TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS....ARE YOU READY TO MOVE YET?????????....PLEASE.... YOU ARE JUST ONE BOAT AWAY FROM SAFETY..... TEPCO is preparing to begin the dangerous task of extracting over 1,500 nuclear fuel rods from the Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. The risky operation is an essential step in to stabilize the site, in a process that could take decades. Removing the spent fuel from a pool inside the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s fourth reactor presents significant risks given the radioactivity of the rods is 14,000 times more than what was released during the 1945 Hiroshima bombing. A slight mishap could release a huge amount of radiation into the atmosphere. Unknown territory Doubts have been raised over TEPCO’s initiative. Scientists have urged caution as such an operation has never been undertaken. “Handling spent fuels involves huge risks, said Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. It would be a disaster if radioactive materials come out of the metal rods during the work.” Christina Consolo, the founder and host of Nuked Radio, who has studied the Fukushima disaster in depth, told RT that she was not optimistic that the operation would be successful. “The worst-case scenario is that there’s a nuclear chain reaction, a criticality in the pool during this procedure and it can’t be stopped,” she said. She added that Tepco “are in over their heads” and that Japan has turned down foreign help, including offers from the US and Russia. Still, Consolo said Japan has no option but to proceed with the operation, as they can’t leave the fuel rods where they are, as “even a mild earthquake could cause the building to collapse.” If one of the rods were to be exposed to the air it would release radiation and heat up, potentially triggering a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. TEPCO has said that this is unlikely to occur. TEPCO’s management of the crisis situation has been criticized as haphazard and ill-planned, with one Japanese minister likening it to a game of “whack-a-mole.” Currently the organization is battling to stop leaks of radioactive water from the tanks used to cool the reactors. While the extraction of the fuel rods represents a significant challenge for TEPCO, the much more complex task of removing the misshapen cores of the stricken reactors awaits scientists. rt/news/fukushima-fuel-rod-removal-365/
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:10:11 +0000
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