From: Franovich, Mike
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 7:01 PM
To: Ostendorff, William
Cc: Nieh, Ho; Kock, Andrea; Zorn, Jason
Subject: FYI on Unit 4 SFP (i’m looking for this video footage)
TEPCO releases new footage of Number 4 reactor
Tokyo Electric Power Company has released new video footage of the Number 4 reactor building at its damaged Fukushima complex.
The utility firm shot the video using a camera installed on the tip of the long arm of a special construction vehicle.
Osaka University Professor Akira Yamaguchi, an expert on nuclear reactors, analyzed the video. He says that a green device [refueling bridge/crane] used to replace nuclear fuel rods stayed in place without falling into a spent-fuel storage pool, in spite of an apparent hydrogen explosion inside the reactor building.
He also says that vapor from the storage pool reduces as the special vehicle pours water onto it, which contributes to cooling the water in the pool.
Yamaguchi says the top of the reactor building suffered substantial damage, but the structure below the storage pool was hardly affected, as it was more strongly constructed.
He stresses the need to restore the power supply as early as possible to restore the pool’s cooling function.
He says at least 90 tons [roughly 25k gallon] of water a day need to be pumped in to cool the stored fuel rods. The pool in Number 4 reactor building holds over 1,300 spent
rods, more than those kept in other units.
He warns that the fuel held there generates just as much heat as is produced by Numbers 2 and 3 reactors.
Yamaguchi says it is essential to keep the temperature low at the storage pool to prevent the fuel rods from being exposed and destroyed.
Friday, April 01, 2011 22:04 +0900 (JST)
Related articles
- March 15th 2011 – Unclear Fires At Reactor 4 SFP (enformable.com)
- March 11th, 2011 – Radioactive Steam Could Be Released From Fukushima Daiichi After NRC Knew Temperature in Reactor 1 Fuel Rods Up 50% Above Normal Levels (enformable.com)
- April 2011 – Risk versus Concern – Public Health Messaging of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Incident (enformable.com)
- April 2nd, 2011 – Reactor 1 uncontrolled depressurization/leak – Dose rate of 27 R/hr found – Radiation Level at Reactor 2 measured over 100 R/hr (enformable.com)
- April 6th, 2011 – Japan just said there was a zirc fire in Unit 4 SFP. Did we know this? – Depends what is meant by “know.” (enformable.com)
- 100% release of Unit No. 4 Spent Fuel Pool assumed in NRC analysis – 50% at Unit No. 3 pool (enenews.com)
- March 20th, 2011 – The band of elevated dose rates up to 18 mi from plant to the northwest seems to coincide with “Lube Oil Fire” in Reactor 4 SFP (enformable.com)
- March 18th, 2011 – NRC and GE Inspecting Photos to Determine Whether Drywell Head Intact in Reactor 3 – 50 Mile Evacuation Was Good Call – Aleutian Islands I-131 (enformable.com)
- March 21st, 2011 – Clarification and assessment of potential radiological release source terms for Fukushima Units 3&4 spent fuel pools (enformable.com)
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