Workers Strain to Retake Control After Blast and Fire at Japan Plant

[flamingdem]

Source: NYT

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials announced on Tuesday evening that they would consider using helicopters in an attempt to douse with cold water a boiling rooftop storage pond for spent uranium fuel rods. The rods are still radioactive and potentially as hot and dangerous as the fuel rods inside the reactors if not kept submerged in water.

“The only ideas we have right now are using a helicopter to spray water from above, or inject water from below,” a power company official said at a news conference. “We believe action must be taken by tomorrow or the day after.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/asia/16nuclear.html?_r=2&hp

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The reason this is critical as far as I understand is that the spent fuel rods do not have containment so if they are on fire, or even steaming, they are letting off radiation directly into the environment.

[snappyturtle]

1. I heard on RT that there are 780 spent rods at this facility! I was

amazed at the number. http://rt.com/news/meltdown-radiation-japan/

There are several interesting videos at this link but I am referring to the first one. This video was posted today.

[BeFree]

2. So

They are running out of options?

How in the hell did this happen?
I had always heard technology would save us.

But now it looks like technology is gonna kill us.

[liberation]

5. There is an old engineering joke:

Technology strives to makes things fool proof, but god keeps making better fools.

[defendandprotect]

3. kr

[thereismore]

4. Soon military will be called in... like Chernobyl. Some people will sacrifice for us all. nt

[Citizen Worker]

6. What's next, a bucket brigade? This is spiraling out of control and no one knows where it will take

us.