Page 3 - Fuel Pool News Today

That there has been a hydrogen explosion in this unit, due to uncovering of the fuel in the fuel pool. we believe secondary containment has been destroyed, and there is no water in the spent fuel pool. and we believe radiation levels are extremely high. >> if the chairman is right, there would be nothing to stop the fuel rods from heating and ultimately melting down. japanese officials have denied there is no water in pool four, adding that the growing concern over conflicting reports and recomm...

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 fire or explosion and do either of those matter at that point? >> well, there would be presumably a fire, because the metal around the fuel rods, which is zirconium will burn once it reaches a certain ignition temperature. so there could be ...

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 industry, and he did acknowledge the disagreement with japanese aut...

>> and given your experience covering these kinds of environmental disasters, how would you rate the credibility of the various players and where would you point us in terms of paying attention for the highest credibility information coming out? >> well, i mean, look, you know, ill be honest with you. i covered bp, the bp oil spill, and this whole situation the way it has unfolded reminded me an awful lot of the crisis in the gulf. at first, they are always telling you, you know, nothings wrong,...

I covered bp, the bp oil spill, and this whole situation the way it has unfolded reminded me an awful lot of the crisis in the gulf. at first, they are always telling you, you know, nothings wrong, weve got it under control. then day after day it becomes more and more clear that they dont have it under control. i mean, clearly if you dont have water in a spent fuel pool, thats a really big problem, and even just even tonight, the iaea released data about the temperatures in the spent fuel pools ...

Levels, spent fuel rods, and unexplained white smoke seen spewing from the damaged reactors today. the water level in unit five is also on the decline. officials plan to use an operational diesel generator in unit six to get water to the unit. then, there was this alarming testimony today by u.s. nuclear regulatory commission chief regarding unit 4s condition. >> a fourth reactor is also right now under concern. this reactor was shut down at the time of the earthquake. what we believe at this ti...

Credibility information coming out? >> well,{ i mean, look, you know, ill be honest with you. i covered bp, the bp oil spill, and this whole situation the way it has unfolded reminded me an awful lot of the crisis in the gulf. at first, they are always telling you, you know, nothings wrong, weve got it under control. then day after day it becomes more and more clear that they dont have it under control. i mean, clearly if you dont have water in a spent fuel pool, thats a really big problem, and ...

Well, thats there plus radiation. so now these guys have to watch their dosimeter as well. i guess the problems are really exacerbated by the darkness and the rubble and the question is when you get to a spot where you have to be like near the fuel pool, you have very limited stay time. maybe you can stay ten minutes, maybe five, i hired employees that could only stay on the job for three minutes before they exceeded their personnel exposure so you get all suited up and do all that maybe you can...

Assuming hes referring to the fuel rods, cant be for sure, the fuel rods in the fuel pool. we believe that secondary containment has been destroyed and there is no water in the spent fuel pool, that radiation levels are extremely high. so this is something we spoke about yesterday, that already used fuel rods, so that -- i mean, how serious is that? >> thats very serious. chairman jaczko has said this, this means that the spent fuel in unit four has been exposed, has been -- the zirconium which ...

Preexisting assumptions. >> were going to have more of the interview coming up this on capitol hill in washington. lets listen in briefly. theres new information coming in on whats happening in japan. >> what is the discrepancy between what the japanese government is saying and what we are seeing today? >> the information i have is coming from staff people we have in tokyo interfacing with counterparts in the nuclear industry in japan. ive confirmed they believe the information they have is reli...