Hydrogen Building Up at Reactor 1, Fukushima NPP

UPDATED at 13:00UTC

Will the Scope of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Widen?

Based on the information available, FIRE-EARTH believes there’s a strong probability that the extent of Fukushima nuclear disaster could widen to directly impact large population centers in Japan up to a 250 – 300km radius of the plant, which includes Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

The reactor vessel or sections of its attachments in one or more of the severely damaged reactors at the plant could explode releasing humongous amounts of radiation into the environment [Probability ≥66% as of posting,] dwarfing the Chernobyl disaster by a massive factor.

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Hydrogen gas may be accumulating in Reactor 1 at Fukushima NPP: TEPCO

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said it may have to inject nitrogen gas into Reactor 1 at the stricken Fukushima NPP to prevent a possible explosion from hydrogen buildup, NHK reported.

According to another report, TEPCO is preparing to also pump nitrogen into Reactors 2 and 3.

Buildup of hydrogen gas in three of the reactors at Fukushima NPP caused several explosions following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami which crippled the plant on March 11.

Injection of nitrogen gas is meant to dilute the amount of oxygen and hydrogen gasses and prevent them from reaching critical concentration levels, 5 and 4 percent respectively, at which an explosion occurs. 

Meanwhile TEPCO announced that it had stopped the flow of highly radioactive water into the ocean from a cracked concrete duct near Reactor No. 2 , using a sodium-silicate compound as a sealant.

Remembering Chernobyl Victims

The sarcophagus covering the damaged fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is seen behind a building decorated with a graffiti in the abandoned city of Prypiat April 4, 2011. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia will mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear reactor explosion in Chernobyl, the place where the world’s worst civil nuclear accident took place, on April 26. Engineers are still struggling to regain control of damaged reactors at the Fuskushima plant after last month’s earthquake and tsunami, in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, with the government urging the operator of the plant to act faster to stop radiation spreading. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich. Image may be subject to copyright. Reuters images …

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