Tepco started to remove the first of 1500 fuel rods,
with a weight of 400 tons, 14000 times the cesium that was in in the Hiroshima bomb
This is reactor 4, the radiation in reactor 1 and 3 would kill you instantly.

If one fuel rod breaks its over. You could not enter the area anymore.

I don't think they will get more then 150 out of the reactor.
And thats optimistic

considering the history of this problem id say no more than 50. but hopefully their engineers are taking this 150% serious and get them all out. would be an engineering marvel

one mistake can light them all on fire, and they will burn for hundredx of years...But nuclear power plants safe...things like this cannot happen

1) Exceeding the Permissible Exposure limit for radiation dose does not equal = "would kill you instantly"

2) If a fuel rod breaks, its contents spill out and the contamination would not be contained. This would not alter anyone's ability to enter the area since the same radioactivity is present and you can't enter the area normally (see item#1)

3) Nuclear Fuel does not burn (oxidize) to create heat, and since it is located in a pool of water I cannot fathom (sic*) how they would go on fire if an error is encountered during the removal process. (see item#2)

Horrible situation and I have to agree that Outside Experts should be running the Cleanup, not the Company that blundered a few too many times already in this matter.

Voted 1350, I bet they are going to be almost finished when they fuck it all up.

you sound like 1 who would of said, this would never of happen 3 years ago...and now here we are...yes if any of those rods get exposed to air it can light them all on fire.....

The thing is, they never planed to store all the waste for 100,000 years to began with...Soo sooner or later the future is doomed...What is the difference if now or 10,000 years from now? Only the profits they can make now.

wireless everything now but power...What if power was wireless? how many people running wires would be out of work? and how much profit would be lost? is only reason why we don't have wireless power

1) absorbed dose greater 30 gray= death within 48 hours http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_syndrome

2) If these rods break or overheat, radioactive gases could be released into the atmosphere, however, prompting a self-sustained nuclear chain reaction. http://rt.com/news/fukushima-start-fuel-removal-883/

3) the rods have a hull made of zirconium, if they overheat the hull will start to burn resulting in 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium_alloy

the rods are currently under water (worse, its corrosive saltwater, but the first rod had no corrosion according to tepco)
they need to be removed while watercooled into new containers, all kind of things could go wrong.

This post was edited by Hell Knight on Nov 19 2013 11:51am

Thanks for takin the time to post reference material.

#1 - I stand by my original comment - this does not equal "Instant death" but I understand the point that LD50/30 or exceeding the Permissible exposure limit is the same death just not instant.

#2 - The Nuclear chain reaction mentioned in your article is not the same as the Fission process or an explosion for that matter. It is not an insignificant issue but not as exaggerated as it may sound. No Nuke bomb here....

#3 Zirconium cooled underwater is not going to Catch fire. The reason they are moving this is to get it out of buildings that are not sound for future earthquakes etc so it doesn't lose this cooling capacity. Again I'm trying to assuage the fear here. It is complex and is of concern but not anymore of a risk than a daily drive down the highway to the typical person.


Sry, I lost you at "Conspiracy Theory"

This post was edited by FullArcFG on Nov 19 2013 12:50pm

1) one hour inside the building is enough to be death, if your body doesn't collapse inside you can maybe walk out of it, but you are death within the next 2 days, jeah, its not "bullet in your head" instead death, but very lethal

2) I see now, you are referring to to my opening with "14000 times the cesium that was in in the Hiroshima bomb" that was not meant to be compared to the explosion of a nuke. or even that it would explode 14000 worse then that nuke. only to give a view of the amount of fuel.

3) yes, as stated in the quote, they are under water and if kept cooled nothing will happen.

But they are transported out of the cooling pond to the new container.
they will be cooled during transportation. but if something is stuck the water will keep getting hotter and as soon as it boils its over, it cant transfer heat, air bubbles form on the surface and it will start to create hydrogen which will lead to explosions. (not nuclear explosions, to clarify)

There are a few things that can go terrible wrong.

slightly confused and utterly exaggerated
since i don't have much confidence in tepco
and the engineering capability japan has on hand
i assume that the process will take (substantially) longer than planned
but will be completed eventually because it has to
btw, they removed two fuel rods last year