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FBaggins

(26,693 posts)
Tue Jul 1, 2014, 12:12 PM Jul 2014

TEPCO Submits Plans for Unit 3 Spent Fuel Removal

Title edited slightly to avoid confusion that they're talking about melted fuel in the rector rather than SFP.

TEPCO submitted plans to the NRA for spent fuel removal from unit 3. This included more detail on how they intend to install a cover and remove transit casks from the building.

The defueling building cover bridges the original reactor building, putting the load on the existing scaffolding system and an accessory building.


This structure avoids contact with the reactor well, known to have high radiation levels. TEPCO did not mention any measures to prevent radiation issues from the fuel canal between the reactor and the spent fuel pool. They also do not mention anything about worker exposures or how human work would be conducted. Estimated radiation levels in the area are as high as 1 sievert/hour.

...snip...

The new transit cask only holds 7 fuel assemblies. TEPCO does not mention why a smaller cask may be used. It could be due to weight limits of the defueling building design.

http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=13302


TEPCO does not mention why a smaller cask may be used

This is almost certainly because they can't flood the refueling pool because of the meltdown. The probably can't fit the normal 22-assembly cask into the space remaining in the SFP... so they need a smaller cask.
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