Forensic Analysis Of Events At Fukushima Nuclear Plant

Three of Fukushima Daiichi's six reactors were in operation when yesterday's quake hit, at which point they shut down automatically and commenced removal of residual heat with the help of emergency diesel generators. These suddenly stopped about an hour later, and this has been put down to tsunami flooding by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The loss of the diesels led the plant owners Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to immediately notify the government of a technical emergency situation, which allows officials to take additional precautionary measures.

For many hours the primary focus of work at the site was to connect enough portable power modules to fully replace the diesels and enable the full operation of cooling systems.

Zero Hedge reports radiation rising at Fukushima Daiichi units

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/kyodo-reports-radiation-fukushima-jumps-twice-maximum-seen-so-far

... most likely due to steam pressure releases at reactor #2 ... which may indicate explosion potential at #2 is rising (just as we saw at #1 and #3 units)

Cross-posting from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2689310/posts?page=132 here ...

Discussion on spent fuel rod cooling pools - and the risks at Unit 4, and the potential for Units 5 & 6 to become problems as well. Watch this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiXIODVlfXk

See especially: diagram at 8:02 and expert starting 10:30

Units 4,5,6 were “cold shutdown”, but the shutdown started in 6, then 5 and lastly 4. Lots of fuel rods (some old, some fairly new) are in large spent fuel cooling pools covered by 30+ feet of water. THERE IS MINIMAL CONTAINMENT FOR THIS FUEL ... just the water and the roof.

In Unit 4, the rods were still pretty hot, and the water had to be kept circulating to prevent boiling and loss of water level. When the station blackout occurred, the water level dropped. Ultimately the spent rods were exposed to the air, and the zirconium casing interacted with the oxygen to release hydrogen.

If *someone* does not get those “spent” fuel rods (in Units 4,5,6) covered with water, then any fire or rising smoke will be highly radioactive, and not contained if secondary containment is lost (as in Unit 4).

The nuclear experts at http://www.world-nuclear-news.org thought Units 4,5,6 were of no concern. They were wrong! The largest radioactive releases could easily end up coming from these spent fuel rod cooling pools.

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