Work continues to shore up Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 high-level radioactive waste storage pool
June 7, 2011
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NHK public broadcasting in Japan reports that steel beams and a concrete wall will be installed by the end of this month in a desparate attempt to support a wall of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 high-level radioactive waste storage pool at risk of catastrophic failure. A large hydgrogen gas explosion at Unit 4 on March 15th -- and a second, even larger hydrogen gas explosion at Unit 3 -- has so damaged the Unit 4 reactor building that it is listing to one side, threatening to collapse its high-level radioactive waste storage pool within. If the pool were to suddenly lose its cooling water supply, the high-level radioactive waste within could catch on fire within hours. A collapse could also jam irradiated nuclear fuel close together, sparking a nuclear chain reaction if the fuel remains immersed in enough neutron-moderating water cover. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported in 2001 that a high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire in the U.S. could kill more than 25,000 people downwind, at distances as far away as 500 miles. Given the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 pool's location outside of primary containment, all releases will escape directly into the environment, especially considering the secondary containment reactor building was largely destroyed by the large hydrogen gas explosion. 

Article originally appeared on Beyond Nuclear (https://archive.beyondnuclear.org/).
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