What will happen nuclear meltdown

For more information, contact your local library or emergency management agency. If you have a disability and require special assistance for evacuation during an emergency, contact your local emergency management or social services agency to ensure that plans are in place to assist you. Keep a working radio with spare batteries available. Sirens are located in residential areas near nuclear power plants. Know when the sirens will be tested. Know which radio station to listen to when the sirens sound.

In Virginia, people living or working within a 10 mile area of a nuclear power plant will be provided potassium iodide KI for protection from radioactive iodine. What should people do if a nuclear power plant accident happens?

Officials may recommend any of the following: Continue normal activities and monitor the radio or TV until the emergency is over. Shelter in place: Stay inside, close all windows and turn off the air conditioner. Monitor the radio or TV until the emergency is over. Evacuate: Before you leave home, take prescription medicines and personal toiletry items with you.

Consider going to the evacuation assembly center. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Physical Science.

Nuclear Science. How a Nuclear Meltdown Works. See more pictures of nuclear meltdown disasters. John S. Inside a Functional Nuclear Reactor " ". This is an overview of a nuclear power plant, but step inside and take a tour to see how one works.

Inside a Nuclear Meltdown As we discuss what a nuclear meltdown is, it's also important to talk about what a nuclear meltdown isn't. How to Stop a Nuclear Meltdown " ". Highly radiated helicopters used to dump concrete and water on the Chernobyl reactor in lay in a field near the Ukrainian village of Rosoha.

Sources Amos, Jonathan. March March 12, Meltdown What is a nuclear reactor meltdown? Christian Science Monitor. March 14, March 15, March 2, How does a nuclear meltdown work? March 17, Cite This! Try Our Crossword Puzzle!

What Is the Missing Number? Since spent fuel is less radioactive than fuel in the reactor core, these pools are easier to control, said Peter Caracappa, a professor and radiation safety officer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Most of the problems with the backup generators were caused by the tsunami flooding them.

But Makhijani suspects that unseen damage from the earthquake may be adding another challenge. Yesterday, they had trouble releasing a valve. If you have a question on science or technology for Just Ask , send an e-mail to science newshour.

Support Provided By: Learn more. Saturday, Nov The Latest. World Agents for Change. Health Long-Term Care. According to published reports, backup diesel generators at the power plant failed shortly thereafter, leaving the reactors uncooled and in serious danger of overheating. Without a steady coolant supply, a hot reactor core will continuously boil off the water surrounding it until the fuel is no longer immersed. If fuel rods remain uncovered, they may begin to melt, and hot, radioactive fuel can pool at the bottom of the vessel containing the reactor.

In a worst-case meltdown scenario the puddle of hot fuel could melt through the steel containment vessel and through subsequent barriers meant to contain the nuclear material, exposing massive quantities of radioactivity to the outside world. How can a meltdown be averted?

The Japanese plant's operators have made a number of attempts to cool the reactors, including pumping seawater into the reactor core to replenish the dwindling cooling fluid. The Tokyo Electric Power Company has also injected boric acid , an absorber of neutrons, into the reactors. How does this incident compare with Chernobyl or Three Mile Island?

At present, three of the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi station are seriously crippled. Units 1 and 3 have experienced explosions that destroyed exterior walls, apparently from buildups of hydrogen gas produced by the zirconium in the fuel rods reacting with coolant water at extremely high temperatures—but the interior containment vessels there thus far seem to be intact.

A third explosion was reported March 15 at reactor No. Pressure in the suppression pool—a doughnut-shaped water vessel below the reactor—dropped after the explosion, indicating that the containment vessel had been compromised. In reactor Nos. And a fire at a pool storing spent fuel rods at dormant reactor No.

At that Pennsylvania nuclear station in a cooling malfunction combined with worker error led to a partial meltdown—about half of the reactor core melted and formed a radioactive puddle at the bottom of the steel pressure vessel. The vessel remained intact, but some radiation did escape from the plant into the surrounding environment.