Fukushima's Spent Fuel Rods Pose Grave Danger

[suffragette]

http://www.thenation.com/article/159234/fukushimas-spent-fuel-rods-pose-grave-danger

Fukushima's Spent Fuel Rods Pose Grave Danger
Christian Parenti
March 15, 2011


“I’ve been studying overhead photographs of Fukushima. It is very disturbing,” said Robert Alvarez, formerly a senior policy adviser at the Energy Department under Clinton and now a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies.

“The steel wall of the pool seems to show damage. All the surrounding equipment, including the two cranes, has been destroyed. There is smoke coming from reactor No. 3, and steam coming from the spent fuel pool next to it. That indicates that the water in the pool is boiling. And that means the spent fuel rods are getting hot and could start burning.”

If the spent rods start to burn, huge amounts of radioactive material would be released into the atmosphere and would disperse across the Northern Hemisphere.

Unlike the reactors, spent fuel pools are not—repeat not—housed in any sort of hardened or sealed containment structures. Rather, the fuel rods are packed tightly together in pools of water that are often several stories above ground.

“With damaged pools, we are talking about things that were never considered a credible threat,” said Alvarez.



Much, much more at link


And Alvarez was one of the 1st people I saw noting that hydrogen gas explosions and fire were major concerns:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x619287#620599

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[suffragette]

24. Thanks xchrom

[xchrom]

27. ...

:toast:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

2. Scary.

:scared:

[suffragette]

29. Very.

[Poll_Blind]

3. This computer simulation from Al Jazeera does a good job explaining...

...what the situation is. Skip to 1:30 into the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxzQPiy_U1M">here.

PB

[suffragette]

4. Must watch

Thanks for posting this.
That helps make it clearer.


Am also listening to Thom Hartmann this morning and he has been discussing this extensively.

[femrap]

6. Spent fuel rods....this is the

really nasty stuff.

I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened. This is going to go Global. Our poor planet and its way too many people.

[suffragette]

8. See Guardian blog excerpts below

It looks like they are starting to address this more seriously.

I hope they can find a way to keep it contained.

But I share your concern.

[PurityOfEssence]

9. More irony

Many of us have always pointed to the storage of waste as the real problem with nuclear power, when the three major incidents in the industry's history have all stemmed from the operating plants themselves. Suddenly, we circle back to see that perhaps it IS the waste in the end that really makes it all untenable.

There's no "I told you so" snottiness from many of those who have been adamant here about not using nuclear power, and I hope we learn from this. The problem with nuclear energy is that it's dependent on having NO mistakes, not now, not anywhere, and FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. That's simply not human reality.

[suffragette]

13. Agree

Hanford is in my state so been aware of that for awhile.

Agree with all you said.

[Cal Carpenter]

12. Great video

Thanks.

I don't have TV but I assume that most US channels are giving mediocre, sensationalist, conflicting reports (at least based on what I see on DU) rather than this simple, straightforward breakdown of the situation...

This video should be an OP!

[femrap]

5. Shit.

I had hoped that Halfpasthuman.com would be wrong. Alas. This will circle the globe many times. Glad I don't have children.

[suffragette]

7. Current live Guardian blog has more info on this issue

Too much to post keeping in 4 paragraph rule, but here's the link and the headers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/15/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan

4.40pm: An update on the plan to drop water on the pour water on reactor No. 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi power station from Kyodo News.
(I posted link to referenced article below)

4.33pm: Our science correspondent Ian Sample has this summary of what options face the operators at the Fukushima 1 power station after this morning's explosion at a third reactor and the direct release of radiation into the air from a water pool used to store spent fuel rods.
~~~

The brief release of radiation this morning from the spent fuel rod pool, at 400 millisieverts per hour, was dangerous for the workers at the site, but levels have fallen considerably since, suggesting no major release of radiation is ongoing. The spent rods are usually covered by 10m of water, but this could boil off, exposing the fuel rods to the air. Uncooled, these spent fuel rods could catch fire and release radiation directly into the atmosphere. The amount of radiation they give off will depend on how old the rods are. Older rods are less radioactive, and so less dangerous.


Link to Kyodo article:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78308.html

[Rageneau]

10. If the new plan is to dump water, couldn't we dump something even COLDER?

Faced with these runaway reactors, Superman would simply plop icebergs on them.

Can we?

I don't suppose it's possible to drop (or spray or somehow insert) liquid nitrogen or some other super-cooled substance into/onto the reactors?

[suffragette]

14. I think I saw some posts yesterday that said that would not be feasible

since too cold can cause hot material to crack and there's no way to get that large amount of liquid nitrogen to site.

You may want to search for an OP with nitrogen in the title from yesterday for more info.

[flamingdem]

19. Crap,on that nifty chart it says No. 3 is leaking and that is the one with Mox, no? nt

[suffragette]

21. It is the one with Mox, but I think the explosion and leak

referred to is what happened yesterday.

[flamingdem]

11. Note: No. 3 used the 7% plutonium MOX

and concern is really warranted ... can he be the only one seeing that problem? They need to focus on that and cool the spent fuel there as well as in No.4

One wonders if international experts are able to get through..

[suffragette]

15. Great points

I hope those experts are arriving.
They also need more personnel and supplies - see below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12737508
According to the main Japanese news agency Kyodo, the rods were exposed when the flow of seawater into reactor number 2 stopped simply because a fire pump ran out of fuel.

With the entire region of Honshu island reportedly low on fuel and other vital supplies, a key question is whether plans are in place to keep the power station supplied with diesel.

[Celebration]

16. eke

Let's hope and pray that won't happen.

[bluethruandthru]

17. I'm thinking we might want to step up the search for efficient

renewable energy. We're destroying our planet with oil spills and nuclear meltdowns. I guess what the earthquakes and tsunamis don't wipe out...we will.

[suffragette]

18. We need an energy initiative similar to war-time ones

such as the one that worked on an alternate to natural rubber when it became unavailable during WWII or the start up of NASA.

Bring together the top scientists, companies and environmentalists and work on solutions, incorporating as many renewable energy options as we are aware of and seeking new ones.

[bluethruandthru]

22. You're right. And we have to do it without worrying about

oil company profits or nuclear energy company profits. We need to look at what's good for the planet and all creatures who inhabit it.

[suffragette]

23. Absolutely agree with this

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Here is a "wild idea" already done in plances like Germany

put solar panels on roofs in southern california, arizona and nevada... costs money, you betcha, but it would keep the energy needs of at least those houses covered. IT is called distributive energy distribution... but the power companies, I am sure you understand why... don't like that idea for some reason

[suffragette]

28. Go visit my other thread from today

Discussing this and more there:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x653404

[defendandprotect]

20. kr

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Hubby has been doing same... looking at overheard

photos

[suffragette]

30. kick