JAPAN AND TEPCO: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT REACTOR #3 AND RADIATION THREAT

Currently, the horrible disaster still unfolding in Japan with the nuclear facility, has much misinformation. On Wednesday I discovered that reactor #3 had different fuel than #1 and #2. The difference is 1 and 2 have standard enriched uranium, 3 has highly enriched uranium + plutonium containing recycled material from previous fuel rods. According to Japenese representative Taro Kono, this fuel should be used in a reactor built with newer technology than the ones in use at the disaster site. The Japanese nuclear power plan did not agree with use of this fuel in the old reactors at the disaster site, but owner Tepco used it anyway. Obviously this poses an increased hazard since this reactor was not built for highly enriched fuel and will be much harder to control if something goes wrong!


Tepco has a history of falsified maintenace records, violations, and corrective action not being taken. They are comparible in negligence to BP and Southwest Airlines for putting human safety at risk in my opinion. I thought it was strange that they would try to dump water in a fuel pool from such a high altitude, I think they are just trying to keep #3 from having a meltdown. Its' fuel is alot more dangerous and has the best chance at melting down. It is probably why, when they talk of a reactor casing being cracked, it is #3.


The radiation levels on site are the highest yet, which means cooling pool #4 probably is getting lower and lower on water. Dr. Michio Kaku stated that the current radiation being released into the atmosphere will pose no health risk outside of Japan. The radiation plumes will circle the Earth for years, but I am happy to hear what Kaku said of the effect. Dr. Kaku also stated that the use of helicopters to dump water and using tanker trucks with water cannons was "like shooting a forest fire with a squirt gun." The only real hope will be to see how many cooling pumps they can get online if the radiation doesn't get too high. The last result would be to dump metric tons of sand, cement, and boric acid over the site and let it sit for thirty years while it destroys the environment for many, many miles. Thanks for dropping by :-) Please click an ad if you like!