"Apocalyptic" Fukushima Fuel Rod Removal Begins Nov. 8; TEPCO Subcontracts Yakuza gangsters

[Divernan]

3. U.S. nuclear plants also exceeding safety limits with spent fuel pools/fuel rods.

Last edited Mon Nov 4, 2013, 03:01 PM - Edit history (1)

The United States has 31 boiling water reactors (BWR) with pools elevated several stories above ground, similar to those at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station. As in Japan, all spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants do not have steel-lined, concrete barriers that cover reactor vessels to prevent the escape of radioactivity. They are not required to have back-up generators to keep used fuel rods cool, if offsite power is lost. The 69 Pressurized Water (PWR) reactors operating in the U.S. do not have elevated pools, and also lack proper containment and several have large cavities beneath them which could exacerbate leakage. http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/spent_nuclear_fuel_pools_in_the_us_reducing_the_deadly_risks_of_storage

Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools in the U.S.: Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage
www.ips-dc.org
The price of fixing America's nuclear vulnerabilities may be high, but the price of doing too little is incalculable.

In a recent interview with The Real News Network, Robert Alvarez, a nuclear policy specialist since 1975, reports that spent nuclear fuel in the United States comprises the largest concentration of radioactivity on the planet: 71,000 metric tons. Worse, since the Yucca Mountain waste repository has been scrapped due to its proximity to active faults (see last image), the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has allowed reactor operators to store four times more waste in the spent fuel pools than they’re designed to handle. http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/us-stores-spent-nuclear-fuel-rods-at-4-times-pool-capacity/
US stores spent nuclear fuel rods at 4 times pool capacity