Re: fuel rod fire in Unit 4 (emerging risk in Units 5 & 6)
Ok,I’ll be the jerk ... hate to post this because I don’t like the channel or the analyst ... but it is very informative.
Discussion on spent fuel rod cooling pools -
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 fuel rods inside the reactor are much, much safer then those in the cooling ponds because of the primary metal and concrete containment.
Yeah, I know all about how dangerous it is in reality. My buddy in Arizona told me the straight truth om Sunday and he used to work with nuclear power himself. Just wait and see what happens . . .