If Reactor 4 Spent Fuel pool collapses, we are screwed…
By: James Burge
May 9th, 2012
Okay so the deepening crisis at Fukushima continues to cause concern for the majority of people who tour the area. Recently US Senator Ron Wyden was at the site and said things were much worse than what has been reported. He urged Japan to accept international help to get the situation under control, but what exactly would something like this entail?
The major issue at Fukushima is with the spent fuel pool (SFP) at reactor 4 is that the structure has been heavily damaged by the earthquake and hydrogen explosions in reactors 3 and 4. This combined with the risk of another magnitude 7+ quake is possible the time to deal with this could be running out.
From what I have heard, some have said the cleanup could take 30 years to complete, especially when you consider reclamation of Tokyo. Earthquake experts have said there is a 70% chance Japan will receive a 7+ earthquake in the next 4 years. I hate to say it but if it takes that long to secure the spent fuel, we are all in for it.
So what can we do if this happens? Anti-nuclear physician Dr. Helen Caldicott and nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen both recommend moving to the Southern Hemisphere.
Oh is that all…
So the question is what can be done to prevent the collapse of SFP 4, well probably nothing. They have reinforced the floor of the pool with concrete, but the concern is that the building which houses the fuel pool is damaged and could fail, taking the fuel pool down with it.
The only solution is to reduce the amount of radioactive material in the SFP when it does finally collapse. The process of moving the spent fuel (SFP 4 contains 1500+ fuel rods) and placing them into dry cask storage off site is not simple, nor cheap, some have estimated it to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The current plan is to create a concreat building around the damaged structure to operate a large crain in order to aid in the removal of spent fuel as the dry casks weigh tonnes.
But I guess the question to ask yourself is, if we do not spend the money now to avoid such a situation, what would it cost to deal with the fallout?? I would think that to be impossible.
Keep in mind, Tokyo has been found to have multiple hotspots from multiple independent sources, but instead of evacuating people, which of course would cost a lot of money, people are left to develop whatever cancers and just deal with it. Children, who are much more radiosensitive than Adults are playing in contaminated playgrounds in Tokyo, and a recent study showed 1/3 of japanese children tested, had lumps on their thyroid, only 10 months into the crisis.
Can we actually expect the nuclear industry to pay to clean up this business?? It was recently brought to my attention that when these plants are licensed, the owners are not required to even look at the costs associated with mass evacuations in the event of an accident similar to what has occurred in Japan. And another scary fact, the US has 31 Mark I or Mark II reactors, and experts have said they store much more spent fuel in the SFP than what we are seeing in Japan, the only bonus is that earthquakes aren’t as likely, but obviously not impossible.
From what I understand the issue is in deciding where to put the spent fuel, back when these plants were constructed there was supposed to be a large storage facility, I believe in Texas to house spent fuel. But surprise surprise, Texans don’t want that shit in their back yard. So instead we are risking irradiating the entire planet to save a few hundred million. Do you think some of these multi billionaires could spare a couple million or two to help the world out??
Another issue raised is that the collapse of SFP 4 could affect the common fuel pool, which has 6,375 more fuel rods located only 50 m from reactor 4, and would no doubt contain MOX fuel which has plutonium (the most deadly compound known to man). This would certainly cause a global catastrophe. The total number of fuel rods in the Fukushima site not in pressure vessels is 11,421. Are you scarred yet?
It amazes me in a time when governments seem to be falling over themselves to incite fear in the electorate, why isn’t this crisis being used to force legislation though using the fear to distract from the insanity of the legislation (ala patriot act). I guess that wouldn’t be condusive to the nuclear industry, and who do you think gives millions to congress.
Here are a few more facts I recently learned from Arnie:
- Spent rods only have to be cooled for a few years after being used, but reactor 4 has recently used fuel meaning that 4 more years of cooling is required in the spent fuel in reactor 4 SFP
If the water in the SFP goes dry, the spent rods will catch fire. Once the fire starts you cannot use water to put it out as this will cause the water to break into Hydrogen and Oxygen likely leading to another large hydrogen explosion.
- If a large release were to occur, workers at the site also risk radiation due to what is called “sky shine” where gamma rays are reflected of air molecules bathing the site in gamma radiation which goes right through the protective suits worn on the site.
Oh No, things may be about to get worse for Fukushima…
By: James Burge
February 14th, 2012
Okay so I just wanted to talk really quickly about Fukushima. Apparently there has been an increase in both tourists as well as Japanese nationals leaving Japan due, from what I can gather, to the changing wind direction which will likely mean a fresh dose of radiation hitting Tokyo for the next few days.
