[sefarkas]

I will pit my Rensselaer Nuclear Engineering degree to anything you have to offer, which cannot be much. The GE Mark I Containment is part of the Reactor Building adjoining the Auxiliary Building and then the Turbine Building. This is a GE design that the NRC has audited and reviewed giving the utilities technical specifications that limit how the plant is to be used and managed. The spent fuel pool is next to the drywell to simplify the process of replacing fuel bundles in the reactor. You have no practical solution to relocate the spent fuel pool at plants around the world. Mark I containments within the reactor building have been in place since the 1960s.

[chimera]

I’m guessing there will probably be procedural changes such as limiting the amount of fuel held in the elevated pool. Unit 4 had a full core offload plus some other older fuel in the elevated pool. They will likely require more of the older fuel to be moved to the common pool when doing a full-core offload, at least where common pools, like at Fukushima Daiichi, are available. Lowering the heat load in the event of loss of SFP cooling is probably one outcome of the events we have seen at Unit 4.

[gandalftb]

Please apply your Rensselaer Nuclear Engineering degree to these thoughts:

Cold shut down means core temps under 212F. Unit 1 core is still at 392F, with the steam picking up an additional 84 degF from the exposed core above the water level. A water-zirconium reaction producing free hydrogen generally occurs above 500F so we should not see anymore hydrogen detonations, paticularly with the nitrogen injection.

But, after weeks of water injection the top of the rods in 1,2 and 3 are still exposed by 4-5 feet. 1 and 2 are still cooking at over 300F. Getting down to under 212F may take much more than 6-9 months.

[bvw]

I always win against arrogant degree-boasting a**holes and I just did again. Thanks for playing.