Fukushima-Fuel Rod Removal starts November..Danger!

[BHelmet]

Reuters, Mar 11, 2016 (emphasis added): Today, the radiation at the Fukushima plant is still so powerful it has proven impossible to get into its bowels to find and remove the extremely dangerous blobs of melted fuel rods, weighing hundreds of tonnes… The fuel rods melted through their containment vessels in the reactors, and no one knows exactly where they are now…

DW, Mar 11, 2016: The melted nuclear fuel and the destroyed pressure vessel in the nuclear reactors 1 to 3 continue to be major problems… “So far, nobody knows what exactly happened in there and how to solve it,” [Heinz Smital, a nuclear physicist] told DW.

News Corp Australia, Mar 11, 2016: Today, the radiation at the Fukushima plant is still so powerful it is impossible to extract and remove deadly melted fuel rods… [Tepco is] grappling with the fact that they don’t have the technology to find missing melted fuel rods in three reactors at the plant. The rods melted through containment vessels in the reactors.

Guardian, Mar 11, 2016: [It’s] the most daunting task the nuclear industry has ever faced: removing hundreds of tons of melted fuel from the plant’s stricken reactors… something no nuclear operator has ever attempted… Of greatest concern, though, is reactor 1, where the fuel may have burned through the pressure vessel, fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel and into the concrete pedestal below – perhaps even outside it – according to a report by the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning… Masuda and Tepco engineers who spoke to the Guardian conceded that they still didn’t know where the fuel is located. “To be honest, we don’t know exactly where the fuel is”… Masuda said…

(well, that is some 'refreshing' honesty)

 

[BHelmet]

From the Pepperdine University Newspaper:

A walk on Point Dume’s beach recently resembles a graveyard of washed-up sea life. On the stretch of the Pacific Coast between Little Dume and Westward Beach, one finds a surplus of dead sea lions, tuna crabs and crows littered on the sand, a defunctive and rotten smell permeating the sea air.

It’s the fourth year in a row that there have been mass landings of California sea lion pups in Malibu, according to the California Wildlife Center of the Marine Mammal Department. Since the government declared the issue an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) in 2013, stranded sea lions have become a regular sight for those who frequent Point Dume, as beach-goers stretch their towels yards away from the rotting corpses.

“This has been a coast-wide problem for the past four years,” Seasonal Assistant Marine Coordinator Colleen Weiler said. “Every rehab center in California is kind of stretched to the limit.”

Weiler said causes behind the sea lion deaths include El Niño and climate change, though a possible algae bloom may also be to blame. She said this year the numbers are high, but last year was particularly bad. Pepperdine Professor of Biology Karen Martin, who helped found the Beach Ecology Coalition in 2004, also said El Niño is one of the leading culprits for the stranded sea lions.

“Usually an El Niño event is a short period of events where the water current reverses,” Marin said. “Instead of coming from the north to the south, which is cold water coming down, it goes from the south to the north, so it is warm water coming up. It’s an actual change in current water flow on the side of the ocean, not just a change in temperature.”

================

- they blame el Nino and everything else but never mention Fukushima - it really looks like the Pacific is dying to me and my gut tells me that it is primarily Fukushima. I grew up next to this ocean, surfed it, played in it and feel connected to it. Today I feel sad.

 

[The Mechanic]

Guardian, Mar 11, 2016: [It’s] the most daunting task the nuclear industry has ever faced: removing hundreds of tons of melted fuel from the plant’s stricken reactors… something no nuclear operator has ever attempted… Of greatest concern, though, is reactor 1, where the fuel may have burned through the pressure vessel, fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel and into the concrete pedestal below – perhaps even outside it – according to a report by the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning… Masuda and Tepco engineers who spoke to the Guardian conceded that they still didn’t know where the fuel is located. “To be honest, we don’t know exactly where the fuel is”… Masuda said…

(well, that is some 'refreshing' honesty)

Well, that's honest but not the whole truth by a long shot. Arnie Gundersen reported a few times already that it doesn't really matter if the fuel is still inside the building or not, because the groundwater is running through the building anyway. There's lots of cracks and holes. In Chernobyl the fuel never touched the groundwater. So in Chernobyl they "decided" not to remove the fuel but seal the whole thing off. It's not really a decision because the technology to remove the molten fuel simply doesn't exist. So again, it doesn't really matter that they cannot locate the fuel, because even if they could, there's nothing they can do to remove it. The only thing they can do to mitigate the damage is try to stem the flow of groundwater through the site, and they haven't been very successful at that.

