TEPCO Downplays Huge Risks Involved in Removing Fukushima Fuel Rods

TEPCO Downplays Huge Risks Involved in Removing Fukushima Fuel Rods

Sunday, 01 December 2013 11:38
By Jessica Desvarieux, The Real News Network | Video Interview





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JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: So, Arnie, you recently released a video explaining how an animated video from Tokyo Electric Power Company misrepresented the highly dangerous and difficult cleanup task ahead of them. At the end of last week, Tokyo Electric reported that they successfully removed nuclear fuel rods from reactor 4. Is this a good sign? Or do you feel like they are overplaying this a bit?

ARNIE GUNDERSON, CHIEF ENGINEER, FAIREWINDS: I think they've overplayed the video, certainly. You know, it seemed like one of these product promotions from the 1950s where we have to trust Tokyo Electric. These are the same people that let rats eat the wires on their cooling pumps and are releasing huge amounts of radiation into the Pacific. And now we're supposed to trust them on something that's more complex and potentially more dangerous. So it's--I think, had--the work needs to be done. There's no doubt that the fuel has to come out of there. But I just have no faith that Tokyo Electric has the competence and the capacity to do it right.

DESVARIEUX: And how is this more complex and more dangerous?

GUNDERSON: Well, this thing had a huge earthquake. The fuel in the fuel pool was knocked side to side in the earthquake. The waves in the fuel pool were three feet high during the earthquake. So think of your backyard swimming pool suddenly having a three-foot wave and realize how violently the ground was moving.

So, first off, the racks rattled side to side. There was another reactor in Japan at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa on the other coast that experienced an earthquake a couple of years ago, and the racks became distorted. It's like a pack of cigarettes. And if it's a fresh pack, you can pull the cigarettes and it out. But if it's a crushed pack, the cigarettes get stuck. So the first problem is that these things have been beat up by the earthquake, and at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa they jammed some of the fuel. ...............................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/video/item/20354-tepco-downplays-huge-risks-involved-in-removing-fukushima-fuel-rods