Atomic Waste News Today

President hina was talking about a normal forgotten relic of the explosive nuclear past. this part of the pacific is steeped in history its mute witnesses are everywhere here. and. anywhere talk wrong galop butyric bikini these are tolls were ground zero for us atomic weapons tests the islanders were evacuated from their homes and off the cleanup work the americans left to they placed radioactive soil and debris ninety thousand tons of atomic waste under a huge concrete dome on room its island b...

Atomic weapons tests the islanders were evacuated from their homes and off the cleanup work the americans left to they placed radioactive soil in the brink ninety thousand tons of atomic waste under a huge concrete dome on roommates island but the provisional shelter is deteriorating and the water is seeping into the bottom of it. climate change is reopening old wounds. do you hate the americans. while i was it was i dont. i dont want to be somebody that. anger and disappointment a thousand kilo...

The other reactors, it isnt as if the spent -- the fuel rods are sticking up out of that water. very likely they have failed, and theyve collapsed and fallen down to the bottom of the reactor. were not going to know what the condition of those reactors is for a year -- assuming that it doesnt get worse than it is now, which we hope it wont. but assuming it doesnt, even then we wont find out what the condition of those reactors was for years. we didnt find out at three mile island for about five ...

Some reports say the flames are in the worst possible area, the outer layer of the vessels containment wall. its still unconfirmed, but if its true, thats where the spent is fuel stored. now stay with me because i need explain. reactor four could be a time bomb. last night i asked our nuclear expert, jim walsh of mit, his greatest fear. walsh said it was the spent fuel, the atomic waste which lies relatively unprotected in cooling pools inside the reactor buildings. 50 workers, folks, they are s...

Place with respect to the reactor. its up on the reactor refueling floor. its there because it make it very handy when they go into refueling. they dont have to move the fuel very far to get it out of the reactor, get it into the reactor. and of course ultimately it is -- after it cools off in that pool for a while, it is moved out of the reactor building, and into a -- another storage pool which is common to the five or six units at the plant. it -- the spent fuel pool itself is actually in the...

At number two, they havent been so clear about what the water level is inside the reactor. and that also would be worrisome because if those rods in there which were in use until just a couple days ago are not fully covered with water, then theyre going to begin to have a slow burn, could become a fast burn. sort of a meltdown situation, are we right about that? >> well, theyve said those rods were completely uncovered for over two hours. that would melt the rods. i mean, that would certainly fa...

So its basically holding pretty hot fuel that would not normally be the case. >> all right. dale bridenbower, thanks for joining you, thank you for all your hard work over the years. wy than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris. to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? omnaris relieves your symptoms by fighting inflammation. side effects may include headache, nosebleed and sore throat. [ inhales deeply ] i nipped my allergy symp...

Know, im not an engineer obviously. but why you wouldnt put some greater protection over that pool to protect it from the outside environment, and vice-versa. protect the outside environment from that pool. >> well, the structure is supposed to be designed to withstand the maximum credible earthquake. the spent fuel is cooled by the water thats in this large pool. its laike a big swimming pool. again, under normal circumstances, you would have a number of hours or days before youd have to take a...

Course of two hours you got the 50% meltdown. here if we go much longer -- what is the worst case scenario for us here? >> well, we hope we dont get there, but if they lose cooling in those reactors, then all of the fuel could melt, and it would then -- it could then go through the bottom of the pressure vessel. it would then fall down into the containment, the concrete containment, but none of these structures are designed to cope with this kind of event. and so its unclear what happens. >> you...

>> you have a world of experience, you were one of the commissioners of the nrc that oversaw the entire nuclear power sector in the united states. you know, most of us who are trying to figure this out or read about it, are new this, are we right that these spent fuel chambers, these pools with all the rods which are not really protected from the environment, if the water level there goes down too far or they have a fire there, weve got a major crisis on our hands? >> oh, absolutely. because the...