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Monday, March 14, 2011

More On The Fukushima Reactor Problems

Asked if there is a danger of a meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, nuclear safety expert Toshihiro Bannai adds: "On units one and three there is a possibility they are partially damaged in the core. However at this point, monitoring indications doesn't indicate damage of the core."

Japanese engineer Masashi Goto, who helped design the containment vessel for Fukushima's reactor core, says the design was not enough to withstand earthquakes or tsunamis and the plant's builders, Toshiba, knew this.

Mr Goto says his greatest fear is that blasts at number 3 and number 1 reactors may have damaged the steel casing of the containment vessel designed to stop radioactive material escaping into the atmosphere.

More from Japanese nuclear engineer Masashi Goto: He say that as the reactor uses mox (mixed oxide) fuel that contains plutonium; the melting point is lower than that of conventional fuel.

Should a meltdown and an explosion occur, he says, plutonium could be spread over an area up to twice as far as estimated for a conventional nuclear fuel explosion. The next 24 hours are critical, he says.

BBC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dosent look so odd now, that they built all their reactors on the coast.....knowing all the fallout would be carried away with the wind.....Peal Harbor all over again x1000. Goodbye California.....