8.8 earthquake hits Japan

@High Seas,

Corium Inventory (hypothetical meltdown products)-No order of production implied, due to cladding, "dopants" etc.

Quote:

No. Radionuclide (Source Term in curies) Half Life
== ============ ======================== ==========
1 Cobalt-58 780 thousand 10.1 weeks
2 Cobalt-60 290 thousand 5.25 years
3 Krypton-85 560 thousand 10.8 years
4 Krypton-85m 24 million 4.4 hours
5 Krypton-87 47 million 1.25 hours
6 Krypton-88 68 million 2.8 hours
7 Rubidium-86 26 thousand 2.67 weeks
8 Strontium-89 94 million 7.4 weeks
9 Strontium-90 3 million 700 thousand 30.2 years
10 Strontium-91 110 million 9.7 hours
11 Yttrium-90 390 thousand 2.67 days
12 Yttrium-91 120 million 8.4 weeks
13 Zirconium-95 150 million 9.3 weeks
14 Zirconium-97 150 million 17.0 hours
15 Niobium-95 150 million 5.0 weeks
16 Molybdenum-99 160 million 2.8 days
17 Technetium-99m 140 million 6.0 hours
18 Ruthenium-103 110 million 5.64 weeks
19 Ruthenium-105 72 million 4.44 hours
20 Ruthenium-106 25 million 1.0 years
21 Rhodium-105 49 million 1.50 days
22 Tellurium-127 5 million 900 thousand 9.38 hours
23 Tellurium-127m 1 million 100 thousand 15.6 weeks
24 Tellurium-129 31 million 1.15 hours
25 Tellurium-129m 5 million 300 thousand 8.16 hours
26 Tellurium-131m 13 million 1.25 days
27 Tellurium-132 120 million 3.25 days
28 Antimony-127 6 million 100 thousand 3.88 days
29 Antimony-129 33 million 4.30 hours
30 Iodine-131 85 million 8.05 days
31 Iodine-132 120 million 2.30 hours
32 Iodine-133 170 million 21.0 hours
33 Iodine-134 190 million 53 minutes
34 Iodine-135 150 million 6.72 hours
35 Xenon-133 170 million 5.28 days
36 Xenon-135 34 million 9.2 hours
37 Cesium-134 7 million 500 thousand 2.05 years
38 Cesium-136 3 million 13.0 days
39 Cesium-137 4 million 700 thousand 30.1 years
40 Barium-140 160 million 12.8 days
41 Lanthanum-14 0 160 million 1.67 days
42 Cerium-141 150 million 4.6 weeks
43 Cerium-143 130 million 1.38 days
44 Cerium-144 85 million 40.6 weeks
45 Praseodymium-143 130 million 13.7 days
46 Neodymium-147 60 million 11.1 days
47 Neptunium-239 1 billion 640 million 2.35 days
48 Plutonium-238 57 thousand 89.0 years
49 Plutonium-239 21 thousand 24,000 years
50 Plutonium-240 21 thousand 6,571 years
51 Plutonium-241 3 million 400 thousand 14.6 years
52 Americium-241 1 thousand 7 hundred 410.7 years
53 Curium-242 500 thousand 23.3 weeks
54 Curium-244 23 thousand 18.1 years

FROM the old Rasmussen Inventory. There would have to be some Zirc and Sr /Rb if core was involved(IMHO). Zr95 and 97 would be among th first nuclides seen and Sr/Rb would be produced. Is that a complete monitoring list from the atmosphere , the water or both?

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@farmerman,

Phew! Thanks. That was just the water in the puddle under reactor #3, where the injured workmen had been wading for hours, not the air. Thanks again.

1 Reply

@High Seas,

The weather Channel is saying that there is a concern for a core breach. I dont know how they got to that from the analyte list you postede. IS there some more data?
Ill bet they lost some plumbing fixture , not the core.

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@farmerman,

The data I posted was from Tepco's link, also posted; here it is again:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11032503-e.html
The Weather Channel probably doesn't know valves from containment or cores. The valves are known to be messed up with salt from all the seawater.

