It's worth remembering, as the battle to prevent a massive radioactive release at the Fukushima power plant approaches the end of its second week, what a best-case scenario might now look like. In the best-case, emergency crews will restore cooling to the reactor cores and spent fuel pools and thus prevent the further release of radiation

1. Fukushima: The Salt Problem - Ecocentric - TIME.com Page 1 of 4
HOME U.S. POLITICS WORLD BUSINESS MONEY TECH HEALTH SCIENCE ARTS TRAVEL PHOTOS VIDEO SPECIALS MAGAZINE NEWSFEED
SEARCH TIME.COM Health & Science ADD TIME NEWS
MOBILE APPS NEWSLETTERS
Main Ecocentric Going Green Space & Astronomy Environment Oceans Videos
Ecocentric Feed
Daily E-mail Updates
A blog about all things green, from conservation to Capitol Hill « Previous
A New Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico—and Insight into the Causes of the Old Spill
Next »
Fukushima: Sick Workers and Cracked Vessels. What's true?
Fukushima: The Salt Problem
Posted by EBEN HARRELL Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Add a Comment • Related Topics: Chernobyl, Fukushima, meltdown, Salt
0 Like 0
It's worth remembering, as the battle to prevent a massive radioactive release at the
Fukushima power plant approaches the end of its second week, what a best-case scenario
might now look like. In the best-case, emergency crews will restore cooling to the reactor
cores and spent fuel pools and thus prevent the further release of radiation. What will then
follow is a hugely expensive clean-up operation of the surrounding area and an (even more)
expensive decommissioning of the plant itself. Decommissioning of nuclear power plants,
even ones that haven't suffered serious accidents, is an eerie business; the plant is gutted
until all that remains is an abandoned, radioactive hulk that is locked up for hundreds of
years before it can be dismantled. That, at this point, would be a dream outcome at
Fukushima.
Before then, emergency crews face a number of obstacles that many experts believe will take
weeks to resolve. Workers must drain radioactive water that has come into contact with
damaged reactor cores and they must find a safe way to release radioactive gas. As they do so,
they face multiple problems, including one that has only recently come to the attention of
outside experts: the build-up of salt in the reactors.
The salt, which has accumulated from the seawater that emergency crews have used as a last-
ditch method to cool the reactors, might cause the reactors to overheat and possibly even
meltdown. As seawater evaporates, salt scaling could insulate the reactor fuel and impede
heat transfer and thus cooling. In a worst case, as the rods heat up, their zirconium cladding
could rupture, and gaseous radioactive iodine inside could leak out; the uranium core itself
could even melt. This, of course, would release event more radioactive material.
The New York Times, citing a former engineer with General Electric, which designed the
reactors at Fukushima, estimates that 57,000 pounds of salt have accumulated in Reactor No.
1 and 99,000 pounds in Reactors No. 2 and 3. But those reactors are larger. And Shan Nair, a
British nuclear safety expert who was part of a panel that advised the European Commission
on its response to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, told Ecocentric that it's very difficult to
know the danger posed by salt accumulation without more information. "Simply the amount
of salt is not the only factor. The salt will melt, some of it will be burned off in vapor.
Determining the safe level is like the sort of question you'd ask a PhD student applying for a
job in the nuclear industry. Without more information, however, I can already tell you,
roughly, it would take a hell of a lot of salt to cause a problem. I'm not concerned about it."
Not all nuclear experts share Dr Nair's sang froid. Some even worry that the Fukushima crisis
will get worse before it gets better. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)--not known for
taking alarmist positions—criticized the Japanese government yesterday for not extending
the evacuation zone around the site, which is currently set at a 12-mile radius. The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has advised US citizens within a 50 mile radius around the
site to evacuate, but Japan has not extended the zone. In a editorial on the UCS's blog, the
UCS's Ed Lyman said: "The crisis is not over. Given the uncertainty over future releases, we
believe Japan should extend that evacuation zone."
For his part, Dr. Nair is more optimistic. He says the crisis has already shifted to a clean-up
operation. "The key was getting power restored to the pumps. Until then they were in a dicey
situation. But now they have brought power back to the facility I am not concerned.
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/24/fukushima-the-salt-problem/ 9/29/2011