 

[gdpetti]

This site seems to keep track of this issue: http://enenews.com/tv-surge-babies-being-born-extra-body-parts-after-fukushima-feel-officials-radiation-nurse-many-getting-abortions-avoid-inconvinient-babies-high-number-stillbirths-many-people-reporting-ca

TV: Surge in babies being born with extra arms, legs after Fukushima — “I feel officials know the cause is radiation” — Nurse says many are getting abortions to avoid ‘inconvenient’ babies — “High number of stillbirths” — Many people reporting cancers, even far away from Fukushima (VIDEO)

Published: April 18th, 2016 at 8:14 am ET
By ENENews
Email Article Email Article
81 comments Tweet

LaborNet TV (subtitles by Emiko Suehiro), Feb 24, 2016 (emphasis added):

Satomi Horikiri, Host (8:30 in): Have you heard of any health hazards in Fukushima?
Hisae Unuma, evacuee Futabamachi: I know many saying they have cancers, even in Saitama Prefecture…
Setsuko Kida, evacuee from Tomiokamachi: My daughter [got] pregnant in the fall of 2013, but she was diagnosed with tethered miscarriage… the womb grew… but her unborn baby didn’t grow at all. She… got a second opinion from another clinic in Mito, only to get the same result. When the Mito doctor asked her why she came for the second opinion, she told she couldn’t trust the doctor in Fukushima… Many with a birth defect were born after Hiroshima/Nagasaki A-bomb, but the number dropped in one or two years. I only knew the reason in 2013; many women had to have an abortion, so that inconvenient babies wouldn’t be born… One month later, I was happy to know my daughter got pregnant. But in only 3 months my daughter told me the bad news and my mind got flooded with that story of Hiroshima/Nagasaki. That’s where I started to doubt. Although I asked the doctor to wait and see since my daughter could give birth if she tried, but the doctor said that the unborn child inside her was not alive anymore… So she had the abortion. My daughter called and told her friend about her abortion… She was told that out of 4 in her friends group, 3, including herself, had abortion during early pregnancy. The only one who could give birth was told by her doctor that she was unable to give birth because of the baby’s weak heart sound. So my daughter began to doubt her doctor, thinking her unborn baby could have made it. I became doubtful as well. A nurse I knew told me that many get abortions in Fukushima. My daughter and friends are just a few of those.
Host: That is a painful story.
Kida: A year later I got to hear first hand cases of babies with a structural birth defect or polymelia ["Birth defect… in which the affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs" -Source] twice as many. I feel our gov’t or the medical university knows the cause is the radiation… My daughter remembers the words by her doctor… “We’ll send this cell to Fukushima Medical”… Why do they have to send a cell of aborted fetus? Is that what they had been doing? For what?
Host: So many doubtful things going on…
Kida (23:15 in): I just shared the story about my daughter’s abortion and high number of stillbirths. Whenever I deliver such a message I’m told to shut up. People say it’s a delicate issue, bad influence on Fukushima reconstruction or no data to back up. But more than 10 girls had similar experience as my daughter’s. Actually one woman was recommended to get an abortion at 6 months pregnancy last summer, and her unborn baby lacking one arm, one leg, with only 3 fingers on its foot… The nuclear reactors exploded, melted through… contaminated water keeps flowing into the Pacific Ocean. That’s the reason they asked not to restart nuclear plants. But isn’t the real reason the health hazard caused by radiation coming out? Health hazards are actually caused, and we have to send out such messages. But if we denied health problems… that would be the same as what Tepco or the gov’t is doing.

Watch the broadcast here

 

[Hope]

Hopefully this is a OK thread to post this in but my question is would it be safe to buy a car that was manufactured in Japan 2013-2015 and shipped to the USA(not driven there)? The car is made by Toyota in the city of Kyushu about 800-1000 miles to west of Fukushima. By thinking is, it should be OK because theres already too much radioactive materiel around world and prevailing winds push most of the radiation to the Pacific ocean that is coming out of Fukushima.

 

[Richs]

Hopefully this is a OK thread to post this in but my question is would it be safe to buy a car that was manufactured in Japan 2013-2015 and shipped to the USA(not driven there)? The car is made by Toyota in the city of Kyushu about 800-1000 miles to west of Fukushima. By thinking is, it should be OK because theres already too much radioactive materiel around world and prevailing winds push most of the radiation to the Pacific ocean that is coming out of Fukushima.

