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To: chimera
Yes, but possibly lots of small holes. Reading additional reports located at the same site, I'm coming to the conclusion that salt water may not have been the best coolant to use (of course it's the only thing they had). The sodiumchoride (lower boiling point of 1413 °C) left behind after dry out, may act as a much more effective vehicle for radioactive particle transport than steam.

Too bad the fuel storage pools aren't better contained. This could be a problem if the radiation levels increase and the entire site has to be abandoned.

288 posted on 03/25/2011 9:58:03 AM PDT by Errant
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To: Errant
They are going to have to do something to flush that salt out, no question. Hopefully sooner than later. I read a report where there were efforts to get either pure water or borated water (weak boric acid solution) going into those pressure vessels, or storage pools (maybe both?).

Maybe it was the best trade-off at the time. They had to do something to reduce that heat load or risk challenging the pressure/temperature limits of the vessel and/or containment. If the normal supply of emergency coolant was unavailable, they had to go with something, and that meant sea water. I am curious to see if there wasn't damage to the neutron-absorbing baffles of the storage pools. If there was that could account for some of the neutron flux readings (not accidental criticality so much as photoneutron production).

289 posted on 03/25/2011 10:14:52 AM PDT by chimera
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