The Union of Concerned Scientists and other nuclear power "watchdog" organizations or opponents have called on the NRC to require that spent fuel be moved to storage in dry casks when sufficiently cooled. The National Research Council said that action "might be prudent" for some plants whose vulnerabilities were outlined in a classified part of the report.
Jaczko told the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee that measures to protect both U.S. reactor operations and the spent fuel pools have been taken on a case-by-case basis for each U.S. reactor since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The NRC considers the storage situation to be safe in this country, but will review it once the staff has a full understanding of the details of the Japanese nuclear crisis, he said.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu, also testifying to Congress yesterday, reiterated confidence in the safety of the 104 U.S. nuclear reactors.
"The American people should have full confidence that the United States has rigorous safety regulations in place to ensure that our nuclear power is generated safely and responsibly. Information is still coming in about the events unfolding in Japan, but the administration is committed to learning from Japan's experience as we work to continue to strengthen America's nuclear industry," Chu said.
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
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11 Comments
Add CommentWhat would happen if we froze the fuel rods with liquid nitrogen. It has been a long time since Chemistry class, would this be possible or would it create a worse problem chemically speaking.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLou
I beleive the extreme heat of the spent fuel would quickly evaporate the liquid nitrogen as it has a much lower boiling point than seawater so it's not really an option. Plus, I doubt they could get a tank of liquid nitrogen to the plant with all the infrastructure damage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisinteresting thought but if you can get that large quantity of N2 then getting water back to the system would be much easier and more feasible.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMight have a heat transfer problem. Super cold liquid on very hot metal might cause fracturing, maybe explosively. How hot is containment vessels? Would hate to cause fracturing in those! Presence of seawater might mitigate this risk though. Still, would take a lot of N2 and there would be a significant increase in pressure....who knows....at this point might be worth the risks however. Good question.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy complete guess is that liquid N2 would rapidly cool and embrittle the zircalloy casing. An uneven cooling would probably cause cracking either of the zircalloy or the cooling pool itself...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thispaddleman007: If you could get close enough to try to use liquid nitrogen, what would prevent you from just using something much easier to supply and transport, like sea water? I honestly have to ask what in the world you are thinking? Do you think they are leaving the rods sitting around heating up for a lack of an idea of what to put on them? Honestly, what?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCould they build up a large temporary wall around the plant and then flood it? With enough sandbags and portable temporary walls they maybe able to build the walls tall enough. I'm sure the military has ways of putting up walls rapidly for all sorts of purposes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn Fukushima the two back-up generators to replace power failure in the cooling system were swallowed by the tsunami.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis was the source of the problem in the reactors.
But a startling fact has emerged in this nuclear accident in Japan The fact is that all nuclear plants in the world
contains a basic error in design, which is just using ONLY ONE hydraulic cooling circuit.
As in Fukushima. The most modern plants use the so-called external circuit of COOLING, which is an improvement over the old mills.
But this is only ONE external circuit, and in case of failure would cause the same phenomenon of Fukushima.
The principle is basic in engineering: if you have one, IN FACT you have none.
The aeronautical engineering widely used this principle, using two engines on airplanes, instead of just one.
In addition of two independent cooling hidraulic circuit, would be needed: two or more electric
stand-by generators to move them.
And two fuel tanks, diesel, independent to ensure supply.
All confined in a screened room and waterproof.
Recent expert analysis indicate that the generators for cooling can not be at the same level of the sea, to prevent flooding or invasion of the sea on the generators. Should be built on the highest level. Most nuclear power generators in the world has generators on the same level of the reactor, and are not shielded and not waterproof.
From NHK news, they said water is (probably) seen from reactor 4's roof, which looks like ripple reflections in the photo. So the priority is to cool reactor 3 first. The latest radiation level has come slightly down instead of going up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey intend to restore power to the cooling system now. Difficulties arise from the radiation which is preventing them to work effectively. Friday is the earliest date which they can restore the power.
From TV, it said they have 13 diesel power supplies as backup, several to each of the reactor. But 11 / 13 failed owing to the tsunami. The plant was designed to prepare for tsunami too but only to take water level of about 5m in height. (Need confirmation)
At this stage they should flood the sites with sea water. That permanently disables the plants some say? Well too f'ing bad. The Japanese government had no business leaving reactors online since the 1960's on the most unstable earthquake subduction zone on Earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow, it comes out that TEPKO has been lying about safety for years!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes anyone know -- are TEPKO and BP connected?