While I am surely not an expert on the subject of nuclear radiation, this seems most logical:

I think that we all have been irradiated already to at least some extent because it is in our air, food and water, and has been for some time, and we have all received a dose which is no doubt much more than the 'normal amount of background radiation'. Even if there is some radioactivity in a car bought from the Japanese mainline it is likely not any great amount and would probably add little to what we have already received and continue to receive on a daily basis.

 

[Hope]

Hopefully this is a OK thread to post this in but my question is would it be safe to buy a car that was manufactured in Japan 2013-2015 and shipped to the USA(not driven there)? The car is made by Toyota in the city of Kyushu about 800-1000 miles to west of Fukushima. By thinking is, it should be OK because theres already too much radioactive materiel around world and prevailing winds push most of the radiation to the Pacific ocean that is coming out of Fukushima.

While I am surely not an expert on the subject of nuclear radiation, this seems most logical:

I think that we all have been irradiated already to at least some extent because it is in our air, food and water, and has been for some time, and we have all received a dose which is no doubt much more than the 'normal amount of background radiation'. Even if there is some radioactivity in a car bought from the Japanese mainline it is likely not any great amount and would probably add little to what we have already received and continue to receive on a daily basis.

Sorry for a late response, been under the weather.

I do agree with with you, that the even if the cars are exposed to radiation it is probably minuscule with all the nuclar bomb testing and other power plant meltdowns over the past decades. Plus this manufacturing facility is all the way on the most western point of Japan about 800 miles away.

Thanks for the feedback! If anybody else has any input, it would be appreciated!

 

[horse]

I do agree with with you, that the even if the cars are exposed to radiation it is probably minuscule with all the nuclar bomb testing and other power plant meltdowns over the past decades. Plus this manufacturing facility is all the way on the most western point of Japan about 800 miles away.

Thanks for the feedback! If anybody else has any input, it would be appreciated!

The problem is not that the car might be irradiated from bomb testing or the meltdowns; the problem is that radioactive debris has entered the recycled waste stream in efforts to dilute and reuse the material. A batch of sheet metal may contain more or less radioactive metal than the next batch. Many automotive parts are made at different factories and come from many different sources even if they are assembled at a less radiated part of Japan. Many Japanese cars were denied entry at ports in Taiwan and China because of high readings. You just won't know unless its tested and not much testing is going on in America. External radiation is dangerous; you wouldn't want to sit in an x-ray machine for hours. The radioactive source, proximity, and exposure time determine the absorbed dose. Internal radiation is much more hazardous to health than external doses. Each bit of exposure increases the damage a body will have to repair until it gets overwhelmed and results in noticeable illness. Surprise, a Japanese car isn't the only radiation risk since nuclear waste is legally diluted into American cars as well.

 

[Voyageur]

I do agree with with you, that the even if the cars are exposed to radiation it is probably minuscule with all the nuclar bomb testing and other power plant meltdowns over the past decades. Plus this manufacturing facility is all the way on the most western point of Japan about 800 miles away.

Thanks for the feedback! If anybody else has any input, it would be appreciated!

The problem is not that the car might be irradiated from bomb testing or the meltdowns; the problem is that radioactive debris has entered the recycled waste stream in efforts to dilute and reuse the material. A batch of sheet metal may contain more or less radioactive metal than the next batch. Many automotive parts are made at different factories and come from many different sources even if they are assembled at a less radiated part of Japan. Many Japanese cars were denied entry at ports in Taiwan and China because of high readings. You just won't know unless its tested and not much testing is going on in America. External radiation is dangerous; you wouldn't want to sit in an x-ray machine for hours. The radioactive source, proximity, and exposure time determine the absorbed dose. Internal radiation is much more hazardous to health than external doses. Each bit of exposure increases the damage a body will have to repair until it gets overwhelmed and results in noticeable illness. Surprise, a Japanese car isn't the only radiation risk since nuclear waste is legally diluted into American cars as well.

This seems to be so, and its been going on well before 2011 in Japan. A quick search of SoTT brings up some examples, and this is all likely just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Unless one has a Geiger counter, how will one know?

Radioactive Scrap Metal a Growing Global Health Risk
Nuclear and Toxic Waste in the Mediterranean Sea
Government to dispose of radioactive waste by putting it in our silverware

Organized crime syndicates contribute in dumping and recycling of radioactive waste - in metal smelting its reconstituted into whatever.

Than there is fracking .

And of course the military's love-affair with depleted uranium, and from that article you get:

You can spend all day at a conference like the one held that sunny Saturday and come away ill equipped to discuss what you've seen.

