[ RadSafe ] More on Gundersen on KGO Radio

[Roger Helbig]

I do not think that this part of the transcript is accurate either - I
have been slowly transcribing the second of four segments

G Right.  And what makes Reactor 4 so bad is that it not only has old
fuel , like Unit 1 has fuel that is like 12 years old and it’s plenty
cool, but Reactor 4 has one year old fuel that had just been removed
from the nuclear reactor and is now sitting in that pool.  So if the
pool were to leak or if the pool were to lose its cooling it would
either boil dry or run dry quite quickly.  What happens then is that
the fuel rods get hot enough that the metal called Zircaloy burns in
air.  It just sucks up oxygen from the air and burns in which case you
don’t have a melt down, you have got a pyre of radioactive smoke going
up

Is there a legitimate concern that Zircaloy would burn with this
effect if there is loss of coolant in this fuel pool?

Thanks.

Roger Helbig