08-02-2013, 05:22 PM
<big>Immediate News release</big>
At 8:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, eight hours after the final breakout session of the World Leaders' Energy Summit - three days of negotiations and talks between Mexico, the USA, Canada, and the CCD about the future of the energy trade industry - emergency crews reported a fuel rod meltdown in all four of the Dayton, Ohio plant's reactors; followed six hours later by plant explosions. Fourteen plant workers, seven emergency responders, and four civilians died within hours of the accident.
Mitigation measures were immediately underway, but within hours after the first anomaly was detected, the incident was upgraded in severity to that of disasterous consequences. By midnight, radioactivity was detected external to the compound.
At 3:21 A.M. EST, the increasing pressure from hydrogen gas produced in the chemical reaction between the melting fuel rods and leaking coolant triggered explosions which destroyed exterior walls. Experts explain that the immediate decrease in pressure within the interior vessel indicates a substantial breech in containment integrity. Tests immediately began to monitor the detection of environmental radioactivity.
INES, The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, reports the Dayton accident as that of level 7 in severity: indicating widespread health and environmental effects due to external release of reactor core inventory requiring implementation of extended countermeasures. The Dayton disaster has officially been deemed a "major accident."
The Emergency Broadcast System was implemented at 3:53 A.M. EST, mandating immediate evacuation of a 10-mile radius surrounding the plant, affecting approximately 60,000 people.
At 6:17 A.M. EST, a 100 mile radius containment zone was initiated, mandating all persons within the zone seek interior shelter to diminish their exposure. Everyone from the region of Columbus, OH to Indianapolis, IN have been ordered indoors as sheltering can reduce exposure up to 10-fold. However, it is estimated that up to half a million people will exposed to the supra-threshold levels for radiation sickness in the coming days. Early estimates place the loss of civilian life in the thousands.
The cause of the accident is unknown. "This is not a station blackout," Kevin Bressen, a reactor analyst from IENS said. "The type of accident which is occuring in Dayton is unprecedented. Common cause accidents usually entail a loss of on- and off-site AC power leading to coolant malfunction. In the Dayton case, coolant circulation remained operational until the explosions."
Fortunately, all nuclear reactions were shut down by insertion of control rods before the first explosion. However, the current threat of radioactivity comes from decay heat still leaking from the cores. The fallout is anticipated to leak into the atmosphere for several more weeks.
The newly patented thermoabsorptive Liquigel Coolant systems remained stable, officials report. However despite continuous operation, the interior reactor vessel continued to overheat. Melting radioactive puddles slumped to the bottom of the vessels, quickly melting through the containment floor which also appeared compromised. It spread as a molten pool -- like lava -- to the edge of the steel shells and melted through in less than an hour.
To date, The largest accident by a nuclear reactor meltdown within the United States was that of a level 5, an "accident with wider consequences" during the Three Mile Island exposure. A cooling malfunction combined with worker error led to partial meltdown of the reactor rods, forming a radioactive puddle at the bottom of the vessel. However as the vessel remained intact, exposure was contained, though some radiation did escape the plant into the surrounding environment.
The 1986 Chernobyl accident was far more devastating; a power surge caused an explosion in one of the plant's reactors which released huge doses of radioactive fallout into the air. Two plant workers died within hours; 28 more died in the following months from radiation poisoning. The fallout from Chernobyl was widespread, and the health effects of the disaster remain difficult to quantify. Within 24 hours, the Dayton Disaster has already dwarfed that of Chernobyl.
At 8:45 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, eight hours after the final breakout session of the World Leaders' Energy Summit - three days of negotiations and talks between Mexico, the USA, Canada, and the CCD about the future of the energy trade industry - emergency crews reported a fuel rod meltdown in all four of the Dayton, Ohio plant's reactors; followed six hours later by plant explosions. Fourteen plant workers, seven emergency responders, and four civilians died within hours of the accident.
Mitigation measures were immediately underway, but within hours after the first anomaly was detected, the incident was upgraded in severity to that of disasterous consequences. By midnight, radioactivity was detected external to the compound.
At 3:21 A.M. EST, the increasing pressure from hydrogen gas produced in the chemical reaction between the melting fuel rods and leaking coolant triggered explosions which destroyed exterior walls. Experts explain that the immediate decrease in pressure within the interior vessel indicates a substantial breech in containment integrity. Tests immediately began to monitor the detection of environmental radioactivity.
INES, The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, reports the Dayton accident as that of level 7 in severity: indicating widespread health and environmental effects due to external release of reactor core inventory requiring implementation of extended countermeasures. The Dayton disaster has officially been deemed a "major accident."
The Emergency Broadcast System was implemented at 3:53 A.M. EST, mandating immediate evacuation of a 10-mile radius surrounding the plant, affecting approximately 60,000 people.
At 6:17 A.M. EST, a 100 mile radius containment zone was initiated, mandating all persons within the zone seek interior shelter to diminish their exposure. Everyone from the region of Columbus, OH to Indianapolis, IN have been ordered indoors as sheltering can reduce exposure up to 10-fold. However, it is estimated that up to half a million people will exposed to the supra-threshold levels for radiation sickness in the coming days. Early estimates place the loss of civilian life in the thousands.
The cause of the accident is unknown. "This is not a station blackout," Kevin Bressen, a reactor analyst from IENS said. "The type of accident which is occuring in Dayton is unprecedented. Common cause accidents usually entail a loss of on- and off-site AC power leading to coolant malfunction. In the Dayton case, coolant circulation remained operational until the explosions."
Fortunately, all nuclear reactions were shut down by insertion of control rods before the first explosion. However, the current threat of radioactivity comes from decay heat still leaking from the cores. The fallout is anticipated to leak into the atmosphere for several more weeks.
The newly patented thermoabsorptive Liquigel Coolant systems remained stable, officials report. However despite continuous operation, the interior reactor vessel continued to overheat. Melting radioactive puddles slumped to the bottom of the vessels, quickly melting through the containment floor which also appeared compromised. It spread as a molten pool -- like lava -- to the edge of the steel shells and melted through in less than an hour.
To date, The largest accident by a nuclear reactor meltdown within the United States was that of a level 5, an "accident with wider consequences" during the Three Mile Island exposure. A cooling malfunction combined with worker error led to partial meltdown of the reactor rods, forming a radioactive puddle at the bottom of the vessel. However as the vessel remained intact, exposure was contained, though some radiation did escape the plant into the surrounding environment.
The 1986 Chernobyl accident was far more devastating; a power surge caused an explosion in one of the plant's reactors which released huge doses of radioactive fallout into the air. Two plant workers died within hours; 28 more died in the following months from radiation poisoning. The fallout from Chernobyl was widespread, and the health effects of the disaster remain difficult to quantify. Within 24 hours, the Dayton Disaster has already dwarfed that of Chernobyl.