For one thing, it's demoralizing. The half-life of portions of DU happens to be 4.5 billion years, about as long a time as the earth's been in existence. It will remain radioactive for as long as the earth's likely to circle the sun.

Yes, it's so low-level that DU is being sold as a boon to humankind. According to DU mongers, it could never cause cancer. It's so benign it comes recommended as counterweights in domestic aircraft and to make super duper golf clubs, car bumpers and more.

But that's before it's atomized and churned up again and again in test ranges and battlefields, to blow about the planet and be inhaled, exhaled.

And lastly, you have Radioactive particles from nuclear tests still prevalent in atmosphere whereby the hazard is watered down by some:

Lead author Dr Jose Corcho Alvarado, from the Institute of Radiation Physics at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, said that most of the radioactive particles are removed in the first few years after the explosion {he says this like its no big deal; removed to where}, but a fraction remains in the stratosphere for a few decades or even hundreds or thousands of years {a fraction only, how nice. }. However, he said that the levels were not high enough to pose a risk to human health {an incredible statement one might add}.

Dr. Helen Caldicott discusses these fractional particles (such as 0.0005 milligrams) and how these nano particles react in our bodies, food chains and exposures to. We have, just in this field of science alone, created a hell on earth, IMO.

http://<iframe width="420" height="...sw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[angelburst29]

A lot of great information collected here since the Fukushima accident. I just came across an article that nearly "floored me", enough to go to the beginning of this thread and re-read everything that has been documented. I "can-not-believe-this-latest-development" - Are they NUT'S? Are they trying to pass this Fukushima "hot radiation zone" off as something "safe" and environmentally friendly? That's crazy!

The International Olympic Committee is considering hosting baseball and softball games during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics within the Fukushima disaster zone, it was announced Wednesday.

Committee Considers Fukushima for Events in 2020 Olympics
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201611101047274399-committee-considers-fukushima-olympics/

Fukushima Prefecture is up for consideration, along with the cities of Koriyama and Iwaki, which were also damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, Riccardo Fraccari, will be traveling to Japan next week to check out the three location options.

“We want to emphasize this as a ‘recovery games’ and we want to work together with everyone to move it forward,” 2020 Olympic executive board member Toshiaki Endo told the Japan Times. “These Olympics and Paralympics are not just for Tokyo but for the whole of Japan. We only have 1,353 days left, so we need everyone to make an effort so we can put on a fantastic event.”

Fukushima governor Masao Uchibori stated that he believes IOC president Thomas Bach was moved by the prospect of hosting the events there during a visit to the area last month.

“I felt that President Bach had a strong feeling toward Fukushima when he came here,” Uchibori told the Times. “The idea of a ‘recovery games’ is once again in the spotlight and people are thinking carefully about how that can be achieved. “It can show the courage of Fukushima Prefecture and the Tohoku region, and on a wider scale Kumamoto and Tottori — places that are working hard to recover from disaster.”

The Azuma Baseball Stadium in Fukushima can seat 30,000 people, as can the stadium in Iwaki. The Koriyama stadium can hold 18,200 guests.

“These three prefectures have a close bond and always work together. We want to form a movement. We want to show our appreciation to people and get people excited about the Tokyo Olympics. I’d like to consult with my fellow governors.”

Three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant melted down in March 2011, after being hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The nuclear disaster left the surrounding area contaminated with radioactive material. It is expected that it will take at least 30 years to clean up the disaster and complete the decommissioning of the plant’s reactors. The final location decision will be made during the December 6-8 ICC executive board meeting.

 

[angelburst29]

The last cover was removed from the Fukushima-1 Nuclear Plant reactor No. 1, local media reported on November 10. Now all the temporary protective constructions have been demolished, and the reactor is completely exposed for the first time since 2011's nuclear catastrophe.

Crippled Fukushima Reactor Fully Exposed for the First Time Since 2011 Disaster
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201611101047289568-fukushima-covers-demolition/

Demolition works conducted by the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) have been ongoing for two years. Today a large crane lifted off a 20-ton cover, the last of the 18 panels installed after the event.

The next step is the removal of 392 fuel assemblies from the spent fuel pool and melted nuclear fuel from inside the building, Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun reported

According to Japanese national broadcaster NHK, the fuel extraction will only start in four years. TEPCO is currently installing the necessary equipment and assessing the state of the reactor building’s interior in efforts to remove debris from the collapsed roof over the spent nuclear fuel pool. TEPCO has to be sure to avoid stirring the radioactive dust while shrouding the reactor building with tarpaulins.

