Plutonium/Uranium Fuel Rods were "exposed to the air..."

Plutonium/Uranium Fuel Rods were "exposed to the air..."

www.abc.net.au

The plant's operator said that so much water had evaporated from the No. 3 reactor that at one stage the top three metres of the fuel rods were exposed to the air, although they were later covered again.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Keep your eye out for news of any explosion or forced venting from No.3 reactor. My understanding is that this is the only reactor of the series that uses plutonium as a component of its fissionable material. Hopefully those attempting to stabilise this particular reaction will manage to keep it well contained while doing so. If the situation warrants venting, we should hope that not an iota more than necessary is released in order to avoid full meltdown. Should there be a catastrophic failure of the inner core shielding...

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Plutonium is by far the most dangerous of all these if I recall my high school physics and chemistry classes. Actually, a few grams of plutonium would be sufficient to give millions of people lung cancer if dispersed in the air.

I think the Japanese scientists as well as anyone called to cooperate will do everything to prevent that from happening - they just do not want to scare people.
If a rod is exposed in the air, that would not mean any Pu dispersal - as long as it is solid and not overheating.
If there is a blowup though, tiny particles can be dispersed just like with the blowup of anything.

reply to post by Hardfelt


I have a hard time believing a lot of the reactor information released from Japan lately. I am thinking it's far worse than the flap we are getting.


Here's a video to go with your post:

Originally posted by Regenmacher
I have a hard time believing a lot of the reactor information released from Japan lately. I am thinking it's far worse than the flap we are getting.

I agree. Take this 'information' for example (which the BBC News site just released):

"... government spokesman Yukio Edano said that although seawater was being injected into reactor 3 at the Fukushima plant, gauges were not showing the water levels rising. "We do not know what to make of this," he said."

and compare with the statement (from the earlier ABC News article linked in my first post):

"...three metres of the fuel rods were exposed to the air, although they were later covered again."

Something is definitely fishy about all the information/disinformation being released regarding the level of damage and the dangers to the public. I also feel it's far worse than they are letting on. I fear they'd prefer to kill citizens with radiation poisoning than panic them.

IRM

reply to post by Hardfelt


Here's an recent article that makes a point that a lot of information is no divulged in order to prevent panic.


Emergency Special Report: Japan's Earthquake, Hidden Nuclear Crisis

The recurrent tendency to deny systemic errors - "in order to avoid public panic" - is rooted in the determination of an entrenched bureaucracy to protect itself rather than in any stated purpose of serving the nation or its people. That's the unspoken rule of thumb in most governments, and the point is that Japan is no shining exception

So the perhaps the big question is how long can they keep a full blown meltdown(s) under wraps?

Usually it takes minutes to start melting...

And then you have a China syndrome scenario, where the core melts through and hits water and booom there goes the dynamite.

But it seems they cooled it in time to avoid this... Well I hope...

Live News Feed
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Currently the Fukushima plant has three reactors still in trouble and there are two other plants with problems

Nuclear emergency as Fukushima cooling system fails after Japan quake!
www.abovetopsecret.com...