re: #342 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

The problem I have with that translation, like many English language reports, is this:

… said Saturday afternoon that a

nuclear meltdown

was suspected at the Fukushima No. 1 …

So, what is a “nuclear meltdown”? In this story and others I fear that the term brings ideas to mind that aren’t accurate.

Uranium, like any other metal, has a melting point, in this case a bit over 1100C, which isn’t very high (just a bit higher than copper.) What keeps a rod of enriched uranium from melting (from the freed energy from fission in atoms in the rod) is that the heat is conducted away through contact with another substance: air, water, etc.

What is not happening at Fuk 1 is a runaway nuclear reaction. What is happening, from all indications, is that the water level around the uranium has fallen enough to expose the uranium to air, which is not able to conduct heat away from the metal fast enough (water has an amazing heat capacity.)

That they have detected Cesium (which is a product of artificial fission) in the vicinity of fuk 1 - Cesium has a low melting point and is very chemically active. It is a product of artificial fission and would normally be found in the uranium rods. Since they detected some Cs it means the water which should have be around the uranium only within the physical container holding the uranium leaked out, taking some cesium salts with it.