Radiation Level At Fukushima #2 At Its Highest Level Recorded So Far, Neutron Beam Observed 13 Times

[stockholmer]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japan-nuclear-agency-radiation-level-fukushima-reactor-no-2-its-highest-level-recorded-so-fa

"Per the Japan Nuclear Agency: the Radiation level at Fukushima reactor No. 2 at its highest level recorded so far. From Reuters: "Radiation at the crippled Fukushima No.2 nuclear reactor was recorded at the highest level since the start of the crisis, Japan's nuclear safety agency said on Wednesday. An agency spokesman said 500 millisieverts per hour of radiation was measured at the No.2 unit on Wednesday. Engineers have been trying to fix the plant's cooling system after restoring lighting on Tuesday." And some more truthy news from Kyodo:

Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has observed a neutron beam, a kind of radioactive ray, 13 times on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it was crippled by the massive March 11 quake-tsunami disaster.

TEPCO, the operator of the nuclear plant, said the neutron beam measured about 1.5 kilometers southwest of the plant's No. 1 and 2 reactors over three days from March 13 and is equivalent to 0.01 to 0.02 microsieverts per hour and that this is not a dangerous level.

The utility firm said it will measure uranium and plutonium, which could emit a neutron beam, as well............."



http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80539.html

[ananda]

1. That's bad.

Not a good sign.

[Auntie Bush]

2. It will be nice to get some good news from Japan...they sure deserve it.

[The Stranger]

3. Anyone know the significance (and possible source) of a "neutron beam"?

Other than science fiction?

[GodlessBiker]

4. Well, the neutrons come from the fuel rods, but what focuses them into a beam? A crack ...

in the containment structure?

[flamingdem]

10. Possibly a crack in the structure

or possibly another lie from Tepco if it's a more generalized flare.

[Statistical]

5. Likely they mean neutron flux.

Prior to this no neutron emissions had been detected. You can't have fission without sufficient neutrons and induced fission produces a lot of neutrons. Are ability to detect a small number of neutrons is limited so any detection would indicate a large number of neutrons were produced in a short period of time. The most probable source of those neutrons in a reactor plant is via fission.

The bad:
Very likely that means induced fission has occurred. Something to be avoided at all cost. The heat output they are battling in the reactor is from nuclear decay which is a tiny fraction (less than 0.2% of peak thermal power) of a reactor under full power.

The "good":
The fluxes were brief which indicates that whatever conditions transpired that allowed criticality didn't allow it to remain sustained for more than a second or so.

The ugly:
While we may not have sustained criticality conditions yet the margin of safety has significantly been reduced. If you imagine a timeline with subcritical on one end and sustained criticality on the other neutron fluxes would indicate we have moved significantly to the right. If in the future induced fission was sustained for say 60 seconds instead of a fraction of a second the heat output in reactor would increase by 100x to 200x fold.

[maxpower]

9. Thanks

I appreciate you dumbing this down for me to understand. Those poor souls. So sad, so very sad.


Peace,
Max

[PoliticAverse]

7. Sounds like someone's nuclear reactor containment vessel has a hole in it... n/t

[MineralMan]

6. Neutron beam? I think there's a translation error in this.

It's not a term I've ever seen used with regard to nuclear power reactors, and there's no information in that connection in a Google search.

I suspect that a faulty translation was picked up by news media and not checked out properly. I think we'll have to wait a bit, until someone explains what actually was measured.

There is such a thing as a neutron beam, but it is produced by accelerators, not reactors like these. Neutron beams have medical uses and potential weapons uses, but I can't find anything regarding such a thing in connection with power generation reactors. Wait for clarification.

[Statistical]

8. I believe they mean neutron radiation was detected.

They have monitors onsite to detect neutron emissions. In a post a couple days ago there was an hour by hour listing of radiation readings both gamma and neutron. The neutron column was 0 for every time period in the chart.

The detection of neutrons could *possibly* indicate a criticality event. Looks like that criticality was short as the detected neutron bursts were also short. If those bursts start to become more sustained well that would be catastrophically bad. The operators are fighting a battle against decay heat which is a tiny fraction of the thermal output of the reactor under induced fission. They have no chance to prevent meltdown if fission was sustained in either reactor or spent fuel pond.

[MineralMan]

11. I imagine you're correct. Just a poor translation.

It happens a lot.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. From what I can tell, concrete is a reasonable absorber of neutrons

because of the hydrogen in the water that goes into it. So, with the outer concrete buildings having suffered those explosions, it's possible you might get strong neutron radiation in one direction outside the plant, but not another, due to where the concrete is still standing or not; so calling it a 'beam' might be reasonable.

On edit: never mind, I see Bonobo has provided a better translation from the original.

[Bonobo]

12. You are right. It is a mistranslation of "housha" meaning radiation.

"Housha" is written as 放射. Two Chinese characters (kanji) meaning "release" and "shoot".

I can see where someone might have gotten "beam" from a dictionary.

ほうしゃ【放射】
〔光熱ガスなどの〕emission, emanation; 〔物理学で〕radiation ｟of｠
派生語 放射する｜emit; emanate; radiate
この機器は熱を四方に放射する｜This apparatus radiates heat in all directions.
合成語
放射エネルギー｜radiant energy
放射角｜an angle of radiation
放射熱｜radiant heat

[Statistical]

13. Thanks. It was the only thing that makes sense but glad to get solid confirmation. n/t

[KittyWampus]

15. How is your family? Still have food and gasoline, I hope?

[MineralMan]

18. Thanks for the clarification. I have zero knowledge of Japanese,

but I've sure seen bad translations from languages I know. Emanation or Emission is probably the correct translation, using English terminology. This may have been run through Google Translation, and the "neutron beam" sounded right to someone who speaks English, so they kept it.

I appreciate your expert assistance.

[thereismore]

19. Sounds like there was a directional release of neutrons. A crack in the pool wall? nt

[nolabels]

16. Anybody own stock in nuclear reactor construction company?

The nuclear industry always gave me the creeps, i guess it was for good reason :scared:

[Snoutport]

17. *=8;20 pacific time: cnn: no changes in radiation

and "some" food from four prefectures are banned in the US. SOME? What, the beets are OK but the atomic turnips in the field next to them are not?

[enough]

20. "The beam of neutrons is obtained by drilling a hole in the side of a nuclear reactor."

From Encyclopedia Britannica

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/410964/neutron-beam

Snip>

The beam of neutrons is obtained by drilling a hole in the side of a nuclear reactor. The energetic neutrons created in nuclear fission escape through the hole.

Snip>

[Rex]

21. So what are we talking about here? A tiny tiny fracture?

[suffragette]

22. From the Kyodo news link

In the 1999 criticality accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant run by JCO Co. in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, uranium broke apart continually in nuclear fission, causing a massive amount of neutron beams.

In the latest case at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, a criticality accident has yet to happen.

But the measured neutron beam may be evidence that uranium and plutonium leaked from the plant's nuclear reactors and spent nuclear fuel have discharged a small amount of neutron beams via fission.


Found a link with much more info on the 1999 incident including a timeline :
http://www.isis-online.org/publications/tokai.html