Posted on 03/25/2011 3:25:00 PM PDT by SteveH
The hydrogen explosions that shattered the tops of two reactor buildings at the Fukushima 1 nuclear complex followed the venting of hydrogen and steam by plant operators desperate to prevent a far greater disaster: a high-pressure explosion of the primary reactor containment shell and radioactivity release, a former senior U.S. nuclear official concludes.
[...]
Bill Borchardt, NRC executive director for operations, was asked at an NRC meeting Monday whether the Fukushima Mark I units had hardened venting systems. "That we're not clear on. I'm not sure. I can't really answer that question."
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
http://www.climatewire.net/
Not sure what the relationship between NY Times and ClimateWire is, and who ClimateWire is.
“In summary I believe we are on the downside of the first phase of the accident: getting thermal control,” he wrote in the message Saturday. Although he expressed concern about the condition of Unit 2, he said, “the worst should be over now.”
Barrett predicted that the melted reactor cores at the three Fukushima units resemble those of Three Mile Island’s reactor 1: “a bed of rubble with localized melting of composite materials of steel, zirconium, and uranium. Sort of like a highly radioactive steel mill slag-like material. These cores are likely still in the reactor vessels, and are being cooled by seawater injection using highly pressurized fire engine pumps,” he said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.