Want to know the science of what is going on with the Japanese reactors?

As a former reactor operator and engineer with over 25 years of experience in the design, construction and operation of nuclear plants, I can honestly say that it is a very bad situation. The loss of cooling and a cool-able geometry of the nuclear fuel makes the affected Fukushima reactors a complete loss. They will never be operated again. When the reactor core damage occurred, heat was no longer able to be removed and that resulted in containment breach for at least one of the sites. When the spent fuel pool water volumes were lost, they lost the water shielding above the used fuel and radiation levels shot through the roof (literally). It all involves nuclear physics, material composition, heat transfer, thermodynamics and radiation. Even when a nuclear reactor is normally shut down, the fuel generates a tremendous amount of heat (called decay heat) for a period of time. It appears they lost electrical power and therefore the ability to pump cooling water into the right places. The impacts from the earthquake and tsunami appears to have caused that. The reactors are an older design, and more modern plants have a more robust design. And, at least in the US, additional improvements in training, plant design and emergency procedures were implemented after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. No doubt, we will learn more with a thorough evaluation of the causes of the Japanese nuclear accident, but as a minimum, the impact in terms of contamination, radioactivity release and physical damage is tremendous. Good luck to everyone.

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