Robert Alvarez, A Former Nuclear Energy Adviser To President Bill Clinton, On Spent Fuel Pool Insanity

The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Is Far From Over (Huffington Post, April 22, 2012):

Spent reactor fuel, containing roughly 85 times more long-lived radioactivity than released at Chernobyl, still sits in pools vulnerable to earthquakes.

More than a year after the Fukushima nuclear power disaster began, the news media is just beginning to grasp that the dangers to Japan and the rest of the world are far from over. After repeated warnings by former senior Japanese officials, nuclear experts, and now a U.S. senator, it’s sinking in that the irradiated nuclear fuel stored in spent fuel pools amidst the reactor ruins pose far greater dangers than the molten cores. This is why:

• Nearly all of the 10,893 spent fuel assemblies sit in pools vulnerable to future earthquakes, with roughly 85 times more long-lived radioactivity than released at Chernobyl

• Several pools are 100 feet above the ground and are completely open to the atmosphere because the reactor buildings were demolished by explosions. The pools could possibly topple or collapse from structural damage coupled with another powerful earthquake.

• The loss of water exposing the spent fuel will result in overheating and can cause melting and ignite its zirconium metal cladding resulting in a fire that could deposit large amounts of radioactive materials over hundreds, if not thousands of miles.

This was not lost on Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who after visiting the site on April 6, wrote to Japan’s U.S. ambassador, Ichiro Fujusaki, that “loss of containment in any of these pools… could result an even larger release of radiation than the nuclear accident.”

The urgency of the situation is underscored by the ongoing seismic activity where 13 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0-5.7 have occurred off the northeast coast of Japan between April 14 and 17. This has been the norm since the first quake and tsunami hit the Dai-Ichi site on March 11 of last year. Larger quakes are expected closer to the power plant.

Spent nuclear fuel is extraordinarily radioactive and must be handled with great care. In a matter of seconds, an unprotected person one foot away from a single freshly removed spent fuel assembly would receive a lethal dose of radiation within seconds. As one of the most dangerous materials on the planet, spent reactor fuel requires permanent geological isolation to protect humans for thousands of years.

It’s been 26 years, since the Chernobyl reactor exploded and caught fire releasing enormous amounts of radioactive debris — seriously contaminating areas over a thousand miles away. Chernobyl revealed the folly of not having an extra barrier of thick concrete and steel surrounding the reactor core that is required for modern plants, in the U.S., Japan and elsewhere. The Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident revealed the folly of operating several nuclear power plants in a high consequence earthquake zone while storing huge amounts of highly radioactive spent fuel in vulnerable pools, high above the ground.

What both accidents have in common is widespread environmental contamination from cesium-137. With a half-life of 30, years, Cs-137 gives off penetrating radiation, as it decays and can remain dangerous for hundreds of years. Once in the environment, it mimics potassium as it accumulates in the food chain. When it enters the human body, about 75 percent lodges in muscle tissue, with, perhaps, the most important muscle being the heart.

Last week, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) revealed plans to remove 2,274 spent fuel assemblies from the damaged reactors that will probably take at least a decade to accomplish. The first priority will be removal of the contents in Pool No. 4. This pool is structurally damaged and contains about 10 times more cesium-137 than released at Chernobyl. Removal of SNF from the No. 4 reactor is optimistically expected to begin at the end of 2013. A significant amount of construction to remove debris and reinforce the structurally-damaged reactor buildings, especially the fuel- handling areas, will be required.

Also, it is not safe to keep 1,882 spent fuel assemblies containing ~57 million curies of long-lived radioactivity, including nearly 15 times more cs-137 than released at Chernobyl in the elevated pools at reactors 5, 6, and 7, which did not experience meltdowns and explosions.

The main reason why there is so much spent fuel at the Da-Ichi site is that the plan to send it off for nuclear recycling has collapsed. It was supposed to go to the incomplete Rokkasho reprocessing plant, just south of the Fukushima nuclear site, where plutonium would be extracted as a fuel for “fast” reactors. This scheme is based on long discredited assumptions that world uranium supplies would be rapidly exhausted and that a new generation of “fast” reactors, which held the promise of making more fuel than they use, would be needed. Over the past 20 years the Rokkasho’s costs have tripled along with 18 major delays. World uranium supplies are far from depleted. Moreover, in November of last year, Japan’s “fast” reactor project at Monju was cancelled for cost and safety reasons — dealing a major blow to this whole scheme.

The stark reality, if TEPCO’s plan is realized, is that nearly all of the spent fuel at the Da-Ichi containing some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet will remain indefinitely in vulnerable pools. TEPCO wants to store the spent fuel from the damaged reactors in the common pool, and only to resort to dry, cask storage when the common pool’s capacity is exceeded. At this time, the common pool is at 80 percent storage capacity and will require removal of SNF to make room. TEPCO’s plan is to minimize dry cask storage as much as possible and to rely indefinitely on vulnerable pool storage. Sen. Wyden finds that that TEPCO’s plan for remediation “carries extraordinary and continuing risk” and sensibly recommends that “retrieval of spent fuel in existing on-site spent fuel pools to safer storage… in dry casks should be a priority.”

