-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:11:05 EDT
Subject: Fwd: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] "Fukushima Coverup, 40 Years of Spent
Nuclear Rods . . .
To: [log in to unmask]
The nuclear power plant at Palo, Iowa--very near Cedar Rapids--is of the
same design as the reactors in Japan now involved in this disaster.--Tom
In a message dated 3/17/2011 9:19:18 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Pretty interesting...
Regards,
van
Alert: Fukushima Coverup, 40 Years of Spent Nuclear Rods Blown Sky High
Paul Joseph Watson and Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 15, 2011
Infowars analysis: In addition to under reporting the fires at Fukushima,
the Japanese government has not told the people about the ominous fact that
the nuclear plant site is a hellish repository where a staggering number
of spent fuel rods have accumulated for 40 years.
A contributor to the Occupational and Environmental Medicine list who once
worked on nuclear waste issues provided additional information about
Fukushima’s spent fuel rod assemblies, according to a post on the FDL website.
"NIRS has a Nov 2010 powerpoint from Tokyo Electric Power Company (in
english) detailing the modes and quantities of spent fuel stored at the
Fukushima Daiichi plant where containment buildings #1 and #3 have exploded," _he
wrote_
(http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy/2011/03/14/nuke-engineer-fuel-rod-fire-at-stricken-reactor-would-be-like-chernobyl-on-steroids/#comment-229
439) on March 14.
The Powerpoint is entitled Integrity Inspection of Dry Storage Casks and
Spent Fuels at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and can be _read in
full here_ (http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/accidents/6-1_powerpoint.pdf) .
The document adds a new and frightening dimension to the unfolding
disaster.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant has _seven pools_
(http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy/2011/03/14/2011/03/14/nuke-engineer-fuel-rod-fire-at-stricken-react
or-would-be-like-chernobyl-on-steroids/#comment-229439) dedicated to spent
fuel rods. These are located at the top of six reactor buildings -- or
were until explosions and fires ravaged the plant. On the ground level there
is a common pool in a separate building that was critical damaged by the
tsunami. Each reactor building pool holds 3,450 fuel rod assemblies and the
common pool holds 6,291 fuel rod assemblies. Each assembly holds
_sixty-three_
(http://my.firedoglake.com/kirkmurphy/2011/03/14/2011/03/14/nuke-engineer-fuel-rod-fire-at-stricken-reactor-would-be-like-chernobyl-on-steroids/#commen
t-229446) fuel rods. In short, the Fukushima Daiichi plant contains over
600,000 spent fuel rods -- a massive amount of radiation that will soon be
released into the atmosphere.
It should be obvious by now that the authorities in Japan are lying about
the effort to contain the situation in order to mollify the public.
Earlier today, a _report_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-japan-quake-reactor-fire-20110316,0,7859671.story) was issued
indicating that over 70% of these spent fuel rods are now damaged -- in other
words, they are emitting radiation or will soon. The disclosure reveals that
authorities in Japan -- who have consistently played down the danger and
issued conflicting information -- are guilty of criminal behavior and
endangering the lives of countless people.
On Tuesday, it was finally admitted that meltdowns of the No. 1 and No. 2
reactor cores are responsible for the release of a massive amount of
radiation.
After reporting that a fire at the No. 4 reactor was contained, the media
is _reporting this evening that it has resumed_
(http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/fire-at-reactor-adds-to-challenges-as-japan-weighs-new-plans-to-cool-
fuel-91965) . The media predictably does not bother to point out why the
fire is uncontainable -- the fuel rods are no longer submerged in water and
are exposed to the atmosphere and that is why they are _burning_
(http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/14/3475260/japanese-officials-say-nuclear.html) and
cannot be extinguished.
It cannot be stressed enough that the situation at Fukushima represents
the greatest environmental disaster in the history of humanity, far more
dangerous that Chernobyl, and the government of that country is responsible.
Perhaps the most underreported and deadliest aspect of the three
explosions and numerous fires to hit the stricken Fukushima nuclear reactor since
Saturday is the fact that highly radioactive spent fuel rods which are stored
outside of the active nuclear rod containment facility are likely to have
been massively compromised by the blasts, an elevation in the crisis that
would represent "Chernobyl on steroids," according to nuclear engineer Arnie
Gundersen.
As you can see from the NPR graphic below, the spent fuel rods are stored
outside of the active nuclear rod containment casing and close to the roof
of the reactor complex. Video from Saturday’s explosion and subsequent
images clearly indicate that the spent fuel rods at Fukushima unit number one
could easily have been compromised by the blast.
According to Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates
and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear
plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, the failure to
maintain pools of water that keep the 20 years worth of spent fuel rods cool
could cause "catastrophic fires" and turn the crisis into "Chernobyl on
steroids."
The BBC is now reporting that "spent fuel rods in reactors five and six
are also now believed to be heating up," with a new fire at reactor 4, where
more spent rods are stored, causing smoke to pour from the facility.
"Japanese news agency Kyodo reports that the storage pool in reactor four
-- where the spent fuel rods are kept -- may be boiling. Tepco says
readings are showing high levels of radiation in the building, so it is
inaccessible," adds the report.
"At the 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi unit 1, where an explosion Saturday
destroyed a building housing the reactor, the spent fuel pool, in
accordance with General Electric’s design, is placed above the reactor. Tokyo
Electric said it was trying to figure out how to maintain water levels in the
pools, indicating that the normal safety systems there had failed, too.
Failure to keep adequate water levels in a pool would lead to a catastrophic
fire, said nuclear experts, some of whom think that unit 1’s pool may now be
outside," _reports the Washington Post_
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/at-two-reactors-a-race-to-contain-meltdowns/2011/03/13/ABtdVDU_sto
ry.html) .
The rods must be kept cool because otherwise they start to burn and, in
the case of reactor number 3, would release plutonium and uranium in the form
of vapor into the atmosphere.
"That’s bad news, because plutonium scattered into the atmosphere is even
more dangerous that the combustion products of rods without plutonium,"
_writes Kirk James Murphy_
(http://www.infowars.com/fuel-rod-fire-at-fukushima-reactor-would-be-like-chernobyl-on-steroids/) .
"We’d be lucky if we only had to worry about the spent fuel rods from a
single holding pool. We’re not that lucky. The Fukushima Daiichi plant has
seven pools for spent fuel rods. Six of these are (or were) located at the
top of six reactor buildings. One "common pool" is at ground level in a
separate building. Each "reactor top" pool holds 3450 fuel rod assemblies. The
common pool holds 6291 fuel rod assemblies. [The common pool has windows on
one wall which were almost certainly destroyed by the tsunami.] Each
assembly holds sixty-three fuel rods. This means the Fukushima Daiichi plant may
contain over 600,000 spent fuel rods."
There have been massive design issues with the Mark 1 nuclear reactor
stretching back three decades.
_As ABC News reports today_
(http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge-scientist/story?id=13141287) , "Thirty-five
years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General
Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the
nuclear reactor design they were reviewing ­ the Mark 1 ­ was so
flawed it could lead to a devastating accident."
"The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the
containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be
experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an
interview. "The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid
release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled
release."
_RELATED: Fukushima’s Spent Fuel Rods Pose Grave Danger_
(http://www.thenation.com/article/159234/fukushimas-spent-fuel-rods-pose-grave-danger)
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