The covers were installed in October 2011 as a temporary measure against the spread of radioactive substances after the triple meltdown of the plant.

The tragedy at the Fukushima-1 plant happened on March 11, 2011 after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan, leading to the leakage of radioactive material from the plant into the surrounding environment. The nuclear accident is the largest one since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986. It is expected to take about 40 years to entirely clean up the area.

 

[horse]

Hi, Angelburst29, I had trouble believing r4 sfp was cleaned up the way they said. It leaked and leaned and burned but they say it's empty now. They dragged us thru a show and closed the curtain. R3 looked worse than r1 but they found a pool under the pile. Maybe there's one under the r1 ruble pile. Unit 1's sfp has 292 spent fuel assemblies stored in the pool. 70 fuel assemblies were damaged before the disaster and probably won't be removed.

It will take much longer than 40 years to decommission Dai-ichi. Unit 4 SFP had broken fuel assemblies that couldn't be removed and probably has a fuel melt from burnt fuel rods. Emptying what they could to lighten the load stress on the damaged pool was good but it's not empty. The building around Unit 4 conceals what goes on there but steam still come out the side at times. Unit 3 has been cleared of ruble and preparations are still underway for a superstructure housing a fuel removal crane to begin emptying what they can from that pool. Unit 2 hasn't been entered because of high radiation. Removing the covers from Unit 1 has exposed more of the reactor skeleton to the air; highly radioactive dust is a major concern. Farmers to the north complained of high readings when the roof came off. Parts of Unit 1 still have readings up to 9 Sieverts that neither man nor robot can survive. The Common spent fuel pool is getting full but it has cooled over the years and doesn't steam up as bad as it used to; still no place to safely store spent fuel assemblies. Most of the NPPs in Japan and America have full pools.

The three reactor melts haven't been located yet according to Tepco, and no technology exists yet to remove them if found. In three hundred years the fuel melts will have decayed to radiation levels man or robot can safely approach.

I've been following the unit 1 cover removal that started in September at CaféRadLab. Pictures of the progress in the monthly posts, here's a link to November's Webcam observations forum. http://caferadlab.com/thread-1549.html

 

[mabar]

Was reading -using google traductor- some twitters regarding Fukushima reactor -there was an 7.3 earthquake just around 1 hour ago http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,1745.795.html , and it does not sound good...

NHK life and disaster prevention Account
Atto Nhk_seikatsu
Verified
According to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the cooling equipment of the spent nuclear fuel pool of Unit 3 of Fukushima Daii Nuclear Power Plant 2 is stopped, and the water circulation that cools nuclear fuel is not completed. It is currently difficult to cool the nuclear fuel with the water in the pool and it is difficult to imagine that the immediate dangerous situation will occur for the time being because the heating value of the nuclear fuel is small.

NHK life and disaster prevention Account
Atto Nhk_seikatsu
Verified
According to TEPCO, the pump for cooling is stopped in the spent fuel pool of Fukushima No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3. It is expected that the temperature of the fuel pool at 6:00 am is 28 degrees 7 minutes, it is expected to rise by 0 degree every 2 minutes in one hour, 65 degrees which is regarded as the driving limit value is expected to be reached in about one week It is that.

add more ... the lastest one, seem to me ... "do not worry, we have everyhing under control" ... somehow, I do not belive them much, we will wait and see ...

At Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant Unit 3, the pump to circulate water to cool spent fuel has stopped, but according to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, no abnormalities have been found so far, TEPCO is at 7:47 am It is said that the pump was restarted and the cooling was restarted.

 

[horse]

Video of Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP shaking in the EQ.
Camera 4

http://<iframe src="https://player....on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Camera 1

http://<iframe src="https://player....on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

[horse]

Simply Info gives a hint of what burned in sfp4; Tepco’s unknown source.
http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=11668

It is assumed that most of the radiation releases were from units 1-3 out of the reactor with some potential from the spent fuel pools.
Unit 1 = 20% released (130 Pbq)
Unit 2 = 40% released (360 Pbq)
Unit 3 = 35.5% released (230 Pbq)
*TEPCO considers 110 Pbq of releases to have an unknown source and a total initial release at the plant of 900 Pbq

We saw Unit 4 smoking in the early days, no core in the reactor; it could only be the sfp. Covered over, a fuel removal process started. We saw the CSFP steam up every time a hot load from sfp4 was dropped in. The steaming events and the reported numbers coming out of sfp4 didn’t always match. Reported empty after a year, the CSFP steaming events continued on for another year. The CSFP doesn’t steam up as much now, thus fewer of the webs of radioactive steam sticking to the camera lens. Steam still coming out the side of r4 must be the fuel melt and broken rods still in that leaning, leaky pool. All the Dai-ichi radiation readings we get to see are from ground stations; the emission plumes rising into the air are not measured except maybe by the spark activity on the tepcams. I can hope the reactor melts are being kept cool in basement water but the spent fuel sitting in those pools are the biggest risk of further catastrophic releases. Spent fuel rods should not touch each other. The danger now is fuel rod assemblies coming too close to another and causing a criticality accident.

