reports that Tepco is using remote-controlled bulldozers and power shovels for clearing rubble around the wrecked reactor. While it’s good news that Tepco finally can perform some cleanup work without putting workers at risk, the bad news is how necessary such equipment may be. The New York Times reported on April 5 about a confidential document prepared by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
The document also suggests that fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site. The ejection of nuclear material, which may have occurred during one of the earlier hydrogen explosions, may indicate more extensive damage to the extremely radioactive pools than previously disclosed.
There was more nuclear fuel in the spent fuel pools of units 1-4 than there is in the reactor cores of these units.
http://www.joewein.net/blog/2011/04/11/ ... 011-04-11/
The document also suggests that fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and that pieces of highly radioactive material fell between two units and had to be “bulldozed over,” presumably to protect workers at the site. The ejection of nuclear material, which may have occurred during one of the earlier hydrogen explosions, may indicate more extensive damage to the extremely radioactive pools than previously disclosed.
There was more nuclear fuel in the spent fuel pools of units 1-4 than there is in the reactor cores of these units.
http://www.joewein.net/blog/2011/04/11/ ... 011-04-11/
