Plutonium threat at Japan reactor, expert warns (I have no idea if this legit)

[Botany]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20042852-76.html

The fuel used in the Japanese nuclear reactor where an explosion occurred today is more volatile and toxic than the fuel used in the other reactors there,
a Japanese nuclear expert warned.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Masashi Goto, who worked for Toshiba as a reactor researcher and designer, said the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in unit
3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contains plutonium, which is much more toxic than the fuel used in the other reactors.

MOX fuel is a mixture of uranium and plutonium reprocessed from spent uranium, and is sometimes involved in the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.

Goto added that the MOX also has a lower melting point than the other fuels. The Fukushima facility began using MOX fuel last September, becoming the
third plant in Japan to do so.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20042852-76.html#ixzz1GdDBhntO

***********************

BTW Plutonium is some of the most toxic stuff ever made.

:scared:

[Iwasthere]

1. All true

And getting little play, this was known to the media 2 days ago. I fully expected Rachel to bring up MOX, she did not. Why isn't this discussed more. Plutonium is bad, VERY bad!

[denem]

6. The MOX fuel in Fuck You No 2 is 6% Plutonium

[Botany]

7. PU Fun Facts

Plutonium Isotope Half-Lives

There are 15 isotopes (another form) of plutonium. Some isotopes of plutonium are fissionable meaning that the atomic nucleus is unstable and will split apart, resulting in the release of large amounts of energy. Pu-239 and Pu-241 are the most abundant of the fissionable isotopes of plutonium.

A half-life is the time in which one half of the atoms of a radioactive substance disintegrates into another nuclear form, hence, the time to halve its radioactive strength. Pu-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years and Pu-241's half-life is 14.4 years. The plutonium isotope with the shortest half-life of 20 minutes is Pu-233. Plutonium-244, which occurs naturally, has the longest half-life of 80,000,000 years.

Source of Plutonium

Plutonium is created by the absorption of neutrons by uranium. Plutonium was first made in large quantities in the World War II Manhattan Project for use in atomic bombs. Because it is fissionable, it also can be used, under different circumstances, as fuel for reactors. Present day light water reactors create plutonium as the uranium fissions (splitting of atoms). Some of the neutrons released during the fissioning of uranium interact with yet other uranium atoms to form, plutonium. Some of this plutonium created in the fuel of the reactor core is itself fissioned thereby helping to sustain the chain reaction of splitting atoms. The plutonium which does not fission by the end of the core's life remains in the fuel rod.

Plutonium-238, in addition to its ability to fission, is self-heating and can be potentially valuable in thermoelectric generators for use in space program instruments and heart pacemakers.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/plutonium.html

[newfie11]

14. you are totally correct!

[Botany]

18. If I remember back to my college days I think the isotope in ? here ...

..... is Pu 239 1/2 life of 24,000 years and very toxic too.

Cold sea water on hot Pu 239 in a reactor whose both containment domes have
been compromised ..... quite the little science experiment.

I have no doubt that right now just like Chernobyl that some men and women are
putting their lives in trying to stop the radiation from getting out.

[flamingdem]

15. The list of totally super bad scary is too long tonight!

And don't forget the republicans.

[Lastactiongyro]

17. A Japanese Volcano Erupted too today don't forget.

[snagglepuss]

2. Yeah that is legit, Union of Conccerned Scientists have info about it on their site.

I should say just one of many sites.

[Pharaoh]

3. Oy!

not a good thing.

[Arugula Latte]

4. I feel sick.

[Bluerthanblue]

5. I think it's the spent fuel issue- the units that used "MOX" fuel contain

plutonium- from what I've read, the containment pools contain spent rods which include plutonium.

[roamer65]

13. The spent fuel rods are a radioactive "cocktail"

This just gets uglier by the minute.

[FourScore]

8. This is only a concern in Unit 3. n/t

[Iwasthere]

11. That is what I thought, #3

What about the plutonium in the pools?

[originalpckelly]

16. The spent fuel will have 1% Pu-239.

I don't know about other isotopes, but that's less than the 7% of Pu-239 found in the MOX fuel.

[newfie11]

9. if this is MOX it is very serious. n/t

[jpak]

10. Did you know that the US has a program to blend down weapons grade PU for MOX in commercial reactors

we do

yup

[nickyt]

12. CNN nuke guy (Jim Chase, I believe) talked about it a couple hours ago, and said

(of course, I've seen it posted by DUers already) the MOX fuel is (my words) "recycled", used Russian nuke fuel...and the MAIN thing is, it has never been a part of a meltdown/nuclear incident (whatever the hell we're calling this, have MERcy) before; hence, no one alive has a clue how it's going to "act" if it ever gets released into the atmosphere..

[populistdriven]

19. no one really know how dangerous Plutonium is

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter13.html

probably because it is so toxic