If I understand it correctly fukushima disaster happens because reactor lost all sources of power and was not able to cool down. But why they didn’t just restart the reactor? Reactor had shut down automatically as a safety measure in case of earthquake, but it was still functional. Just restart it and use energy from reactor.
In: Physics
While it might seem logical to attempt to restart the reactor after it had automatically shut down, several significant challenges made this option unfeasible:
1. Loss of External Power: The primary reason for the cooling system failure was the loss of external power caused by the tsunami. Without external power, the plant’s cooling systems, including pumps and generators, could not function properly. Restarting the reactor would not solve the problem of the lack of power to operate the cooling systems.
2. Damage to Infrastructure: The tsunami caused extensive damage to the infrastructure of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, including flooding and destruction of critical components. Restarting the reactor would have been impossible without first restoring the damaged infrastructure.
3. Safety Concerns: Even if power could have been restored, there were concerns about the safety of attempting to restart the reactor amidst the chaos and uncertainty caused by the natural disaster (the extent of damage to the reactor and surrounding infrastructure was not fully known at the time)
4. Core Meltdown: More importantly, the inability to cool the reactor cores led to a meltdown of fuel rods in several of the reactors. Once a core meltdown occurs, restarting the reactor becomes impossible, as the damage to the reactor is severe and irreversible.
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