[ RadSafe ] Melted Fuel

[sfisher373 at aol.com]

It is hard to say, just by looking at it.  When the fuel melts, the core gets very hot.  This melts the Zirconium/Niobium (Zirconium melts at 1855 degrees C or 3371F) and surrounding metals.  The core will be molten, but the periphery will cool and condense into a solid.  So it would look something like we see.  But to confirm that the core is fuel, you need to do spectroscopy.  And if the core is fuel, it would still be very hot so thermal imaging would be useful as well.


Spencer M Fisher
Retired from Ontario Power Generation