According to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, fragments or particles of nuclear fuel from spent fuel pools above the [Fukushima] reactors were blown “up to one mile from the units,” and. . . 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. . .
From NY Times: U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD Published: April 5, 2011
The rest of this extensive, detailed article can probably be accessed online.
Here is a response to the article from the Nuclear Consultant for the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution Raymond Shadis yesterday:
Subject: NYT Spent Fuel Fragments Blown a Mile from Japan Spent Fuel Pools Yes, This could be downtown Vernon, Vermont or downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts or Downtown Toms River, NJ. . . Environmental and public safety advocates would have been called crazy had the speculated, even tentatively, that solid chunks of nuclear fuel be blasted more than a mile from a BWR spent fuel pool by a hydrogen explosion…yet it appears that is exactly what happened in Japanese reactors with elevated spent fuel pools virtually identical to those at Vermont Yankee, Pilgrim, and Oyster Creek nuclear power stations. Small wonder NRC’s report detailing this event has so far been held confidential. How can there be any sane response from NRC, Congress, and the Industry other than to abandon license renewal and begin permanent shutdown and decommissioning of these tied, obsolete, and poorly designed reactors now? What excuse can be made for putting our communities at this kind of risk?
Here is a response to the article from the Nuclear Consultant for the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution Raymond Shadis yesterday:
Subject: NYT Spent Fuel Fragments Blown a Mile from Japan Spent Fuel Pools Yes, This could be downtown Vernon, Vermont or downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts or Downtown Toms River, NJ. . . Environmental and public safety advocates would have been called crazy had the speculated, even tentatively, that solid chunks of nuclear fuel be blasted more than a mile from a BWR spent fuel pool by a hydrogen explosion…yet it appears that is exactly what happened in Japanese reactors with elevated spent fuel pools virtually identical to those at Vermont Yankee, Pilgrim, and Oyster Creek nuclear power stations. Small wonder NRC’s report detailing this event has so far been held confidential. How can there be any sane response from NRC, Congress, and the Industry other than to abandon license renewal and begin permanent shutdown and decommissioning of these tied, obsolete, and poorly designed reactors now? What excuse can be made for putting our communities at this kind of risk?
Raymond
Shadis
Technical
advisor
New
England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
207-882-7801
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