(#4 reactor) Blast may have helped cool rods

[kristopher]

Blast may have helped cool rods

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A hydrogen gas explosion at the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 15 may have helped prevent spent fuel rods from melting down by causing a flow of water into the pool the rods are stored in, according to research by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

It seems that shocks from the explosion damaged a water gate and caused water to flow into the pool from a neighboring part of the facility, TEPCO said.

The explosion, which the company assumes was caused by hydrogen gas, was so strong that the outer walls of the reactor building collapsed.

At the time of the explosion, the spent fuel rods had been overheating. If that had continued, the company said, the rods might have melted, spewing a far larger quantity of radioactive materials into the air than actually happened.

The nuclear power plant lost...

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110428006723.htm

[Vincardog]

1. I get it "hydrogen gas explosion at nuclear reactor are a GOOD thing"

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. Yeh. Whatever happens there is always spun as a good thing

I remember when the buildings blew up and one was caught on camera. The explosion was so violent the entire building vaporised, sending concrete hundreds, perhaps thousands of feet into the air and the commentator on the news said something like "looks like it might have blown up or...". They can't even believe their own "lying eyes'.

[kristopher]

3. I don't think that can be read in the article.

They are just starting to learn what happened in #4.

[Vincardog]

4. Did you see these lines?-- The gas was ignited and exploded, damaging the gate. -- As a result, hun

-- The gas was ignited and exploded, damaging the gate.

-- As a result, hundreds of tons of water entered the pool and the overheating of fuel rods ended.

[kristopher]

5. That reads as a statement of newly understood fact.

I can't see any way that spins positive for the fission industry.

[FBaggins]

6. An interesting twist if true.

This may be a conclusion they're drawing based on the earlier news that the pool doesn't appear to be leaking.

[lostnfound]

7. Recommending for the sheer insanity of their logic.

UFB.

[SpoonFed]

8. Yep

Thank the flying spaghetti monster that that thing blew up!