Page 20 - Treactor Core News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Water 40 feet deep and then losing power for seven days. and now we have a situation of bringing a full nuclear reactor core out of the reactor, out of containment at unit 4, and placing it in a pool of water 40 feet deep and then losing power for seven days. and now we have a situation where, you know, as if what was not already dramatic in terms of the explosions that are now occurring, we are now about to witness really an unparalleled event where an entire reactor core is melting down or poised to meltdown. certainly slumping. it is losing its shape. it's turning into this mass that is iss...

So nobody has had thesexperience of bringing a full nuclear reactor core out of the reactor, out of containment at unit 4, and placing it in a pool of water 40 feet deep and then losing power for seven days. and now we have a situation where, you know, as if what was not already dramatic in terms of the explosions that are now occurring, we are now about to witness really an unparalleled event where an entire reactor core is melting down or poised to meltdown. certainly slumping. it is losing its shape. it's turning into this mass that is issuing hydrogen and oxygen gas, and in fact, as it hea...

There's no fear that there would be a meltdown of the reactor core. instead there's a separate concern, that is that the waste, remember when these reactors burned the fuel and then you have waste and you have to put that waste somewhere. unfortunately the decision was made we're going to store that waste right next to the reactor and they're vulnerable in a different sort of way. >> right. and i should just clarify nhk is saying they're not sure the image they just put out taken from a helicopter, they're not sure if the smoke is coming from reactor three or reactor four. if it was reactor fo...

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 uncontrolled release of radioactive material. >> it sounds to me what you're describing is what's happening...

Inside the reactor, and there's concern that there is a partial meltdown at each of these three reactors. so the question is, will the containment vessels, will the three feet of concrete and reinforced steel hold that together so that -- those partial meltdowns do not reach the environment, and that's what people are concerned about, especially for reactor number two. last night there was an explosion inside the reactor and you had the government and the iaea speculate that the containment vessel, the last line of defense, had been damaged, possibly compromised. we don't know that for sure. b...