Fuel Removal from Fukushima Reactor 3 Likely to Be Put Off Again
https://nuclear-news.net/2016/11/19/fuel-removal-from-fukushima-reactor-3-likely-to-be-put-off-again/

It now appears difficult to begin the work in January 2018, as currently targeted by the company, the sources said. The expected postponement is due to a delay in preparations necessary for the removal work.

The fuel removal from the No. 3 reactor pool was initially planned to begin during April-September 2015.

Aug 1, 2015 Unit 3 sfp – The broken fuel removal crane that had fallen into the pool during debris cleaning efforts was removed from the pool. That effort occurred during heavy fogging events and high spark activity. The ENEnews webcam forum had quit functioning making my efforts to document the event more difficult. Damage to the pool and the condition of spent fuel contents aren’t in the public domain. I wonder if the delays are caused by whatever damage there is to the pool/contents.

Nov 25 2016
Puddles found in reactor buildings of Fukushima plant after quake
http://conceptnewscentral.com/index.php/2016/11/25/puddles-found-reactor-buildings-fukushima-plant-quake/

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said the puddles may have formed from water that slopped out of spent-fuel pools in three of the four reactor buildings at the idled plant during the quake. The utility has yet to confirm whether the water leaked outside the reactor buildings.

Daini sfp’s sloshed. Did they use a mop or hose it down the drain? The EQ was enough to make puddles at Daini. Daini is hardly ever mentioned in the MSM, some damage but no meltdown; same as Dai-chi units 5 and 6. Daini is a only short distance south of Dai-ichi.

11-22 Daini flyby – very short
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJCQ2F44JCQULBJ001.html

What little they tell us covers up all the rest that they don’t. The Dai-ichi meltdowns, sfps, and common pool are no longer news worthy. The big EQ was scary to watch, thinking ‘is this going to bring down another catastrophic release of radiation’. I saw an article in the DailyMail about Japan's EQs ending with "…that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011, which leaked radiation into the atmosphere and has since been abandoned." Using the past tense 'leaked radiation' while it continues leaking radiation to air and sea is misleading. The site can't be abandoned for centuries. Workers in white Tyvek suits and respirators are still spotted on the Tepco cameras but the public is lead to believe nothing remains to be done.

Search: spent fuel pool zirc fires

Talking Points: Spent Fuel Pool Fires
http://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/radwaste/talking%20points--fuelpoolfires.pdf

Investigations of Zirconium Fires
during Spent Fuel Pool LOCAs
http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1203/ML120380359.pdf

After five years, the potential for a zirconium fire is considered to be essentially non-existent due to the low decay heat level of the spent fuel.

ZIRCONIUM FIRES IN POOLS OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL:
HIGH-PROBABILITY SCENARIOS AND PHENOMENA
By Mark Leyse, Atomic Safety Organization
A Report Completed for Riverkeeper, December 2013
http://www.riverkeeper.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Spent-Fuel-Information-ZIRCONIUM-FIRES-IN-POOLS-OF-SPENT-NUCLEAR-FUEL.pdf

In a SFP LOCA, partial fuel assembly uncovery would be a greater threat to safety than complete uncovery of the fuel assemblies.

Neutron-absorber materials are needed in the SFP storage racks that have densely packed fuel assemblies—high-density storage racks. Neutron-absorber materials are needed to help prevent criticality accidents; in fact, “new rack designs rely heavily on permanently installed neutron absorbers to maintain criticality requirements.”134 High-density storage racks also rely on the particular arrangements of discharged and fresh fuel assemblies that help to control reactivity in the SFP.

Criticality accidents can occur when fuel rods get too close to another. The studies assumed an undamaged pool that had no debris in them. Tepco has to remove the debris without dropping a big chunk into a pool and damaging more fuel assemblies. Another earthquake could cause more structural damage and leave a pile of fuel rods sitting out in the open with no easy way to control the nuclear fires.