Reply #275: The truth tends to not be told

[divvy]

Thank you to all who have extended welcome. My first admission is that I am not a nuclear engineer by training, but rather a mechanical engineer who worked at a National Laboratory in various nuclear energy departments for about 19 years. I performed many structural analyses, designed and managed construction of a nuclear waste charaterization facility, reviewed containment of high level waste proposed for Yucca Mountain, and lastly managed reviews of new NPP licence applications for the NRC. That is my the disclaimer under which I provide my honest opinions and assessments.

After more evaluation uncovers the true events at Fukushima, and if these true stories are ever made available to the public, I believe we will find that the stored and subsequently released radiological inventories will be many times greater than that released in Chernobyl. Although the reactor vessels may have successfully remained intact at Fukushima (still to be verified), the inventory in the spent fuel pools could be anywhere from 6 to 40 reactor cores. At Chernobyl, one operating core was released, although I do not know if spent fuel was co-located in Chernobyl, but the inventory was that at one reactor--not 6-40 cores available at the 5 reactors and their co-located spent fuel cores.

When the spent fuel pools lose water, the zironium encased fuel rods -- uncooled and exposed to air -- self-ignite explosively. I believe we will find that some of the fires, smoke, and explosions were due to the uncovered spent fuel rods self-igniting, and the radiation released will be from the many spent reactor cores on the Japanese site. I will try my best to follow the post-mortem of the event to see if these details are released.

The truth tends not to be ever be disclosed. I learned of the gory details of the events at Three Mile Island (TMI) because I held a security clearance and had access to classified briefings. For example, did you know that a TMI plant operator was impaled and lifted to the top of the containment vessel by a nuclear reactor rod when the reactor vessel exploded? The public does not tend to get such information.

Also, the radiation levels experienced at the Fukushima plant and at various distances away, and the great distance of the exvacuation zone are also indicative of the incomprehensible quantities of radioactive material released. The other nuclear engineers and operators in this discussion will likely also have a "feel" for the meaning of these "clues." For these reason, I believe that Fukushima will be found to be much much worse an accident than Chernobyl--not even close in comparison.

Lastly, an explosive loadings on equipment and instrumentation is not the same as seismic loadings on these systems and components. To design equipment, systems, and instrumentation for explosive loadings will not make them safe for seismic loadings. They are different and require different design requirements. These systems and components could survive and explosion and not survive a seismic event. As far I knew (by 2010), no seismic testing has ever been done on NPP systems, equipment, controls, instrumentation, processors, etc... The control software also has to be programmed to handle a seismic event and properly shut down, continue cooling, etc.... The software in NPPs has also never been tested under a seismic loading, as of my last experience in the field in 2010. My team reviewing the seismic aspects of new NPP licensure informed the NRC of these deficiencies and we were met with distain for our "uncooperative" stance. I was personally pressured to "knuckle under" by the NRC seismic point of contact, insisting that my team's purview was to evaluate single pieces of mechanical equipment and not evaluate whole operational systems including instrumentation and controls. In my opinion, the NRC seismic review process was/is greatly deficient.

Also, the Japanese have had previous damage at other reactors due to seismic events. But none made news because the effects were locally contained. We all knew this fact of the potential for seismic damage and we pointed to the Japanese history to try to explain to the NRC the very real possibility of seismic disasters. Also, past used seismic vibration loads were found to not be correct; they were missing the high vibration content in the loading signature. This error in proper seismic loading was/is true for all NPPs around the globe. Maybe now the NRC will wake up. Although the NRC has such reduced authority over the nuclear industry, it is quite scary. Perhaps the investment community (GE, Westinghouse, and other consortiums of investors) will deem the enterprise too risky. But maybe risk does not matter because by law the US taxpayer will pay for any US disasters.

Thank you for listening to my perspective. I'm quite upset with these preventable disasters: unjust lost resources, damage to people and the environment, collusion between regulatory agencies and the government, and other ineptitudes that are tolerated in the face of unimaginable consequences. The radiation released will be with us for millions of years and it will move through the food chain as a ever-present poison. Information is intentionally withheld so the public does not truly know what has happened and its true impact.