Fukushima: Temperatures Rise in Spent Fuel Storage Pool
April 13th, 2011Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen demonstrates how Fukushima’s fuel rods melted and shattered from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Via: NHK:
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says the water temperature in the spent fuel storage pool at the No. 4 reactor in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has risen to about 90 degrees Celsius. It fears the spent fuel rods may be damaged.
TEPCO took the temperature on Tuesday using an extending arm on a special vehicle. It found the temperature was much higher than the normal level of under 40 degrees.
To cool the fuel, TEPCO sprayed 195 tons of water for 6 hours on Wednesday morning.
The company thinks the pool’s water level was about 5 meters lower than normal, but 2 meters above the fuel rods.
TEPCO believes the water level is likely to rise by about one meter after the water spraying on Wednesday.
The company also believes temperatures rose after the loss of the reactor’s cooling system.
TEPCO says high levels of radiation at 84 millisieverts per hour were detected above the water surface, where radiation is rarely detected.
Not good. Does anyone know the status of Unit 1? It could be another big problem. I haven’t heard anything about for the last couple of days. That’s usually very bad when dealing with the TEPCO crooks.