There is also news about the temperatures in reactor No. 2 which has just hit 82°C, the claim that the reactor is in a state of cold shutdown means that temperatures should not exceed 95°C meaning cooling water does not boil.
I also watched an interesting video from Fairewinds with Arnie Gunderson where he discusses the Mark 1 reactor due to the Brunswick test which lead the nuclear industry to add a vent to the design to try to vent hydrogen gas which can begin to build up in the reactor.
This test showed that this reactor could only stand pressures of about 100 psi before the top head of the vessel begins to lift. After sustained pressures above this threshold, the containment vessel begins to vent radioactive gases high in hydrogen into the reactor building. This was likely the cause of the hydrogen explosion back at the beginning of the crisis. This is confirmed by the data from the moments immediately after the when the containment vessel reached 125 psi, before dropping back down to 100 psi. Since the vent valve had not been opened the venting must have happened through the head of the containment vessel.
New Containment Flaw Identified in the BWR Mark 1 from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.
Interesting Visual Representation of Last Years Earthquake Activity…
By: James Burge
February 9th, 2012
Just came across a crazy video that uses sound and circles to represent last years earthquake activity on a map of the world.
It is interesting to watch as waves of earthquake activity moe around our eaths plates. Be sure to check out the boom of the March Japan quake, crazy.
Wow, very moving… and chilling.
By: James Burge
September 6th, 2011
The message of this video is simple, and the future generations will likely not be too kind to us and what we’ve done. But if we aren’t honest about what we are facing, how will we servive.
Although, I think the elite of this world are hoping most of us wont.
Evidence Surfaces of Prompt Criticality at Fukushima
By: James Burge
September 6th, 2011
For those of us fully aware of what was going on at Fukushima, this probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but there is no question this is very troubling.
Below is a recording made last night (timestamp: 2011-09-05 approx. 4:30am) of the live camera set up to monitor Fukushima. This video shows multiple flashes of light emanating from the crippled plant. This suggests some sort of prompt criticality occurring at the reactor. The question remains regarding the source, weather or not the flashes came from the melted fuel rods or, more likely, the spend fuel pool.
Some have already postulated that the ‘hydrogen explosion’ which occurred in the days following the earthquake and resulting tsunami may actually have been an explosion due to criticality in the spent fuel pool.
The concept of criticality was discovered back during the Manhattan project and was one of the few reasons the US beat the Germans to the Atom bomb. Criticality is the mass required of radioactive material, which will drive the atomic reaction to completion (although it is a bit more complicated than that but you get the gist), and any time you approach this mass you approach criticality.
There was a story, back in the 60s I believe ( May 21, 1946 actually), which was the second criticality accident in the US, this was of course before they had what little knowledge exists on nuclear power today (I believe this was actually the early stages of the Manhattan Project, Louis Slotin, I believe), and two large pieces of uranium (according to Wikipedia placing two half-spheres of beryllium (a neutron reflector) around a plutonium core). Then, human error resulted in the two plutonium pieces coming into contact with each other. If left this probably would have produced the runaway reaction we know as an atomic bomb. However, true criticality was averted when Louis separated the two pieces of plutonium halting the reaction. Of course this scientist lost his life 9 days later due to the high dose of radiation he received, but it is unknown how many lives he saved by his actions although he is credited with saving the lives of the other 7 scientists present at the time of the incident.
Today’s modern atomic bombs rely on this same principal. A mass of highly enriched radioactive compound just short of critical mass is present in the bomb. Another piece which would put the mass over criticality is forced into the other piece at detonation, creating criticality and the resulting explosion of energy.
So from what I understand, the spent fuel pool has had similar criticality incidents which were the likely source of the ‘hydrogen’ explosion. So it is my hypothesis that these flashes (which seem to be Air Ionization) seen in the video below are likely due to minor criticality reactions (called Prompt critical reactions). Although my guess is that due to the fact the radioactive compounds are likely in solution (in the spent fuel pool), then these prompt criticalities seem to create enough force to push other radioactive ions away reducing criticality at the source. Unfortunately, if this is the case, I think it may be only a matter of time before these minor criticalities, add up to a total criticality that would sustain the nuclear reaction and send what is left of Fukushima sky high, and of course any radioactive debris leftover, including any HIGHLY deadly plutonium, into the upper atmosphere to be distributed around the globe.
Let us just hope this doesn’t happen and I get to look like a crazy person; although the odds of that seem to be getting worse by the day.
