How a Nuclear Plant Works in a Nutshell

Here’s how a nuclear power plant works, in a nutshell: nuclear fuels burns to create heat/electricity/energy but it must be cooled to prevent it from overheating and melting down (and releasing radiation). It’s cooled by pumping water in, over and out of the reactor. System A is for electricity to run the pumps (electricity generated from outside the reactor). The earthquake and tsunami stopped the electricity to the plant. Backup System B was for diesel generators at the plant to keep the water pumping. That system failed to because of the earthquake and tsunami. Backup System C was for batteries to kick in to keep the water pumping. That plus a combination of releasing steam and whatever other measures they’ve taken seems to have held, but it’s not a permanent solution. They’re trying to install new diesel generators to take over pumping.

The fuel burn presumably stopped when the problems first happened, but like an element on a stove, it stays hot for a while even after you turn it off. That’s why it still needs to be cooled down and it will take maybe a week before it’s completely cooled down.

The danger is that high levels of radiation may have been released with the steam (a little is okay, a lot is not), or that the several containment barriers around the reactor have cracked. if so radiation could have seeped into the ground or the air.

We don’t know a lot because we have no one anywhere near the reactors, and no independent verification.

What I have learned is U.S. ships in the area are being kept about 100 miles offshore for fear of contamination.