Home > Man-Made Disasters > Fukushima, We’ve Got a Problem: Experts Fear Collapse of Reactor 4 Cooling Pool, Could Cause a Disaster ‘Worse Than the Three Reactor Meltdowns’

Fukushima, We’ve Got a Problem: Experts Fear Collapse of Reactor 4 Cooling Pool, Could Cause a Disaster ‘Worse Than the Three Reactor Meltdowns’


By John Hutchinson – “Less than two months ago the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant at Fukushima was declared stable.

Yet now it has emerged that radioactive water is continuing to leak at the stricken site. These were spotted by workers at the reprocessing areas and were found to release enough beta rays that can lead to radiation sickness.

A series of nuclear meltdowns at the power plant were triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

The organisation charged with keeping the site under control is the Tokyo Electric Power Company, and their spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said that no one was injured and the leak stopped after bolts were tightened on a tank.

Matsumoto said TEPCO also found that 8.5 tons of radioactive water had leaked earlier in the week after a pipe became detached at Unit 4, one of the plant’s six reactors.

The company earlier had estimated that only a few gallons had leaked.

He said officials are investigating the cause of that leak, but that it was unlikely the pipe had been loosened by the many aftershocks that have hit the plant.

The structural integrity of the damaged Unit 4 reactor building has long been a major concern among experts because a collapse of its spent fuel cooling pool could cause a disaster worse than the three reactor meltdowns.Read more.

Fukushima worker: Reactor 4 full of nuclear fuel, collapse would destroy Pacific Ocean – “Reactor 4 had nuclear fuel in it. The Fukushima blogger leaked information on her blog… ‘Yesterday I heard this story. I wasn’t sure if I should post it on the blog. It proved all the announcement of Tepco was wrong… Tepco was planning to start reactor 4 in the AM of 311. (The nuclear fuel was in reactor.) Nuclear workers were told not to get close to reactor 4. They found a crack on the pipe of reactor 4, so they cancelled to start it as scheduled. It was hit by the earthquake on the same day. Soon after the earthquake hit it, meltdown started. Because reactor 4 was stand-by, cooling system could not be started either… In the container vessel of reactor4, melted fuel is stocked, but there is no technology developed to pick it up, It’s only the matter of time for it to have melt-out. If another earthquake hits it, it’s over… if it goes melt-out, it would flow to the sea. Pacific ocean side of Japan and west side of America won’t be [habitable] anymore.'” Read more.

Nikkei: Two sieverts/hr of beta radiation emitted from a single liter of leaked water – “TEPCO announced on February 3 that the water leaked from one of the contaminated water storage tanks at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. 2,000 millisieverts/hour beta radiation was detected… The bolt may have gotten loose at the joint of a storage tank that stores the contaminated water that was condensed by the desalination apparatus (Reverse Osmosis), letting the water leak. TEPCO said a large amount of radioactive strontium might be in the water. On the concrete where the leaked water was, 22 millisieverts/hour gamma ray was also detected” Read more.

Categories: Man-Made Disasters
  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of MidnightWatcher's Blogspot. Although differences of opinion are welcomed, please refrain from personal attacks and inappropriate language. This blog reserves the right to edit or delete any comments that fail to do so.