Page 2 - Fuel Pool News Today

Saying there is really no risk to americans living here as far as radiation coming overseas. they say its a matter of science and physics in terms of the distance the radiation would have to travel. well hear the president possibly speak to that and this ongoing crisis with respect to the nuclear plant. does he make remarks here? im being told that he comments at the end of this signature that were watching. in the meantime there are questions about president obamas discussions with the leaders ...

In the spent fuel pool. if that is true this is a crisis of unbelievable enormity. can you confirm its correct? >> i saw the testimony itself. i cannot directly confirm it, but what i can say is that this unit 4 of fukushima daiichi needs continued cooling activity and we are trying utmost efforts to realize the cooling of the unit number 4. >> this is startling testimony from the chairman of the nuclear regulatory commision before congress. he made these statements today here in the united stat...

♪ all right, then, back to work helping clients. individual attention from our highly-trained mortgage professionals. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. joining us now is one of the former commissioners of the nuclear regulatory commision, one of those in charge during the three mile island disaster and he thinks what were seeing tonight is so much worse, especially the new details were getting on damage to the spent fuel pool at reactor number 4, victor gilinsky joins us. go...

Helicopters and water cannons to try to cool down a damaged nuclear reactor. its a desperate attempt to prevent a meltdown. helicopters are trying to drop sea water on the overheated fuel pool at the reactor. choppers jumped 7 -- dumped 7 1/2 tons of sea water with each of the four passes. radiation levels remain high after the initial attempts, but the plant owner says the effort will continue. we want to bring back cnn contributor jim walsh. hes an international security analyst at mit. all ri...

That is coming out of japan, and it is not just u.s. officials that questioned it. the officials from the international atomic energy agency based in vienna, the u.n. atomic watchdog have questioned just how good the information is thats coming out, and the head of the nrc, gregory jazko did not back down from his claim that there is no water in the spent fuel pool at reactor number 4. he says his staff -- he is talking to his staff in tokyo and they are talking to experts in japans nuclear indu...

>> there is no water in the spent fuel pool known as number 4. it is my great hope that the information we have is not accurate. i would hope, for the sake of everyone, that the situation is not at the state we think it is. megyn: he says there is no water left and i hope im wrong. japanese officials said, there is still some water there. then an official came out and said, i think the united states is right on this, there is no water left in connection with this fuel pool number four. what does...

Years. whats pushing the firemen back is the radiation thats coming from the spent fuel pool, and its like, theyre called gamma rays but its a very high powered x-ray, and without the water in that fuel pool, theres two things, one, its not being cooled but two its not being shielded and so theres an awful lot of gamma rays flooding that site forcing the workers to say further away. >> which is why the water cannons have stopped, theyve stopped the water cannons using the water on the facility a...

Expand, eventually to rupture, and first to release the gas thats already accumulated within spent fuel, and then as the uranium pellets in the fuel continue to heat up, more and more radioactive material will be squeezed out of the pellets, mostly in the form of cesium 137, which would be a gas at those temperatures. so if the fuel pool has gone dry, that would be a very hard condition to reverse. >> is there at that point a risk of explosion and do either of those matter at that point? >> well...

This would cause fuel rods to expand, eventually to rupture, and first to release the gas thats already accumulated within spent fuel, and then as the uranium pellets in the fuel continue to heat up, more and more radioactive material will be squeezed out of the pellets, mostly in the form of cesium 137, which would be a gas at those temperatures. so if the fuel pool has gone dry, that would be a very hard condition to reverse. >> is there at that point a risk or either of those matter at that p...

The conflicting views that seem to be emerging between united states officials and japanese officials on the severity of the situation? >> lawrence, this is something thats been going on almost ever since the crisis began. just how good is the information that is coming out of japan, and it is not just u.s. officials that questioned it. the officials from the international atomic energy agency based in vienna, the u.n.s atomic watchdog have questioned just how good the information is thats comin...