.   Really, if they need people that bad, I’ll do it.   Granted, I don’t speak Japanese and don’t have any direct experience, but if they need someone to power wash pavement, lug around equipment, dig through debris or that kind of thing, fine, I’ll do it.  I’m not afraid – not even slightly.

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A lot of people like to speculate about what is going on in secret US military “black projects,” the kind of things carried out at places such as the installation known as Area 51.   Some like to think it includes things like captured alien technology, anti-gravity craft, aircraft that are invisible to the naked eye, flying disks and other scifi-like devices.

The truth is that what is being developed is not quite that cool, but it’s still pretty dam cool.  Right now it’s almost assured that the US is developing advanced aircraft, some of which are prototypical and intended to demonstrate technology while others are intended for eventual combat deployment.   The aircraft being developed don’t violate the laws of physics, but likely use the latest advancements in materials sciences, jet engines, computer control and stealth technology.  Some of these may not even be fully known to the mainstream.

Every once in a great while one of these projects becomes public.  Eventually they all have to.  You can keep an aircraft secret during development, but you can’t deploy a secret weapon in combat and expect it to remain secret – although some of the design features may remain secret, its existence certainly can’t be kept secret.

The raid that killed Bin Laden is one example of a previously unknown project being revealed to the public.  It seems that the raid was of a high enough value that military officials decided it was worth blowing the cover on a project that had been kept under lids for some time.

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As well they should be!

Via Fox News:

Japan Tsunami Victims Upset Over Government Focus on Nuclear Crisis
RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan — As Japan’s prime minister visited tsunami-ravaged coastal areas for the first time Saturday, frustrated evacuees complained that the government has been too focused on the nuclear crisis that followed the massive wave.

Nearly every day some new problem at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant commands officials’ attention — Saturday it was a newly discovered crack in a maintenance pit that is leaking highly radioactive water into the sea.

“The government has been too focused on the Fukushima power plant rather than the tsunami victims. Both deserve attention,” said 35-year-old Megumi Shimanuki, who was visiting her family at a community center converted into a shelter in hard-hit Natori, about 100 miles from Rikuzentakata, where Prime Minister Naoto Kan stopped Saturday. More than 165,000 people are still living in shelters.
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Radiation worries have compounded the misery for people trying to recover from the tsunami. Nearly 25,000 are feared dead — 11,800 confirmed — and in addition to those living in shelters, tens of thousands more still do not have electricity or running water.

Kan’s visit Saturday to Rikuzentakata was his first to survey damage in one of the dozens of villages, towns and cities slammed by the tsunami.

“The government fully supports you until the end,” Kan told 250 people at an elementary school serving as an evacuation center. He earlier met with the mayor, whose 38-year-old wife was swept away.

He bowed his head for a moment of silence in front of the town hall, one of the few buildings still standing, though its windows are blown out and metal and debris sit tangled out front.

Kan also stopped at the sports complex being used as a base camp for nuclear plant workers, who have been hailed as heroes for laboring in dangerous conditions. He had visited the nuclear crisis zone once before, soon after the quake.
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Radiation is also a concern for people living around the plant. In the city of Koriyama, Tadashi and Ritsuko Yanai and their 1-month-old baby have spent the past three weeks in a sports arena converted into a shelter. Baby Kaon, born a week before the quake, has grown accustomed to life there, including frequent radiation screenings, but his parents have not. Their home is fine, but they had to leave because it is six miles from the nuclear plant.

Asked if he had anything he would like to say to the prime minister, the 32-year-old father paused to think and then replied: “We want to go home. That’s all, we just want to go home.”

In Natori, where about 1,700 people are living in shelters, others had stronger words for Kan. Toru Sato, 57, lost both his wife and his house in the tsunami and said he was bothered that Kan’s visit to the quake zone was so brief — about a half day.

“He’s just showing up for an appearance,” Sato said. “He should spend time to talk to various people, and listen to what they need.”

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An excellent presentation has been made by Areva on exactly what happened at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant. It’s detailed but not overly technical and shows how the severe damage from the quake caused the systems failures that ultimately lead to the BWR reactors at the plant overheating.

The presentation can be found at Energy From Thorium.

Unfortunately, it is in Powerpoint format. Those who do not have Powerpoint can still view it using Google Documents. However, that still may be an imperfect solution for some. I will try to see if I can convert it to a video file and get permission to post it on Youtube for easier viewing.

To get this out of the way, let me start off by stating my opinion on the military intervention by the US and NATO in Libya.  I think it’s a bad idea.  While it is certainly a concern that Muammar Gaddafi has been using tactics that include targeting civilian areas in an attempt to suppress rebellion, it does no mean that bombing the Libyan military ultimately helps the situation. The US should have learned by now that using military force to intervene and effect regime change in the Middle East is very expensive, in terms of money, lives and in the commitment of national assets.

