10/01/2014 14:32
Japanese scientists intend to repeat Fukushima disaster
Japanese scientists are planning to carry out an experiment that would imitate dissolution of nuclear fuel, similar to what took place during the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Voice of Russia reported.
The organization that will be responsible for this experiment is the governmental Organization for Exploring and Developing Nuclear Power.
The experiment’s initiators hope that it will help to learn more about what happens to a nuclear fuel rod after it stops to be chilled. The results of this experiment may probably help to get better prepared for similar catastrophes in the future.
A 1.2-meter high steel capsule will be made for this experiment, and a 30-cm fuel rod will be placed into it. With the help of a special reactor, the scientists will create conditions similar to those that were at the Fukushima power plant during the accident. The process of the rod’s destruction will be filmed and fixed by several special devices. Then, the melted fuel will be sent for further investigations.
The experiment will be held in the Tokai scientific center in the Ibaraki Prefecture. The exact date of the experiment is yet unknown, but most likely, it will take place not earlier than in April 2014.
In March 2011, the Fukushima power plant was hit by a powerful tsunami, which caused a malfunction of the plant’s system of electricity and cooling water supplies. In three reactors, nuclear fuel melted, which was accompanied with explosions of hydrogen and emissions of radiation.
Scientists still know little about the essence of such processes. In particular, there is no data about how much time the melting of the fuel and the destruction of the rods at the Fukushima plant was taking place. So far, scientists have only held computer imitations of such processes, which can give only rather approximate data.