What exactly is happening with the Japanese nuclear reactors?
The nuke plant in Fukushima, Japan.Photo: Beacon RadioThe Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, currently has three boiling water reactors in danger of “meltdown.” Here are the basics on what’s happening and what that means. How does a boiling water reactor work? • The nuclear core transfers energy to water by heating it. • This cools the core and lets the water carry the energy away to be turned into electricity. • If there’s not enough water for cooling, the fuel rods can be exposed and the core can overheat. • If the core heats up enough, it can start to melt — that’s what people mean when they talk about a “nuclear meltdown.” What went wrong? • The Fukushima plants were built to withstand a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Friday’s quake has been upgraded to 9.0. • The reactors have multiple backup generators to provide cooling power in an emergency. Any one system could prevent an accident, even if the others failed. But this quake took out all the backups. (For at least one
