Posted on 03/16/2011 1:12:42 PM PDT by AnAmericanAbroad
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chief of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that all the water is gone from one of the spent fuel pools at Japan's most troubled nuclear plant, but Japanese officials denied it. If NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko is correct, this would mean there's nothing to stop the fuel rods from getting hotter and ultimately melting down. Read more at source.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
"Chernyobl is a totally different case, the reactor was utterly unshielded. Even when it was operating normally, it was irraditing the workers at the plant."Thats incorrect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBMK#Containment
“It is not apocalyptic nor Chernobyl, but with 4 plus plants involved, it has the potential to equal Chernobyl’s 1 if they all meltdown.”
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings. This will go on for a couple of weeks. There are a lot of potential risks that are worse then the simple meltdowns. The spent fuel of 40 years burning is even worse then the hot fuel of 4 reactors in a slow meltdown. Even if the reactors will meltdown, there won’t be a large explosion blowing up/distributing the shit across japan. The only thing i’m afraid of is: The mox fuel in reactor 3 could get recritical in a meltdown scenario, becaus the plutonium doesn’t need a neutron moderator to fire up a chain reaction.
The rods in the spent fuel pool are much cooler than the rods in the reactor (hence the spent fuel name). However, this is not just a pool sitting out behind the maintenance shed where they chuck spend rods. It is also in a containment vessel and building and both of those are intact. The vast majority of nuclear experts” that the LSM is getting their info from are nothing but anti-nuke envirowhackos decrying TEOTWAKI in order to advance their wish for a nuke free world.
Boiled out. Water itself is not easily irradiated. It is the dissolved minerals that are the problem. That is why they use demineralized water in the pools. They WILL NOT dump anything but demineralized water on the rods because then you would have large clouds of highly radioactive mineralized steam.
“I am also a little skeptical of what Gregory Jaczko says, because he is a long time nuclear critic (he admits it on his web page) and was Harry Reid’s science advisor. Harry Reid killed the Yucca Mountain fuel repository project...”
And began his career working for grandstanding Dem Congressman Ed Markey.
Arne Gunderson? No, he's a 20 year anti-nuclear activist. Whatever he remembered from his job has been replaced with anti-nuke propaganda. I'd prefer information from someone else.
Rain?
Please find an academic resource to quote. Citing Wikipedia would get me an F on any paper I write. I do not consider it a credible source.
Shoot, many who should know better forget that once you wash off the particles... the exposure stops.
“The latest I’ve seen is that they are bulldozing a path through all of the debris to get fire engines/water cannons close enough to lob streams of water into the pool.”
I just saw this on the news. This has to be their Custer’s Last Stand move. This is an act of despiration when no other alternatives exists.
The power company seems to be running this whole show with no government involvement. I am beginning to believe that Japan is not being told the truth. Hell the Whitehouse spokesperson told a reporter when asked about the situation he came back and said “ask your own reporter’s”.
I remember when the gulf stream was shutting down due to the oil spill. Not “going to shut down” but actually shutting down complete with pictures.
“The vast majority of nuclear experts” that the LSM is getting their info from are nothing but anti-nuke envirowhackos decrying TEOTWAKI in order to advance their wish for a nuke free world.”
Yeah, those stinking hippy, commie-pinko, running dog traitors.
We need some real patriotic, red-blooded, true blue, yankee-doodle experts to tell us whats happening.
If by “real patriotic, red-blooded, true blue, yankee-doodle experts” you mean people with substantial industry experience who are inclined to see things factually, without hype in either direction, because that’s what really best for their friends, their family, and their country, then I’d have to agree with you.
As I understand it, the problem isn’t simply meltdown, the problem is re-criticality. That is, there is apparently enough spent fuel rods in the (former) cooling pools that if they were to lose their protective sleeves (I believe they are still in zirconium sleeves), they would achieve critical mass and you’d have a criticality incident—far far worse than a meltdown, though not an explosion per se. Of the very little info TEPCO is releasing, their official last night (their time) said that the possibility of criticality was no longer zero. While there have been several exposed criticality incidents before, none have been of this scale under these conditions. It would more thank likely leapfrog this incident beyond Chernobyl and possibly create a deadzone for approximately 50 miles radius. But, of immediate importance, it would also prevent any further efforts at the reactors, allowing them to meltdown, and so on. A cascade failure.
If true, why not fly in an appropriate containment vessel and resubmerge the rods - at least the hot ones? I’m sure there are some in there that are older and have cooled also - those could be placed in dry casks immediately.
Think about what this plan means, everyone; what is the unspoken admission revealed by this plan, or, for that matter, the dumping of boronated water by helicopters? (btw, boron is not being used as a fire supressant here as some idiot reporter claimed, but to absorb radioactive particles)
What no one seems to have noticed about these schems is that it means the pool in No. 4 (which the NRC is now convinced is dry) is fully exposed to the air right now, and that it is open enough such that a water hose from several meters (possibly 20 meters away) can shoot in there.
So, take what you like and leave the rest.
What a mess.
it was turned to steam by the heat of the rods.
Right. And the French were way ahead of the curve in criticizing TEPCO and the Japanese government in downplaying the severity of this incident. SO they do know more about this and they are more scared than anyone else. What does that tell you?
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