Re: NPPs SFP safety [was AOPA scolds Fox News!]

["Jim Hoerner" <jim_hoerner@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Dear Mr. Boyer,



Let me first congratulate you on your excellent letter to Fox News.



Mary Ellen Marucci has posted a copy of her correspondence with you to the 

anti-nuclear group downwinders.



I assure you that Mary is not an expert in spent nuclear fuel pools, despite 

her self description.



She claimed that at most 18 inches of water covers the fuel rods.  That is 

grossly erroneous.  They are covered by at least 20 feet of water.  See 

http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/pools.html



With regard to the claims that the Millstone spent fuel pool was just 

minutes away from bursting into flames, it is rather trivial to keep a spent 

fuel pool cool.  Even if it were to begin boiling, you could simply run a 

fire hose to it.  A steam explosion is a made-up fantasy.  Spent fuel pools 

are not in sheds.  The pool itself is steel-lined thick concrete, and the 

building is made of reinforced concrete.  Even the anti-nuclear site 

http://www.antenna.nl/wise/terrorism/10232001us.html debunks Ellen's expert 

facts.



On the radioactivity content of sepnt fuel pools, Ellen claims that spent 

fuel pools hold up to ten times the radioactivity of reactor cores on the 

basis that there is ten times the fuel.  Radioactivity quickly decreases 

once the reactor is shutdown.  I assure you that the old fuel stored in 

spent fuel pools is nowhere near as hot (radiologically or thermally) as the 

fuel in the reactor.  In fact, that is why it can be put in dry storage.



Should she contact you again about this issue, please do not view my lack of 

response as an acknowledgement of her correctness.  I likely will not take 

the time to debunk such obvious dishonesty and nonsense.



Finally, while I may share this email with others, you can be certain any 

reply from you will be treated with confidence.



Best regards,



Jim Hoerner





--

Hold the door for the stranger behind you.  When the driver a 

half-car-length in front of you signals to get over, slow down.  Smile and 

say "hi" to the folks you pass on the sidewalk.  Give blood.  Volunteer.





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