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@farmerman,

PS This is the probable source of that rumor - problem is with reactor vessel, not core: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/world/asia/26japan.html
[quote]......One sign that a breach may have occurred in the reactor vessel, Mr. Nishiyama said, took place on Thursday when three workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal in a reactor. The No. 3 unit, the only one of the six reactors at the site that uses the mox fuel, was damaged by a hydrogen explosion on March 14. Workers have been seeking to keep it cool by spraying it with seawater...... [/quote]

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@farmerman,

This is a quick non-technical writeup on the new Russian reactor designs; not sure what happens if they lose the water cooling beyond the final steel walls:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/business/energy-environment/23chernobyl.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

Quote:

The contemporary Rosatom core-catcher is a pool in the basement of a reactor filled not with water, but a metallic alloy. Solid under normal circumstances, it is designed to liquefy if the hot, melted-down core drops into it after burrowing through the floors above. Once the whole metallic pool liquefied, Mr. Bolshov said, heat from the continuing nuclear reaction would create currents, swirling the mixture against water-cooled steel walls.

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@farmerman,

Quote:

17 Technetium-99m 140 million 6.0 hours

Thank dog for this post, Farmer. I had always thought that Technetium-99m was --- 5.925 hours. Wink

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Quote:
Dumping seawater on these pools isn't a long-term solution, salt will eventually cause trouble in the valves - assuming they work
Theyve already been dumping seawater in . Theyve announced early in this that the plants were NOT candidates for rehab.

Yes, and even though nobody presently knows exactly what's wrong with the reactors, and no final report can be issued until weeks or months from now, I'm placing my chit on the table and naming my bet on what will turn out to be causing all this extra radiation: sea salt. 50 (fifty) tons of it per reactor - coating fuel rods, clogging valves, corroding pipes, destroying alloys. That's not even mentioning the vents, sticking together as they must be after these endless torrents of 2 weeks' worth of salty sea spray. Anyone wants to bet against, see you here in a couple of weeks. At last they started pumping fresh water today Smile

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I don't mean to fearmonger, but this is an initially scary piece to read for me -
http://www.huliq.com/10282/japan-radiation-killing-sea-life-warning-oregon-coast-fishing-industry.

Obviously I am a naive poster on all this - any comments pro or con?

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Our reports here tell of the high dosage of radiation in seawater off Japan's NE seaboard.
A lot of fishing boats worked these coastal waters. Japanese people traditionally eat a lot of seafood. The horror just goes on. Are any of the Horsemen yet to visit?

1 Reply

@McTag,

Toyota are testing for radiation on new cars coming off the production line.

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Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:35am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Workers were evacuated on Sunday from a reactor building they were working in after high doses of radiation were detected at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the plant's operator said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant's operator, said radiation 10 million times the usual level was detected in water that had accumulated at the No.2 reactor's turbine housing unit.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/27/us-japan-reactor-idUSTRE72Q08E20110327

1 Reply

@oralloy,

things may be heating up. Any recent isotope count?

1 Reply

@farmerman,

This is a different puddle, in basement under reactor #2. Surface above 1 Sv/hr, iodine 134 (repeat 134) approx. 3 gigabecquerel per cubic centimeter.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110327x1.html

1 Reply

@High Seas,

I think in curies, so thats about 3. Thats a bunch. why havent they reported any other isotopes. I134 doesnt appear in a vacuum

1 Reply

@farmerman,

There's a news report out this morning indicating their previously reported levels in the water were exaggerated by a factor of 100 (still very high). They're also reporting dose rates inside the containment building of unit #2 of 1 Sv/hr (100 Rem/hr). That's high, but less than what would occur duing normal operations due to the short lived N-17.

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@georgeob1,

Always the news has to wait for the later news to sort stuff out eh?

1 Reply

@georgeob1,

The man who took the first reading at this puddle below reactor 2 showing 1 Sv/hr (one sievert per hour, this being the 50-50 point where you start hemorrhaging and it's 50-50 whether you survive for 30 days) stayed by the puddle long enough to get an adequate sample for all isotopes, then fled - but not before ringing the alarm and making sure everyone in the building had moved to a safe distance; if that's not heroism then words have no meaning.

From Japanese-reading technical associates I gather I134 and other isotope readings were subsequently estimated erroneously - but for the record we should write that this latest panic is unjustified for a plumbing problem caused by sea salt in pipes, pumps, and valves; the US Navy is delivering fresh water by barge, it's being used (at long last) and while it won't repair the plumbing it will stop further damage. Meanwhile Japanese police confirms 27,000 are confirmed or presumed dead - not one of them killed by radiation, so anyone wanting to post further scary stuff from UFO sites might usefully think twice.

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@High Seas,

Good news after so many reports of radiation release and exposure. Thanks to all for keeping us up to date.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

Always the news has to wait for the later news to sort stuff out eh?

Yes, and for stuff like this the media are peddling fear and panic. The out of context factoids and unreviewed preliminary reports sell even better than accurate analysis and reporting.

0 Replies

8.8 earthquake hits Japan

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