The US and our NATO allies really don’t have any direct interest in what goes on in Libya. The country is not an eminent threat to us, although it is possible instability could result in higher oil prices if it begins to affect the rest of the region. We certainly do not want to commit to any kind of ground campaign. We’ve only recently managed to start getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan has become a conflict which lacks leadership or direction. Becoming involved in the conflict in Libya is a can of worms we don’t need to open, and the prospect of ground troops, even in the roll of “peace keeping” is not a situation we want to get into.

Not only that, but much as we dislike Muammar Gaddafi, supporting the overthrow of the government of Libya is not sure to work to the advantage of the US or other NATO countries. It’s anyone’s guess what might take hold in the power vacuum and whatever regime may come to replace him could be peaceful and democratic or even worse than Gaddafi.

So I will come down on the side of this is a bad idea. You may disagree, which is fine. This is a political issue that is sure to have a number of sides and arguments.

However, there is another issue that has been raised, which is scientific, not subjective: Depleted Uranium.

Has depleted uranium been used in the airstrikes against Libya?  I’d say probably not, because, at least in the US military, the use of depleted uranium munitions is normally confined to anti-armor kinetic energy rounds. However, depleted uranium has been used in the past to adjust the center of gravity or add weight and other munitions, and since the airstrikes have included the French, British and other forces, I can’t really say for certain whether depleted uranium was used in any of the bombs dropped. It’s remotely possible that it was, although it seems unlikely.

However, what I can say is this: It doesn’t matter. Because regardless of whether a bomb is ballasted with lead, tungsten or depleted uranium, it blows up just the same and kills in exactly the same way, by shrapnel, over pressure and heat. And regardless of what metal it might contain, the toxicity and environmental effect is roughly the same.

Apparently some don’t get this.
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Since Japan is a country where camera cell phones, camcorders and digital cameras are very common, there has been a lot of footage of the destruction caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami shown on the news and on internet sites.  I saw no reason to post about this, since that really is not the focus of this site.

However, I recently came across this video that was only recently posted on Youtube.  It shows the Tsunami that made landfall about half an hour after the quake.   It is one of the most incredible and sobering videos I’ve seen and captures the tsunami from shortly after the initial arrival of the surge until it has made nearly full landfall, a period of more than five minutes. Note that even as the video begins to roll, the rush of water has already flooded a low lying area and begun to lift cars out of a parking lot.

The level of destruction is almost unimaginable.   While this video only shows one locality, this powerful rush of the sea occurred for much of the northern Japanese coastline.    The destruction extended some distance inland, but even structures that were safe from the tsunami on high ground were subject to the extreme shaking of the quake that caused it.

At 2:55, the cameraman notices a person in the water. There may be others who are not visible or were in their vehicles.

It is amazing that the nuclear power plants subject to this level of destruction have held together as well as they have.

8:00 PM Eastern US Time.
Here is the latest reliable information available on the status of the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi:

Reactor 1: The oldest reactor at the plant, reactor one has generated the most concern. It lacks some of the redundancy and cooling systems of the other reactors. An explosion in the reactor support area severely damaged portions of Unit-1 which are not directly related to the operation of the reactor.

Because of the extreme damage to systems on reactor 1, operators decided to use seawater injection for direct cooling. Last reports are that the reactor pressure and temperature is stable. Containment systems are not in danger of failure.

The reactor is probably a write-off. It is possible that a partial meltdown has occurred of some of the fuel. In any case, the core appears to have sustained some severe damage which will preclude it from being put back into operation.

Reactor 2: Auxiliary cooling for reactor two is functioning normally. There does not appear to be any significant damage to the reactor itself, although severe damage to the turbines, electrical equipment and steam systems is likely to have occurred.

Reactor 3: Numerous systems were severely damaged by the tsunami. For a period of time, auxiliary systems on unit 3 continued to provide adequate cooling, but due to the damage incurred, sufficient cooling could not be assured by March 13. Cooling has resumed. TEPCO initially stated that the possibility of hydrogen buildup could not be dismissed, but it appears that any hydrogen has been successfully ventilated.

The status of the core is unknown. The reactor appears to have been stabilized, but it is likely that the core has suffered some level of deformation or, at the very least, cladding degradation. There is no indication of any leak in the reactor containment systems.

Reports now indicate that they are cooling the reactor with seawater. This is unfortunate as it signals that officials have basically decided that the reactor cannot be saved for a return to service. Seawater is obviously not the best choice of coolants as it will contaminate the reactor with salt and other materials. It seems that there is simply no freshwater to cool the reactors because of the destruction of the local water system.

