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[ponpo]

AP News

TOKYO (AP) — An underwater robot captured images of solidified lava-like rocks Friday inside a damaged reactor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, spotting for the first time what is believed to be nuclear fuel that melted six years ago.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the robot found large amounts of lava-like debris apparently containing fuel that had flowed out of the core into the primary containment vessel of the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima. The plant was destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Cameras mounted on the robot showed extensive damage caused by the core meltdown, with fuel debris mixed with broken reactor parts, suggesting the difficult challenges ahead in the decades-long decommissioning of the destroyed plant.

Experts have said the fuel melted and much of it fell to the chamber’s bottom and is now covered by radioactive water as deep as 6 meters (20 feet). The fuel, during meltdown, also likely melted its casing and other metal structures inside the reactor, forming rocks as it cooled.

TEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto said it was the first time a robot camera has captured what is believed to be the melted fuel.

Kimoto said the robot probe in its two missions has captured a great deal of useful information and images showing the damage inside the reactor, which will help experts eventually determine a way to remove the melted fuel, a process expected to begin sometime after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“It’s still just the beginning of the (decades-long) decommissioning. There is still a long way to go, including developing the necessary technology,” he said. “But it’s a big step forward.”

Locating and analyzing the fuel debris and damage in each of the three wrecked reactors is crucial for decommissioning the plant. The search for melted fuel in the two other reactors has so far been unsuccessful because of damage and extremely high radiation levels.

In less depressing news, the robot Toshiba made for this purpose is rather cute.

 

[Neith]

Well, let's hope those filters for the water flowing to sea are working.

 

[deo]

melted fuel? Isnt fuel already a liquid? Sometimes I feel stupid...

 

[Indrid Cold1]

I imagined it would be glowing.

 

[riotous]

melted fuel? Isnt fuel already a liquid? Sometimes I feel stupid...

IIRC it's a solid if kept at the right temperature; hence the term "nuclear meltdown" which happens when the cooling systems fail and the reactor overheats.

 

[mAcOdIn]

melted fuel? Isnt fuel already a liquid? Sometimes I feel stupid...

Coal's a fuel and it's not liquified we're just used to gasoline. Fuel's not a "state" it's a use.

 

[Slayven]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

 

[Blizzard]

melted fuel? Isnt fuel already a liquid? Sometimes I feel stupid...

Fuel rods in a reactor are metal tubes with fuel pellets, according to this: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/fuel-rod.html

I don't know if different reactors have different types of fuel, but I think it's solid for nuclear reactors.

 

[kami_sama]

melted fuel? Isnt fuel already a liquid? Sometimes I feel stupid...

No. Nuclear fuel is a solid, normally, enriched uranium pellets.
Also, coal and wood are also solid fuels lol

 

[ponpo]

melted fuel? Isnt fuel already a liquid? Sometimes I feel stupid...

You're thinking of fuel as gasoline and not "material used in a reaction." There are liquid fuel nuclear plants but the fuel in this case is a solid rod.

 

[Ottaro]

Hard to believe it's been six years.

 

[deo]

Coal's a fuel and it's not liquified we're just used to gasoline. Fuel's not a "state" it's a use.

Fuel rods in a reactor are metal tubes with fuel pellets, according to this: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/fuel-rod.html

I don't know if different reactors have different types of fuel, but I think it's solid for nuclear reactors.

No. Nuclear fuel is a solid, normally, enriched uranium pellets.
Also, coal and wood are also solid fuels lol

You're thinking of fuel as gasoline and not "material used in a reaction." There are liquid fuel nuclear plants but the fuel in this case is a solid rod.

Thanks guys. You learn something new everyday

 

[Volimar]

No steel beams jokes? GAF be slipping.

 

[ponpo]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

Plutonium-238 looks cool

 

[deo]

No steel beams jokes? GAF be slipping.

I was trying to think of one...Im not that witty

 

[StopMakingSense]

Thanks guys. You learn something new everyday

To put it in perspective ,the melting point for Uranium fuel rods is something like 2800 degrees celsius.

 

[XT Vengeance]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

If it is reacting fast enough and under water it glows a cool blue color. It is caused by the water molecules getting excited by the radioactive particles. They but off that frequency of color as the shift back down to a stable state. It is called Cerenkov radiation.

 

[Mirado]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

Take solace in the fact that it looks way cooler in real life when you place it in a chamber filled with alcohol vapor. Whenever a charged particle hits the vapor, it condenses and you see the streaks. In fact, you can tell what kind of charged particle caused a trail by it's size and shape.

Take that, cartoons!

 

[SaviourMK2]

That's kind of cool. But is this a good or bad thing? I'm constantly worried this fukushima plant thing is going to really wreck havoc on our environment beyond reversing.

