A "Heads UP" FYI:
Quote
Regulators OKs fuel rod removal from pool at Fukushima plant
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Japan Today
NATIONAL OCT. 31, 2013 - 01:10PM JST
TOKYO —
Japanese regulators on Wednesday formally approved the removal of fuel rods from an uncontained cooling pool at a damaged reactor building considered the highest risk at a crippled nuclear plant.
Removing the fuel rods from the No. 4 reactor cooling pool is the first major step in a decommissioning process that is expected to last decades at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where three reactors melted down after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said at its weekly meeting that the proposal by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, is appropriate and that the removal can start in November as planned, following an on-site inspection by regulators. Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the removal would start as early as Nov 8, but TEPCO said it may not announce the date in advance, citing security reasons.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/regulators-oks-fuel-rod-removal-from-pool-at-fukushima-plant?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2013-10-31_AM
Be ready.
Need Thor to chime in on this one.
Companies have been removing fuel rods from pools for 50 years now. From what I understand so far is that they have to sit in the reactor side pool for about 5 years to cool down. If they are that old, it should be no problem. If there are fresh rods in the pool that have been pulled from the reactor in less than 5 years then they will be very hot and have a chance of burning. Then there is a big problem.
Handeling hot rods is somethig that is not very done often. When taking them out of the reactor they never leave the top pool. To move them, they will have to come out in casks and maybe moved to the ground pool if it has room, taken out of the cask and sit there till cool.
I think 4 was shut down at the time of the problem but that does not mean there wern't any rods in the reactor. It should have been full or 2/3rds full at least if being refuled. If so they should be the hotests and maybe the some of the coolest ones to move if any were just put in.
I worry most about the reactors that melted down and are in the China syndrom, Hey I live there now. these are open air / open water reactors that are out of control and need to be stopped. Kinda too late to encase them. I still think, get any rod you can out and miles away, then nuke the open air reactor all at once. A nice glass bay will be there for the future. If not, I don't know if they will ever stop. One blast vs a million years? What do we do////
thor has been teaching us, I hope I got it right. [not his idea on nuking them, that's me]
deuem