Page 5 - Fuel Elements News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Don't know whether it has or it hasn't happened. that's bad news. this reactor where we had an explosion today, that reactor core was exposed for several hours to the air, without being protected by water. so the combination of those two things, a possible containment breach and the exposure of the fuel elements. if that's true, that's bad news. but we should be able to take samples soon, air and ground, and determine whether that's true or not. >> there's also very real concerns about how honest the government and this nuclear company is being about the situation. they put a 20 kilometer evac...

That's bad news. and the government says that in all three reactors now, it is likely that the core has melted to some extent. not a full-blown meltdown, but it is melting. and particularly this reactor where we had an explosion today, that reactor core was exposed for several hours to the air, without being protected by water. so the combination of those two things, a possible containment breach and the exposure of the fuel elements, that -- if, if, if that's true, that's bad news. we should be able to take air samples soon, we should be able to take ground samples soon and determine whether ...

To some extent. not a full-blown meltdown, but that it is melting. and particularly, this reactor where we had an explosion today, that reactor core was exposed for several hours to the air without being protected by water. so the combination of those two things, a possible containment breach and the exposure of the fuel elements, you know, that -- if, if, if that's true, that's bad news. but we should be able to take air samples soon. we should be able to take ground samples soon and determine whether that's true or not. >> there's also very real concerns about how honest the government and t...

Three reactors now, there's -- it's likely the core has melted to some extent. now, not a full-blown meltdown, but it's melting. and particularly this reactor where we had an explosion today, that reactor core was exposed for several hours to the air, without being protected by water. so the combination of those two things, a possible containment breach and the exposure of the fuel elements, you know, if -- if, if, if -- if that's true, that's bad news. but we should be able to take air samples soon, and ground samples soon, and determine whether that's true or not. >> there's also very real c...

Randi? robert alvarez is a senior scholar and researches nuclear armament and environmental policies. and he says there's only about a 24-hour window in which to cool the reactor before the core and fuel elements are actually exposed. he gives us a glimpse into what might have happened inside that nuclear plant at the time of the explosion. >> the temperatures start to build and then in a matter of several hours you can start to have the reactor experience a meltdown and other things could happen with these very high temperatures that could be as high as 5,000 degrees fahrenheit. for example...