Reply #215: confidental statements from japan implying complete core melt of U2

[divvy]

There are statements coming out of Japan implying that a complete core melt of U2 has probably occurred and it may have breeched the reactor. It is my understanding that these Japanese plants were not built with a core catcher below the reactor. My plant had this large casting below the vessel. You can find out more by Googling "nuclear core catcher" and reading the Wikipedia writeup. Since the drywell on these plants is steel, not concrete... a breech of the reactor vessel will make short work of the drywell. The core is now setting on the Reactor building basement and foundation, if it really breeched the vessel. Pouring water onto it or into the vessel would leech and spill on the site. I am not sure how effective the water is now in cooling the core once it has left the vessel and perhaps they should consider not adding water to U2. It may be doing more harm (in spreading radioactive water) than good (in cooling the core material). The danger now is that dose rates and contamination levels will get so bad that it becomes impossible to maintain the fight to save the other plants. They need to quickly figure out how to do more onsite with less human involvement. It isn't looking good that this disaster is going to be brought under control. The government should be looking at contingency plans for increasing the evacuation zone. I wonder about the remaining population that is north of the nuclear plant site. Can they be cutoff from a good evacuation route? Should vulnerable old people and the sick be moved now?