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hi @edano

@Edano suddenly it grows

@Edano yes I imagine so

TEPCO confirms damage to part of No. 4 unit’s spent nuke fuel, Kyodo, April 13, 2011:

Some of the spent nuclear fuel rods stored in the No. 4 reactor building of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi power plant were confirmed to be damaged, but most of them are believed to be in sound condition, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday.

The firm known as TEPCO said its analysis of a 400-milliliter water sample taken Tuesday from the No. 4 unit’s spent nuclear fuel pool revealed the damage to some fuel rods in such a pool for the first time, as it detected higher-than-usual levels of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137.

The No. 4 reactor, halted for a regular inspection before last month’s earthquake and tsunami disaster, had all of its fuel rods stored in the pool for the maintenance work and the fuel was feared to have sustained damage from overheating.

The roof and the upper walls of the No. 4 reactor building have been blown away by a hydrogen explosion and damaged by fires since the disaster struck the plant. The water level in the spent fuel pool is believed to have temporarily dropped. … I WONDERED IF ANY ONE HAD SEEN THIS EARLIER

@Mona @dean g'morning I have visitors so will look at them tonight

@Mona can't wait to watch it

@dean i remember the news about #4 sfp.

all temps stable, #1 < 95°, #2 between 95° and 120°, #3 between 110° and 125°

today they look better.

@Edano Germany had the only working thorium reactor and it didn't work so well. I see thorium and fast breeder reactors trotted out by the commercial nuclear industry as the next great hope. They don't bother to tell people the actual success rate of these technologies.

@Edano I heard about them breaking or cracking when they tried to run the reactor. I guess missing thorium is better than missing plutonium..

@lillymunster on the contrary: !!!!!

"Ein wesentlicher Nachteil der Thoriumverwendung liegt darin, dass frische Brennelemente leicht abtrennbares waffenfähiges Material enthalten müssen, im Falle des THTR-300 auf 90 Prozent angereichertes Uran-235. Das steigende Bewusstsein für Proliferationsgefahren erzwang für die später entwickelten Kugelhaufenreaktorkonzepte die Abkehr vom Thorium und die Verwendung von niedrig angereichertem Uranbrennstoff."

de.wikipedia.org

A major disadvantage of using thorium is that fresh fuel must contain easily separable weapons-grade material, in the case of the THTR-300 on 90 percent enriched uranium-235. The growing awareness of proliferation threats forced later developed pebble bed reactor designs to move away from thorium and use low-enriched uranium fuel.

@lillymunster yes, weapon grade uranium.

there was an accident in the reactor, probably on may 4, 1986 with release of radioactivity. the power company tried to cover it up because there were high rad readings anyway because of the chernobyl catastrophe. the reactor was not restarted again.