Published: November 9th, 2013 at 12:10 pm ET |
AFP, Nov. 7, 2013: Experts warn that any slip-ups could quickly cause the situation to deteriorate. Even minor mishaps will create considerable delays to the already long and complicated decommissioning. If the rods are exposed to the air they would release radiation and could heat up, a process that if left unchecked could lead to a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. TEPCO says that is unlikely, but sceptics say that with so many unknowns in the novel operation, there is potential for a catastrophe. [...] “Any trouble in this operation will considerably affect the timetable for the entire project,” he said. “This is an operation TEPCO cannot afford to bungle.” Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University Reactor Research Institute in Kyoto, said success was far from guaranteed. “It is not easy work,” he said. The comments reflect an increasingly widespread view that the giant utility is not capable of dealing with the mess its nuclear plant has created.
The Real News, Nov. 8, 2013 — Arjun Makhijani, President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Ph.D. in engineering (specialization: nuclear fusion) from the University of California at Berkeley (at 2:30 in): The spent fuel may be difficult to dislodge because it’s no longer in its proper original position. The fuel rods may break, and the fuel may wind up at the bottom of the reactor in the spent fuel pool. There may be an accident of criticality. I haven’t examined their plans in detail, but I do think it is very essential to remove this spent fuel, because in my judgment, the bigger danger is leaving it there and waiting for the earthquake to happen.
Watch the extended interview with Arjun Makhijani here
RT, Nov.7, 2013 — Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear: The fuel itself could be bent, it could be damaged, it could be corroded. They used salt water at one point to cool the nuclear waste in this pool, which could have corroded the assemblies. They could break apart; they could crumble when they go to try to remove them. Even the director of the nuclear regulation authority of Japan has warned that this process should not be rushed; they should not try to force these assemblies out of their storage channels. But they have to get them out before a bigger earthquake takes the building down, the cooling water would drain away, and the waste with them will catch on fire. There is no radiological containment around the pool and if this waste would catch fire it could be 10 times worse than Chernobyl. That’s how much radioactivity is stored in that pool. Just in terms of the radioactive cesium content. [...] It’s absurd that Tokyo Electric is in charge of this globally significant extracting of the fuel from the pool. If something goes wrong, this could be a global catastrophe that dwarfs what has happened on Fukushima Daiichi thus far. Tokyo Electric has shown its true colors time and time again, its incompetence and its dishonesty, so it’s very frightening that Tokyo Electric is in charge of this.
Watch the interview with Kevin Kamps here
Published: November 9th, 2013 at 12:10 pm ET |
Expert: “There may be an accident of criticality” during fuel removal at Fukushima Unit 4 — TV: Rods could crumble, frightening that Tepco is in charge of potential catastrophe (VIDEOS)
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