[ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] Corrosion of Fukushima's melted nuclear cores is releasing more plutonium

[Roger Helbig]

Is this based on sound science?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: nuclear-news <comment-reply at wordpress.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 11:42 PM
Subject: [New post] Corrosion of Fukushima's melted nuclear cores is
releasing more plutonium
To: rwhelbig at gmail.com


Christina MacPherson posted: "Study: Water helps dissolve Fukushima's
melted nuclear cores, accelerates corrosion -- Plutonium concentrates
on outer edge of fuel -- Poses "a much longer environmental threat"
than initial releases -- Transport of nuclear material into environment
to conti"
Respond to this post by replying above this line

New post on nuclear-news

Corrosion of Fukushima's melted nuclear cores is releasing more plutonium

by Christina MacPherson

Study: Water helps dissolve Fukushima's melted nuclear cores,
accelerates corrosion -- Plutonium concentrates on outer edge of fuel --
Poses "a much longer environmental threat" than initial releases --
Transport of nuclear material into environment to continue for many
years if not isolated
http://enenews.com/study-water-helps-dissolve-fukushimas-melted-nuclear-cores-accelerates-corrosion-plutonium-concentrates-outer-edge-fuel-poses-longer-environmental-threat-initial-releases-transport-nuclear-ma?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29

'Nuclear Fuel in a Reactor Accident' -- Peter Burns, Rodney Ewing,
Alexandra Navrotsky, 2012: Seawater was injected into the three active
reactors [...] large amounts of salt may have deposited in the reactor
cores. [...] Nonuniform burn-up in a fuel pellet gives higher
concentrations of 239Pu near the pellet edge [...] the major potential
pathway for continued release of radionuclides is through flowing
water. [...] Many radionuclides form aqueous complexes that are soluble
in water. Furthermore, water promotes dissolution of the rod/fuel
matrix, which releases radionuclides [that] pose a much longer
environmental hazard [...] The radiolytic breakdown of water creates
oxidants (e.g., hydrogen peroxide) that can accelerate the oxidative
corrosion of fuel [...] If the water is alkaline, soluble nanoscale
uranyl peroxo cage clusters are likely to form and persist in
solution. [...] there is no reliable way of predicting dissolution rates
of damaged fuel in water under the conditions of a nuclear accident,
especially one like Fukushima Daiichi in which fuel is exposed to hot
or boiling seawater [...] an understanding of the factors that determine
radionuclide release is central to taking appropriate and timely
action in order to minimize impacts on the environment and human
health. [...] Water that interacts with damaged fuel will transport
radionuclides that present both short-term and longer-term
environmental risk [...] potentially continuing for many years if the
damaged fuel is not adequately isolated [...]

AAAS Science Podcast interview with Peter Burns about study:[...] it's
the interaction of the water and the air with that that is going to
control the release of radioactivity to the environment [...] what's
different about Fukushima relative to the earlier events is the vast
quantities of water that were pumped into the reactor cores [...] that
created a whole new release pathway for radionuclides out of the
reactors into the environment. We don't know how much radioactivity
was released through the water flow, and we don't know very much about
how the water interacted with the fuel and other structure materials.
[...] we need to take very seriously the development of knowledge about
how [...] melted nuclear fuel [...] interacts with the environment,
especially water that we might use in an emergency to cool it. Studies
that have been done to date really haven't looked at the longer-term
interactions of water and the atmosphere with these damaged materials.
[...] as it interacts with water or whatever over time - [fuel] has a
potential to release radionuclides that have much longer half-lives
and they pose a much longer environmental threat.

Full interview with Burns available here

See also: Fukushima Nuclear Chief after 3/11: It will be like 'China
Syndrome' film, fuel to melt away -- "We're imagining collapse of
eastern Japan... going to be more than Chernobyl" -- "Could be
Plutonium... all substances from fuel are going to be released"

Christina MacPherson | June 6, 2014 at 6:42 am | Categories: Fukushima
2014 | URL: http://wp.me/phgse-hwq

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