Waiting for the worst: a fuel pool fire at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4

The risk of a catastrophe at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4's high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) storage pool shows that we have a lot to worry about here in the U.S. as well, where identical or very similar HLRW storage pools are located at 31 GE BWR Mark I and II atomic reactors.

However, U.S. GE BWR Mark I and II HLRW storage pools contain several times more irradiated nuclear fuel than the worst pool at Fukushima Daiichi: Unit 4 has 219 metric tons in its inventory. However, despite having permits to transfer wastes to dry cask storage, both Fermi 2 in MI and Pilgrim in MA, both Mark Is, still contain every single irradiated nuclear fuel assembly ever generated at the reactors, over 600 metric tons worth each.

Interviewed by Radio Australia, Institute for Policy Studies' Bob Alvarez addressed what could happen if another major earthquake rocked the coastal Fukishima area. "The drainage of water caused by an earthquake or the toppling of the pool, which would be the worst possible consequence, could result in essentially the cladding around the spent fuel, which is made of an alloy of zirconium, to heat up and catch fire. And then there would be a massive release of radioactivity," he said. "The spent fuel pool in number four at Fukushima contains roughly ten times more caesium 137 than released by the Chernobyl accident," he pointed out.

Mitsuhei Murata (pictured left), a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland and a career diplomat who fears for the future of his nation, was also interviewed on the show. He also fears that inaction could spell further disaster. "I call it the sickness of Japan," he said. "Colloquially it can be explained that first, we hide; then we postpone; and then we assume no responsibility." When asked by show host, Mark Willacy, whether a problem with the fuel pool at Unit 4 could spell the end of Japan, Murata replied: "Yes. And there is no one who denies that." Read the full transcript or listen to the show.