Reactor 4: Unit four was shut down for refueling and routine maintenance. There is sufficient coolant in the system to assure system safety and stability. There are no indications of any leak in the reactor systems.

Reactor 5: Unit five was shut down for refueling and routine maintenance. There is sufficient coolant in the system to assure system safety and stability. There are no indications of any leak in the reactor systems.

Reactor 6: Unit six was shut down for refueling and routine maintenance. There is sufficient coolant in the system to assure system safety and stability. There are no indications of any leak in the reactor systems.

Radiation levels: There have been sporadic and inconsistent reports on the level of radiation measured at the plant. A number of reports have indicated an increase in ambient radiation measurements. This is to be expected due to the venting of steam containing minute amounts of radioactive nucleotides. Increases in background radiation may also occur due to smokey fires in the area, dust kicked up by collapsing structures and other sources of natural radiation. Because of this it is difficult to ascertain exactly how much can be directly attributed to the plant.

A number of reports claimed levels at the plant had risen to anywhere from 70 microserviets per hour to as high as 882 microserviets per hour. There is very little context for these reports – it’s not clear whether this is the level on the plant grounds in general or at the point of the vapor release. It is also not clear whether this is a sustained reading or represents only a momentary high level.

At this point all that can be said for sure is that there is no significant increase in ambient radiation beyond the plant boundary.

There have also been reports of individuals who were “exposed to radiation.” There have been vague reports of three workers who may have received a high enough dose to necessitate medical attention. At this point there’s no solid information on what the doses may have been or the nature of the exposure (whether it was proximity exposure or contamination by radioactive material etc).

At this point we simply do not have any context to the reports of individuals being “exposed to radiation.” However, there remains no evidence of the general public being exposed to radiation, despite some very dramatic photographs of school children being swept with Geiger counters.

UPDATE (11:30 PM EST Mar 13): A second explosion has apparently occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, possibly associated with reactor number 3. The explosion did not cause any significant damage to the reactor itself or to the containment structure. The explosion may also have been caused by hydrogen gas. Officials had warned of the possibility of further explosions because of the difficulties in venting hydrogen gas from the coolant.

It is important to note that while the reactors and containment structures remain sound, the plant and surrounding area have been decimated by the quake and tsunami. Turbines, electrical distribution equipment, administrative buildings and support infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed. The entire area is experiencing continuing fires, explosions and other effects of the damage to industry.

Update 2 (11:00 PM EST Mar 14): Reactor 2, which had been relatively stable with auxiliary systems functioning normally has experienced a series of system failures.   An explosion was reported at the unit, although the cause and severity remain unclear.

Update 3 (12:15 PM EST Mar 15): Reported fire in spent fuel pool of reactor 4.   It is likely that the fire was the result of reduced levels of water covering spent fuel.   Fresh spent fuel requires cooling or heat can build up resulting in cladding catching fire.   Fire was reportedly contained and extinguished rapidly.  Some radioactive material possibly released but extent unknown.

The importance of keeping water in the pool and the need to refill evaporating water depends heavily on how recently the reactor was refueled.   Fuel bundles that have been in the pool for a year or more should be okay with just air convection cooling.  Newer fuel bundles are much hotter.   Any information on the age of the most recent bundles would be appreciated.

The problems at the Fukushima-I nuclear plant have received the most press. However, the earthquake was so enormous that it has had an impact on nearly all industrial structures in northern Japan. Here is the latest information on other nuclear power stations.

The Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant:

The plant reportedly received minor to moderate damage as a result of the earthquake.   Damage reported to steam systems and turbines.   A fire broke out in the turbine room for Onagawa Unit 3, but was quickly contained.   All reactors at Onagawa are now shut down, in part because of extreme damage to the electrical distribution system.   Initially, some media reports were that the plant was experiencing cooling problems, but this does not seem to be accurate.  Current reports are that the cooling systems are all functioning normally.

Higashidōri Nuclear Power Plant:

The Higashidōri Nuclear Power Plant had been shut down for routine maintenance and inspection. There may have been some damage but there are no reports of problems with any of the support systems. Construction had recently begun at Higashidōri as part of a major upgrade. It is unknown whether the earthquake will have any impact on this.

Tōkai Nuclear Power Plant:

No reports of serious damage, however the single operating reactor at the plant was apparently powered down when the quake occurred.

Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant:

Not a power plant, the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant is one of Japan’s primary fuel reprocessing and fabrication plants.  There are no reports of serious damage to the plant, but the earthquake has caused a massive power failure in Northern Japan.   The Rokkasho Plant is now running on backup power.  Routine activities have been temporarily suspended.