6 comments to TEPCO now investigating possible leak from reactor No. 3 — Only one using plutonium (VIDEO)

• xdrfox

  April 9, 2011 at 1:36 pm

  Reactor 3
  The reactor used uranium and plutonium, which may produce more toxic radioactivity. The reactor containment vessel may have been damaged and the spent fuel pool may have become uncovered. The reactor has 548 fuel assemblies and the spent fuel pool has 514.
  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/world/asia/reactors-status.html
  

  
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• soozla

  April 9, 2011 at 2:12 pm

  Bingo!….
  

  
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• WindorSolarPlease

  April 10, 2011 at 5:33 am

  How many of these plumes can all of us take?
  

  
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• xdrfox

  April 10, 2011 at 5:42 am

  “I would like to apologize from my heart over the worries and troubles we are causing for society due to the release of radiological materials into the atmosphere and seawater,” Sakae Muto, a vice president of the nuclear plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said Saturday.

  The pumping was set to end Sunday, and officials hoped that within days they could start transferring the more highly contaminated water to the now-drained facility. The operation is risky because the water will be transferred through a hose snaking around buildings on the complex, meaning that if there are cracks or leaks in the hose, radiation could escape into the air.

  “We must make sure we can do this safely,” said Hidehiko Nishiyama, chief spokesman for Japan’s nuclear safety agency.

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110410/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake
  

  
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• Jokolensikorwawahat

  April 10, 2011 at 7:30 am

  Not to worry about the 1000 tons (?or more) of used fuel rods. They are now in the air – or bigger bits all-around few miles from reactor 3.

  Tepco official states thah “all fuelrods are securely inside.” He doesnt articulate what could that mean in a blown building. Maybe he means just the actual intact rods somewhere else?
  

  
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• radegan

  April 10, 2011 at 9:05 am

  “all fuelrods are securely inside.”

  Means the slag is all in one heap. Early on there was an aerial photo showing what looked like used fuel rods strewn on the ground outside. They could also have been some sort of rebar, the diameter and length were correct for either, they looked to be 10-12 feet long and 3/4″ to 1.5″ in diameter. But if it was rebar, then why not explain what it was and where that rebar was stored before it blew out? I don’t find that photo anymore, nor have I seen that pile of sticks lying around on more recent photos. They say they poured concrete over some hot materials to allow workers on the site. Would they have wasted time picking up non-radioactive rebar rubble?
  

  
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