Unusual scene at Japan meltdown site
Something funny happened at Fukushima reactor no. 4 last night (Saturday night Japan time). One of the many folks who have been watching the live video feed from the site recorded this sequence. The action starts at about 1:05 into the video. Reactor 4 is on the right (south) side of the screen. There's a little white blink of light above the right side of the trashed reactor roof, and then a mess of smoke and steam comes spilling out that appears to envelop the entire site.
Reactor 4 was shut down for refueling when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit. It nonetheless exploded or otherwise burned a few nights later, and its spent fuel pool is reportedly in danger of collapsing. Exactly what (if anything) the plant operators at Tokyo Electric were doing overnight to cause all the radioactive fog is not known.
| Posted at 12:11 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: I very much appreciate your continued diligence on this.
Did you ever get the cease-and-desist letter from TEPCO?
Posted by Roger | May 21, 2011 2:15 PM
Tepco doesn't know I exist, I'm sure.
They appear to keep screwing around with the reactors on Saturday nights. There was a similar incident two Saturdays ago, involving reactor 3.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 21, 2011 2:41 PM
The action appears to have actually begun before this film sequence picks up -- notice the vented vapor coming from the top of the building on the right.
Posted by Mojo | May 21, 2011 6:31 PM
Jack, This reminds me of the film, The Fog back in the 1980's.
Toyko is soon to be toast!
Posted by Jeff | May 21, 2011 6:51 PM
Time-lapse view of fog from the sea (this time, at least).
Posted by foo | May 21, 2011 10:00 PM
Did someone say venting?
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0520/Nuclear-power-safety-Latest-on-Japan-crisis-fuels-new-concern-in-US
Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | May 21, 2011 10:23 PM
Time-lapse view of fog from the sea
That's a really nice try, but it fails. Fog rolls in onto that camera many days. It never rolls in that way, nor does it roll in late at night only to roll back out before morning. If you watch the camera regularly, you'll see that that ain't fog.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 21, 2011 11:36 PM
How could one vent a spent fuel pool?
Posted by 01 | May 22, 2011 1:29 PM
Venting a building that's missing a roof and a lot of its walls is pretty easy. It could just be steam from a big water dump into the spent fuel pool there, which is apparently in danger of collapse. Hurricane season over there is going to be a white-knuckler.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 22, 2011 1:50 PM
Such information and the video shot is valuable and with the background of the process of refuelling, this opens up a scenario like the one described at the time of the 9 MM earthquake as a credible one.The tsunami may be flogging a dead horse come alive but this is another gap in knowledge. Regarding this particular incident on 21 May 2011 it would indeed point to the need for transparency because of the right of life not to be contaminated. Good work. Please keep it up- the info bank.
Posted by Ramaswami Kumar | May 23, 2011 12:34 AM