Page 114 - Radioactive Material News Today

Might go all the way to europe. that never happened. and you also have to remember a couple things. radiation comes from radioactive material. so we have to get that radioactive material, basically particles that are in the air above the plant that get radiated from the stuff thats leaking from the plant. then that stuff has to be carried all the way over to the west coast. we have all sorts of stuff in the atmosphere all the time. thats how rain occurs. condensation happens on salt and other li...

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...

Lets go now to nbcs chief environmental affairs correspondent, anne thompson. authorities in japan have just announced they may be close to restoring power to a stricken reactor, thats reactor number two. what would that mean? >> reporter: what it means, martin, they could get those pumps going again that send that water into the reactor core and into the spent fuel pool, and that would be the best of all possible solutions at this point. they really need to make sure that water circulates and c...

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 ...

Effectively, to try to deal with the situation and averting the need for things like flying helicopters with buckets of sea water underneath them. similarly, amid fears of a uranium-feared nuclear meltdown, the chinese are racing to develop new nuclear plants based on different types of radioactive material. radioactive thorium is now recognize ed as a safer, cleane and potentially more abundant nuclear fuel, which leads us ultimately to this. what if today, in 2011, we have the nuclear debate a...

The steam that would be released from a large break was supposed to be condensed and -- by the water in the suppression pool, in the large structure. and the concern was that if the structure failed as a result of these unconsidered loads, you would lose containment, which they may have continue at one of the fukushima plants now. and i would also lose the source of cooling water for the reactor core. so the -- the thing that was of potential trouble is you could have a core meltdown. an uncontr...

He recorded it all from japan. were following lots of developments in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom." lets check in first with stan grant in tokyo. >> reporter: more aftershocks felt here in tokyo. and continuing radiation concerns from that stricken power plant. traces of radioactive material found in fukushimas water supply. details at the top of the hour. well, were exposed to radiation every single day, but how much is too much? and how can you tell? im dana bash on capitol hill w...

Her. we were to surmise workers were -- pumping water into that which would keep the fuel rods under water. if they are not underwater what water is there will boil and that boiling water will send off radiation. the only way they got water on to those rods is through those workers. the pumps are not working. you have to bring it in and physically put it on there. no more workers at the plant? i believe thats what they just told us that means no more water on these fuel rods? thats what we can s...

Her. we were to surmise workers were -- pumping water into that which would keep the fuel rods under water. if they are not underwater what water is there will boil and that boiling water will send off radiation. the only way they got water on to those rods is through those workers. the pumps are not working. you have to bring it in and physically put it on there. no more workers at the plant? i believe thats what they just told us that means -- surmise. otherwise they would tell us dont worry t...