credible expert concern re 460 tons spent uranium fuel rods in storage
pool 3 and 4 floors high in weakened 7 floor roofless building at
Fukushima #4: Rich Murray 2012.05.19
Hard to assess what is reasonable concern, given all the cross
currents of vested interest obfuscation vs alarmist exaggeration...
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/u-s-senator-tours-fukushima-warns-situation-worse-than-reported-urges-japan-to-accept-international-help-to-stabilize-dangerous-spent-fuel-pools.htmlhttp://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Secretary-Chu.pdf2 page letter May 16, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/health/155283/the_worst_yet_to_come_why_nuclear_experts_are_calling_fukushima_a_ticking_time-bomb?page=entireMay 4, 2012 Brad Jacobson
"Same Spent Fuel Pool Designs at Dozens of U.S. Nuclear Sites
So why isn't the NRC and the Obama administration doing more to shed
light on the extreme vulnerability of these irradiated fuel pools at
Fukushima Daiichi, which threaten not only Japan but the U.S. and the
world?
Nuclear waste experts say it would expose the fact that the same
design flaw lies in wait -- and has been for decades -- at dozens of
U.S. nuclear facilities.
And that's not something the NRC, which is routinely accused of
promoting the nuclear industry rather than adequately regulating it,
nor the pro-nuclear Obama administration, want to broadcast to the
American public.
"The U.S. government right now is engaged in its own kabuki theatre to
protect the U.S. industry from the real costs of the lessons at
Fukushima," Gunter said.
"The NRC and its champions in the White House and on Capitol Hill are
looking to obfuscate the real threats and the necessary policy changes
to address the risk."
There are 31 G.E. Mark I and Mark II boiling water reactors (BRWs) in
the U.S., the type used at Fukushima.
All of these reactors, which comprise just under a third of all
nuclear reactors in the U.S., store their spent fuel in elevated pools
located outside the primary, or reinforced, containment that protects
the reactor core.
Thus, the outside structure, the building ostensibly protecting the
storage pools, is much weaker, in most cases about as sturdy, experts
describe in interviews with AlterNet, as a structure one would find
housing a car dealership or a Wal-Mart."
Brad Jacobson is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist and
contributing reporter for AlterNet. His reporting has also appeared in
The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review, Billboard and other
publications.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/the-largest-short-term-threat-to-humanity-the-fuel-pools-of-fukushima.htmlApril 7, 2012
"Mainchi reported on Monday:
The storage pool in the No. 4 reactor building has a total of 1,535
fuel rods, or 460 tons of nuclear fuel, in it.
The 7-story building itself has suffered great damage, with the
storage pool barely intact on the building’s third and fourth floors.
The roof has been blown away.
If the storage pool breaks and runs dry, the nuclear fuel inside will
overheat and explode, causing a massive amount of radioactive
substances to spread over a wide area. Both the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) and French nuclear energy company Areva
have warned about this risk."
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