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22. Nuclear Engineer: Fuel appears damaged in Fukushima Unit 4 pool and will fall apart

Nuclear Engineer: Fuel appears damaged in Fukushima Unit 4 pool and will fall apart

Last edited Thu Oct 31, 2013, 10:33 AM USA/ET - Edit history (2)
if they pull it up — Make sure your radiation monitor works so you know what’s going on when something drops (AUDIO)

From this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023955405

Chris Harris, former licensed Senior Reactor Operator and engineer: Fukushima Unit 4, the plans are in November to start removing the fuel. The question is always, ‘What’s going to keep the fuel sub-critical as you’re withdrawing it from the pool?’ That hasn’t been answered to my satisfaction yet because — although there are a lot of spent fuel assemblies in there which could achieve criticality — there are also 200 new fuel assemblies which have equivalent to a full tank of gas, let’s call it that. Those are the ones most likely to go critical first.

http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-fuel-unit-4-pool-appears-damaged-will-fall-apart-pull-make-sure-radiation-monitor-working-whats-going-when-drops-audio

Keep batteries fresh in your rad monitor, because you’re going to need to know what’s going on when they drop some fuel.

Some pictures that were released recently show that a lot of fuel is damaged, so when they go ahead and put the grapple on it, and they pull it up, it’s going to fall apart. The boreflex has been eaten away; it doesn’t take saltwater very good.
See also: Nuclear Engineer: New fuel is highly reactive, easier to go critical than spent fuel -- Bad situation if assemblies are damaged (VIDEO)

http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-damage-new-fuel-assemblies-be-bad-many-reasons-new-fuel-highly-reactive-easier-critical-spent-fuel-video

UPDATE: Status of #4 Pool part Deux

Fukushima documents discuss “fuel that is severely damaged” inside cooling pool — Illustrations of “deformed or leaking fuels” (PHOTO)

Research and Development Road Map for Decommissioning Units 1-4 at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, July 30, 2012: Removing fuel from spent fuel pools is possible However, the spent fuel has been exposed to seawater and maybe deformed or damaged it is assumed that most of the fuel is intact As fuel assemblies in spent fuel pools were exposed to seawater and possibly damaged, assessment of the impact of safe and long-term storage is required. Fuel assemblies (Units 2-4) stored in spent fuel pools were exposed to seawater, and those at Units 1, 3, and 4 are possibly damaged due to falling debris. Investigating the impact of spent fuel that was damaged or exposed to seawater on the chemical treatment, waste treatment, and product collection processes. Future processing and storage methods for spent fuel removed from the spent fuel pools will be decided on the basis of assessment of its long-term soundness and the results of research and development

Examination of Methods for Processing Damaged Fuel, etc. Removed from the Spent Fuel Pool, Page 22: Fuel in the nuclear reactor building pool is thought to be contaminated with saline from seawater, and part of the fuel may even be damaged or leaking due to the collapse of concrete fragments. Specific actions 1. Study of past cases related to damaged fuel, etc. 2. Examination of the impacts of damaged fuel, etc. The impacts of impurities (saline from seawater, etc.) absorbed to damaged fuel 3. Examination regarding the handling of damaged fuel • For fuel that is severely damaged and cannot be handled by existing reprocessing facilities, methods for their acceptance, storage, and shear treatment will be examined
http://enenews.com/fukushima-documents-discuss-fuel-severely-damaged-cooling-pool-illustrations-deformed-leaking-fuels-photo