Anti-Nuclear Activist: Catastrophic Nuclear Radioactivity Release Possible in Japan

According to the Japanese News Agency, Kyodo, radiation is measuring at 1000x normal at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant.

Here's the potential catastrophic scenario as laid out by anti-nuclear activist Kevin Kamp (Note, I am not an expert in this field and simply reporting what Kamp is saying. He may know exactly what he is talking about or he could be way off base.):

The electrical grid is down. The emergency diesel generators have been damaged. The multi-reactor Fukushima atomic power plant is now relying on battery power, which will only last around eight hours. The danger is, the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours. Without any electricity, the pumps won’t be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them. Once electricity is lost, the irradiated nuclear fuel could begin to melt down. If the containment systems fail, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur.

In addition to the reactor cores, the storage pool for highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel is also at risk. The pool cooling water must be continuously circulated. Without circulation, the still thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel in the storage pools will begin to boil off the cooling water. Within a day or two, the pool’s water could completely boil away. Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100 percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.

The above originally appeared at Business Insider, where Joe Weisenthal is updating the news from Kyodo. The increasing alarm in the news from Kyodo, that Weisenthal is updating, should be noted.