Global help urged to avert reactor 4 pool fire

Some background info, because it always comes up:

Arnie Gundersen is a nuclear engineer who blew the whistle on safety issues back in the 1990's resulting in a $1.5 million lawsuit and congressional hearings. Since then the nuclear industry and its shills have unsuccessfully tried all kinds of sleazy tactics at discrediting him. They've even falsely claimed he's not a nuclear engineer - it's the same kind of "fair game" tactics right-wingers unsuccessfully used trying to discredit Valerie Plame, claiming she was just a glorified secretary, etc. Please don't fall for that nonsense. He has a Masters Degree in Nuclear Engineering, was a senior vice president of Nuclear Energy Services, after being blacklisted by the nuclear industry he taught math and became an independent consultant on nuclear energy. He isn't "anti-nuclear", he just debunks a lot of the PR and happy talk from the nuclear industry.

In 1993 NRC Chairman Ivan Selin testified in response to a question by Committee Chairman Senator John Glenn:


In 2007 the Vermont Daily wrote:


In 1995 the New York Times wrote about his fight with the nuclear industry:

Bookmarking for later use, since the pro nuke ftrolls continue in their attempt to discredit Mr. Gunderson's warnings.


I cannot fathom why Fukishima has not already been declated a global disaster.

Unnecessary for me, as I have been listening to his briefings from the beginning and well, while I'm not a nuclear scientist, I'm pretty smart and can suss out bullshit pretty well. Gundersen has great credibility with me.

But even today, concerns persist among experts worldwide that reactor 4's pool is still at risk of boiling dry. If this were to occur, it would necessitate a massive and immediate evacuation of the surrounding area.

Nuclear fuel rods are extremely thin and clad with zircaloy, a zirconium alloy that contains a tiny amount of tin and other metals. But zircaloy burns if it is exposed to air, as shown in a test conducted at the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico just two weeks before the Great East Japan Earthquake devastated the Tohoku region.

"I told Tepco that while I realized they hoped and believed that there will always be water in the nuclear fuel pool, I had to ask whether or not they had (already prepared and stationed) any chemicals to put out a nuclear fuel pool fire in the event they were wrong.
"Tepco's response was that there was nothing in the fuel pool that could burn, a statement I find appalling."

But that point is irrelevent, since it then forms an oxide layer which mitigates the effect. Aluminum does the same thing. The Uranium in the core is actually a blend of Uranium Oxide and Zirconium Oxide. As it has already been oxidized it won't burn. Zircalloy is the same, we had a pallet of them stacked on the aircraft carrier next to my boat that I actually saw. They weren't on fire. If they catch fire it will be due to an imbalance of thermal energy not because of the metallurgical properties of zirconium.

and pile them on top of the spent fuel. They have been shown capable of stopping almost anything from happening.

is amazingly appealing to me this morning.

The only problem I have with it is trying to figure out how to dispose of that much toxic lard.

At least they would be doing something useful for a change, though LOL

it would magnify the disaster.

I've been attempting to remind myself to keep following this as I know how precarious the situation really is...

I don't know enough about the particulars of the situation to really understand the potential catastrophe. From what I have read from those that do though... it's frightening how quickly this could create massive destruction.

and the background info on Gundersen.

tick,tick,tick,tick,tick,tick......

from this article:
http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/7048069

Key details of how the accident at Japan's Fukushima I nuclear plant played out have yet to be determined and may not be known for five years or more, when important parts of the plant are safer to enter, officials with the Japanese and US nuclear industries told a US National Academies review committee Thursday.

A Japanese civil engineering society had discounted the possibility of a large earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Fukushima prefecture because of a lack of evidence of such events since the 17th century, Tepco manager Shin Takizawa said. A study in 2002 that suggested such an earthquake was possible and historical reports of a large tsunami in the area in the ninth century were under review at the time of the 2011 earthquake, but had not been confirmed, he said.
"In hindsight, if we were able to return to 2002 ... we would have taken different actions," Takizawa said.

Yasunori Yamanaka, manager of Tepco's nuclear safety engineering group, said following the meeting that one of the key pieces of information that will be learned in the coming years is the location and condition of the core of nuclear fuel in the three reactors that experienced meltdowns. Tepco believes the uranium fuel of unit 1 at Fukushima I almost entirely melted its way through the bottom of the thick steel reactor vessel and poured to the floor of the containment structure, eating through a portion of the concrete floor of that area.

The company plans to use cameras and other surveillance equipment to determine how much of the core of units 2 and 3 remain in the reactor, Yamanaka said. The company believes almost half of the fuel in those units, which maintained core cooling longer, melted, he said. It may take more than five years before Tepco can determine whether the fuel in those units remains in the bottom of the reactor vessel or also fell to the containment floor, Yamanaka said.

Surely massive lawsuits will be filed for years against it.

TEPCO could always pull a Blackwater....go "out of business" or sell itself, then emerge as a "new" oompany under a new name.

for "Crimes Against Humanity".

Do I really need the sarcasm tag?

but even I am praying there are no more BIG earthquakes. (not realistic considering all the fucking faults that criss-cross Japan).
If an earthquake topples reactor 4..all bets are off.

CANCER AND DEATH. Sorry, folks, but this ain't nothin' to be a'laughin' at, we as a global community, need to STOP THIS INSANITY. A nuclear fire could happen where the more than 100 tons of fuel rods would burn and burn until burnt up would endanger every life on this beautiful planet. Those who didn't die, would have horrible diseases and would probably envy the dead...No it ain't laugh time, it's time for ACTION. Please do all you can right now.

that nuclear energy is cheap and clean

Hiding the garage doorway, as noted here: http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=7312

Thats true here as well as in other countries and has been since day one.

Trust them at your own peril

After all it is Ideally suited for bombs, not for peaceful uses.