Published: May 28th, 2012 at 2:44 am ET
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Subscription Only: Tepco may try to remove unused fuel assemblies from feared No. 4 pool
Kyodo
May 28, 2012
Tokyo Electric Power Co. might try to remove two unused fuel assemblies sitting in the spent-fuel pool above the Fukushima No. 1 plant’s No. 4 reactor in July, officials said Sunday.
The attempt would be a test run for securing the dangerous pool, which has become a priority because the building that housed the reactor and the pool — which sits on the fifth floor — was ripped apart by a hydrogen explosion in the early days of the nuclear crisis last year and could collapse in a strong earthquake. That might dump hundreds of fuel rods on the ground, where they would burn up and release even more radiation than in last year’s crisis.
Since the unused fuel is not generating heat from fission, it is less dangerous to handle than the spent fuel. The utility, known as Tepco, is hoping to determine how damaged the unused assemblies are and to devise ways to store them.
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TEPCO to remove unused fuel from No. 4 reactor
NHK
May 28, 2012
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has decided to remove 2 unused fuel rods from a storage pool at the No. 4 reactor to look for damage.
This is in preparation for the removal of a large number of the 1,535 used and unused fuel rods stored in the pool, which could pose a threat in the event of another earthquake.
Tokyo Electric Power Company intends to remove the 2 fuel rods from the pool in July. Removal of unused fuel is not as dangerous as taking out used fuel.
Published: May 28th, 2012 at 2:44 am ET
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Gotta protect that investment!
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With people like this in charge, what do we have to worry about?
IAEA, WHO, NRC And Others; A Web Of Deception? via A Green Road Blog
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/05/iaea-who-and-others-web-of-deception.html
Sadly, everything….
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I thought removing the fuel requires building a new secondary structure around the building that can support the crane they will use to lift the rods. If they don't have this built yet, how can they safely pull out any of them?
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They may be able to move the unused bundles out with an overhead crane. They would normally be very little radioactivity to them and they could be lifted up in the open air. When they are transported to sites they are without shielding and are barely radioactive gamma wise. Of course this changes if the fuel pool went critical or dried up, then lifting them in the air might not be possible.
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"People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome." – George Orwell
Stumbled on this quotation – it seems to match the story.
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Lets see… July will be the 16 month mark, so that averages one rod removed every eight months. They will be finished in 1023 years.
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Yes, Flapdoodle
My thoughts exactly…
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Can someone tell me for certain: Are there 1,535 fuel rods in spent fuel pool 4, or 1,535 fuel rod ASSEMBLIES in pool 4? Every other publication I look at says one or the other. It's a huge and very significant difference. Definitive documentation, anyone?
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The correct term would be fuel assemblies. There are something like 64 fuel rods per assembly. I do not have documentation,but each core has hundreds of fuel assemblies, so there is no question the correct term to use is assemblies. Every time they are refueled hundreds of assemblies are moved (seen it happen many times myself)
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Interesting and disturbing report with English translation concerning Unit 4 http://youtu.be/zuxFQewzPjk
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