 

[Xe4]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

Depending on the isotope Uranium does glow green, though not to the amount in the Simpsons or anything. Plutonium generally does not. It's just grayish.

That's kind of cool. But is this a good or bad thing? I'm constantly worried this fukushima plant thing is going to really wreck havoc on our environment beyond reversing.

Doubtful. The water keeps it really well contained. It has basically 0 chance of melting down when it's continuously submerged like that. People will not be able to go near it for a long while and it'll just have to stay there, but it's not going to explode or anything.

 

[amar212]

That's kind of cool. But is this a good or bad thing? I'm constantly worried this fukushima plant thing is going to really wreck havoc on our environment beyond reversing.

Well, time to book another cruising, because that ship sailed long time ago.

 

[Mad Max]

If it is reacting fast enough and under water it glows a cool blue color. It is caused by the water molecules getting excited by the radioactive particles. They but off that frequency of color as the shift back down to a stable state. It is called Cerenkov radiation.

It's actually caused by charged particles going faster than the speed of light of the medium (water in this case), Cherenkov radiation is basically the electromagnetic equivalent of a sonic boom.

 

[davepoobond]

No steel beams jokes? GAF be slipping.

The coral is dying because of nuclear fuel meltdown not because of global warming


Am I doing it right?

 

[Sophist]

Depending on the isotope Uranium does glow green, though not to the amount in the Simpsons or anything. Plutonium generally does not. It's just grayish.

Under UV light

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_glass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium#Luminescent_paint

Curium glows purple in the dark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curium#Applications

 

[shira]

In less depressing news, the robot Toshiba made for this purpose is rather cute.

That robot is kawaii af

 

[ponpo]

Take solace in the fact that it looks way cooler in real life when you place it in a chamber filled with alcohol vapor. Whenever a charged particle hits the vapor, it condenses and you see the streaks. In fact, you can tell what kind of charged particle caused a trail by it's size and shape.

Take that, cartoons!

whoa

 

[Fuchsdh]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

Not Star Trek, though.

 

[ponpo]

Not Star Trek, though.

Just looks like dirty tinfoil

 

[Woorloog]

Wait, the robot survived? IIRC, earlier robots used to check the condition of the reactors etc. were destroyed by radiation within minutes. Has the radiation levels gone down enough it is no longer a real problem for robots? Or is this because it is an underwater robot (the previous ones may not have been)?

 

[Volimar]

Wait, the robot survived? IIRC, earlier robots used to check the condition of the reactors etc. were destroyed by radiation within minutes. Has the radiation levels gone down enough it is no longer a real problem for robots? Or is this because it is an underwater robot (the previous ones may not have been)?

They had to improve protections for the robots after the one robot killed itself in protest.

 

[Saganator]

Fine example of necessity breeding innovation. Definitely no good that this happened, but one bright side will be the knowledge and tech we end up gaining.

 

[Redberyl]

Wait, the robot survived? IIRC, earlier robots used to check the condition of the reactors etc. were destroyed by radiation within minutes. Has the radiation levels gone down enough it is no longer a real problem for robots? Or is this because it is an underwater robot (the previous ones may not have been)?

There's a Toshiba press release from June that touches on it briefly:

“We have already developed remotely operated robots for inspections at Fukushima,” said Goro Yanase, General Manager of Toshiba’s Nuclear Energy Systems & Services Div. “In this case, we had to meet the specific challenges of limited access and flooding, in a highly radioactive environment. Working with IRID, we succeeded in developing a small robot with high level radiation resistance, and through its deployment we expect to get information that will support the advance of decommissioning.”

 

[BlazinSkatinAxel]

It's DirectX 12. Coded to the metal.

 

[Pesmerga00]

I was bummed to learn radioactive shit looks like regular metal.

Cartoons lied

Seriously. How am I supposed to know if it's dangerous unless it's glowing.

 

[Earthbound64]

No steel beams jokes? GAF be slipping.

Jet beams can't melt steel fuel?

 

[Dirca]

If it is reacting fast enough and under water it glows a cool blue color. It is caused by the water molecules getting excited by the radioactive particles. They but off that frequency of color as the shift back down to a stable state. It is called Cerenkov radiation.

I work in a nuclear plant. This is one of the "benefits", I get to see this stuff in person. Spent fuel looks the same in cooling pools. Beautiful clear blue water.

 

[CharmingCharlie]

Seriously. How am I supposed to know if it's dangerous unless it's glowing.

Pretty sure your hair falling out, skin peeling off your body and muscles dropping of your skeletal frame will be more than enough to clue you in to the dangers of it

Always been fascinated with this kind of thing, can never get enough info or pictures into these incidents. It all started with Chernobyl but for some reason Fukashima doesn't have that same "mystery" around it as Chernobyl does. I blame the stalker games, come on Japan make a spooky FPS game set around Fukishima.