“By sampling the air around the station, you’d be able to tell how much radioactivity has been released. TIMOTHY ABRAM, PROFESSOR OF NUCLEAR FUEL TECHNOLOGY AT BRITAIN’S MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY “We must remember that there are 55 reactors in Japan and this was a huge earthquake, and as a test of the resilience and robustness of nuclear plants it seems they have withstood the effects very well.” So far it looks like it’s not the reactor core that’s affected which would be good news. “But we still need to establish the cause and exact location of the explosion, which is a separate issue. Current reports seem consistent with a small leak to relieve pressure.” Scientists in Japan should be able to establish this very quickly using gamma ray spectroscopy as the isotopes have characteristic decay signatures. “The amount that you measure would tell you to what degree the fuel rods have been compromised. “But if any of the fuel rods have been compromised, there would be evidence of a small amount of other radioisotopes in the atmosphere called fission fragments (radio-caesium and radio-iodine). This remains radioactive for only about 5 seconds, after which it decays to natural oxygen. In that steam, there will be small but measurable amounts of radioactive nitrogen - nitrogen 16 (produced when neutrons hit water). “To reduce the pressure, you would have to release some steam into the atmosphere from the system. If the reactor gets too hot, in principle this means the fuel rods can melt - but it looks unlikely this has happened to any great extent in this case. “As a result there is no way of pumping heat out of the reactor, so it has to cool naturally.
#Caesium charge generator#
They shut down automatically when the reactor shuts down, but there is a backup system running off a diesel generator - it looks as though that’s the bit that failed. “It looks as if the coolant pumps had initially stopped working. PROF PADDY REGAN, PROFESSOR OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SURREY
Here are comments from experts about what might have happened. The development has led to fears of a disastrous meltdown. March 12 (Reuters) - Radiation was leaking from an unstable nuclear reactor north of Tokyo on Saturday, the Japanese government said, after an explosion blew the roof off the facility following a massive earthquake.
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