2. Fukushima: The Salt Problem - Ecocentric - TIME.com Page 2 of 4
"The challenge is now dealing with the clean-up and taking action to avoid contamination of
foodstuff. It sounds terrible that some of the radioactive releases have been taken up by SEARCH THIS BLOG
Ecocentric Daily E-mail
crops—but it's simply a question of throwing away those crops. It's a short term Get e-mail updates from TIME's Ecocentric in your inbox and
contamination event that will create bad publicity and a very expensive clean-up but in terms never miss a day.
of public health the problem is very manageable." Enter your e-mail address*
Indeed, health experts on Thursday reported that--barring any further release of radioactivity
or unforeseen events—the health effects of the Fukushima crisis should remain minimal. As
for a panic in Tokyo following the discovery of Iodine 131 in the tap water, Mary Helen
Barcellos-Hoff, the Director of Radiation Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology
at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Ecocentric that it should not be cause for concern. "The
risk is when there is chronic exposure--that happened in Chernobyl as people ate
contaminated food over a course of months. These levels in Tokyo are already very low and
they were transient."
But that's not to say that Fukushima has not already proven to be a massive nuclear accident.
Indeed, Reuters cited an Australian expert on Wednesday who claimed that the release of two
types of radioactive particles in the first 3-4 days of the nuclear crisis is estimated to have
reached 20-50 percent of the amounts from Chernobyl in 10 days. That followed an
estimation from France's IRSN radiation protection and nuclear safety institute that leaks
represented about 10 percent of those from Chernobyl.
Health experts were quick to point out several crucial differences, however.
"At Chernobyl, the population was not generally aware that the accident had happened,"
Malcolm Crick, Secretary of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation, told Reuters. "People in the nearby town of Pripyat were watching the fire from
just a kilometer or so away. They were evacuated a day or so later. In Japan, there was a
precautionary evacuation early on."
What's more and perhaps most crucially, wind blew Chernobyl's radioactive cloud over
population and land; the prevailing breeze in Fukushima has dispersed most of the
radioactivity over the Pacific.
Print E-mail Add a Comment
Twitter LinkedIn Facebook MORE
Sponsored Links
EMBA Hot Penny Stock
EMBA may prove to be the hottest penny stock going this year. Read now
www.GreenGainers.com/EMBA
4 Signs of Heart Attack
These 4 Things happen right before a heart attack. Know these signs.
www.newsmax.com
57-Year-Old Mom Looks 25
Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick That Has Angered Doctors!
ConsumerLifestyles.org
Buy a link here
Real-time updating is enabled.
Comments for this page are closed. Going Green
Showing 0 comments Sort by popular now
« Back to Ecocentric Home Page
In-depth
stories on energy, climate and the environment.
Go to Going Green »
On Twitter: TIME.com
TIME Maybe the Muslim Brotherhood isn't all that brotherly |
http://t.co/wonP6xIi - 13 minutes ago
TIME Tropical Storm Ophelia should get her hurricane
upgrade tomorrow | http://t.co/Y2y9M7jT - 34 minutes ago
TIME Why does Obama want a Supreme Court fight over
health reform? He may think there's no way they can rule
against it | http://t.co/GLqzIalj - 54 minutes ago
Follow TIME.com on Twitter
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/24/fukushima-the-salt-problem/ 9/29/2011

3. Fukushima: The Salt Problem - Ecocentric - TIME.com Page 3 of 4
Most Popular ON TIME.COM ON BLOGS
ON ECOCENTRIC
1. Why Fewer Young American Jews Share Their
Parents' View of Israel
2. Did Facebook Just Change Social Networking
Forever?
3. Why Scientists Are Smarter than Politicians
4. Teacher, Leave Those Kids Alone: A Look at
South Korea's Education System
5. Earthlike Planets May Be Less Common than
We Think
6. Reebok to Pay $25M over Toning Claims
7. Australia Tells Chinese Tourists: Welcome!
(And Bring Your Checkbooks)
8. Egypt: Why the Muslim Brotherhood Isn't All
That Fraternal
9. Does Germany Owe Greece $95 Billion from
WW II?
10. Can Japan's Anti-Nuclear Protesters Keep the
Reactors Shut Down?
Ecocentric Favorite Links
Climate Feedback
ClimateAudit.org
ClimateEthics.org
ClimateProgress
Daily Grist
DeSmogBlog
Dot Earth
Earth Watch (Richard Black of BBC)
EarthJournalism.org
Energy Outlook
Energy Policy Blog
Energy Smart
Environmental Journalism Today (SEJ.org)
Environmental News Network
Greenwire
Living on Earth (radio)
Mongabay
Mother Nature Network
Planetizen – The Planning and Development Network
Realclimate.org
Shop Floor
State of the Planet (Columbia)
Switchboard (NRDC)
The Breakthrough Blog
The Business of Green
The Green Room
The Oil Drum
Treehugger
Watts Up With That
Worldchanging
Yale Environment 360
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/24/fukushima-the-salt-problem/ 9/29/2011

4. Fukushima: The Salt Problem - Ecocentric - TIME.com Page 4 of 4
Archive
March 2011
S M T WT F S
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031
More News from Our Partners
• Tainted cantaloupe • How Was The Joker Potty • Can a Healthy Diet Help • Duchess Catherine: Latest • Most thrilling 129 minutes
warnings continue Trained? Mental Health Psoriasis? Photos in history
Experts Psychoanalyze
• Get the latest news and • 20 Celebs Who Battled • Hi, Rubik! Faces Behind the • Is Francona a goner after
Batman Villains
views on The Chart Depression Brands collapse?
• Alaska's Alleged Sea
• When Mom or Dad wades • How to Help Someone in • Two-Headed Animals! • Wisconsin's offense on
Monster Caught On Film
back in the dating pool Pain historic pace
• WATCH: Exploding
manhole Tosses Car In The
Air
More on TIME.com » Quotes of the Day »
The 10 Most Air-Polluted Cities in "You can't get this done without
the U.S. hits across the board, and if you
are leaving people out all along
the way, you can’t get it done."
Kids and Food: Parents Who Nag ALAN SIMPSON, former Republican Senator
About Clean Plates Could Raise from Wyoming and co-chairman of the White
Problem Eaters House fiscal commission, on his
disappointment in the president for not
including more cuts to Social Security and
other entitlements to reduce the national debt
Piranha in the Water! 100 Bitten at
Brazil Beach More Quotes »
Stay Connected with TIME.com Learn More »
Read TIME Get TIME
Subscribe to Sign Up for Add TIME Mobile on Become a Twitter
RSS Feeds Newsletters Widgets Your Phone Fan of TIME Updates
© 2011 Time Inc. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | RSS | Newsletter | TIME For Kids | LIFE.com
Subscribe | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Media Kit | Reprints & Permissions | Opinion Leaders Panel | Help | Site Map | Ad Choices
Powered by WordPress.com VIP
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/24/fukushima-the-salt-problem/ 9/29/2011