Despite the enormous destruction from the earthquake and tsunami, little attention was paid to the fact that the nine dry spent fuel casks at the Fukushima Da-Ichi site were unscathed. This is an important lesson we cannot afford to ignore.

More on Fukushima reactor No. 4:

Fukushima Is Falling Apart: Are You Ready … For A Mass Extinction Event?:

If they are MOX fuel, containing 6% plutonium, one fuel rod has the potential to kill 2.89 billion people. If this pool collapses, as Senator Wyden is now saying too, we would face a mass extinction event from the release of radiation in those rods.

That is, if we aren’t in one already. Nuke experts like Arnie Gundersen and Helen Caldicott are prepared to evacuate their families to the southern hemisphere if that happens. It is that serious.

So now you know, if you didn’t before. We are in big trouble.

Arnie Gunderson: More Cesium In Reactor 4 SFP Than All Nukes Ever Exploded

Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Meltdown?

Nuclear Expert Arnie Gundersen: Reactor No. 4 Spent Fuel Pool Likely To Shatter Or Collapse Onto Its Side In A Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake (AUDIO)

Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland: ‘FATE Of Japan And The Whole World Depends On No.4 Reactor’

Dr. Helen Caldicott (Co-Founder Of Physicians For Social Responsibility): What We Learned From Fukushima (Video – April 2, 2012):

Dr. Helen Caldicott: If Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 collapses I am evacuating my family from Boston.

Former UN adviser: If No. 4 pool collapses I’ve been told ‘during 50 years continual, you cannot contain’ (VIDEO)

MUST-SEE: Fukushima Totally Out Of Control – Radioactive Fallout In the US – Reactor 4 SFP Is the Highest Risk Now: If The Cooling Water Is Lost It’ll Be Just A Few Hours At Most Before That Waste Is On Fire (RT – The Big Picture – Video)

Independent And Government Experts Say Reactor 4 SFP Is A Grave Concern: 460 Tons Of Nuclear Fuel Could Overheat, Explode and Release Massive Amounts Of Radiation (((Finishing Off Japan)))

Prof. Dr Hiroaki Koide On Asahi TV: If Reactor 4 SFP Cracks And Leaks This Would Be THE END … For A Wide Area Including Tokyo (Video)

Worst Case Scenario: Where To Go When Reactor No. 4 SFP Falls On The Ground?:

‘Dr. Arnie Gundersen warns they need to go further than 450km.’

Whistleblower: ‘Reactor 4 Is Like A Inverse Pyramid, Very Unstable And Dangerous’ – TEPCO Admits It Can’t Stop Reactor 4 Water Leakage

Collapse Of Ractor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Could Cause A Disaster Worse Than The THREE REACTOR MELTDOWNS – Structural Integrity A Major Concern Among Experts (AP)

Fukushima Worker Suspects Explosion At Reactor 4 To Be The Cause Of 8.5 Tons Water Leakage (At 301,750,000 Bq)

Fukushima Worker: Reactor 4 Full Of Nuclear Fuel – ‘If Another Earthquake Hits It, It’s Over’ … ‘Pacific Ocean Side Of Japan And West Side Of America Won’t Be Inhabitable Anymore’

POSSIBLE RED ALERT: Japanese LDP Politician: Hydrogen Explosion May Have Happened At Reactor 4 On Jan. 9, 2012

Fukushima Worker: Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Completely Without Water, Boiled After New Years Earthquake

Fukushima: ‘Reactor No. 4 Is Looking More And More Like The Leaning Tower Of Pisa Right Now’ – If It ‘Falls Over It’s Just Gonna Dump A Whole Reactor Core Right Out Onto The Ground’ (And Tokyo & Yokohama Will Be Lost!) (Video)

Confirmed: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Is Falling Apart, Wall Was Lost On The South Side (Video, Photos)

TEPCO: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 ‘Air Duct’ Explosion On 4th Floor

Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Is Completely ‘EXPOSED’ – Ambulances Heard At Least 10 Times A Day At Fukushima Nuclear Plant (Video)

Excellent Arnie Gundersen Interview: Leave Tokyo If There Is A Severe Aftershock And The Unit 4 Building Collapses, Now That The Winds Have Turned:

Arnie Gundersen: “… It could have cut Japan in half. But now the winds have turned, so they are heading to the south toward Tokyo and now my concern and my advice to friends that if there is a severe aftershock and the Unit 4 building collapses, leave. We are well beyond where any science has ever gone at that point and nuclear fuel lying on the ground and getting hot is not a condition that anyone has ever analyzed.

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