4 ms·
The dissociation of water only happens when you put water on something that's very hot. But the fuel rods need to be cooled somehow, so it's probably the least
by lutorm 16y ago
The dissociation of water only happens when you put water on something that's very hot. But the fuel rods need to be cooled somehow, so it's probably the least bad scenario is to take some hydrogen production to get the fuel rods down to a safe temperature where this doesn't happen. The alternative is to not cool them at all, which will lead to a meltdown.
I don't think the moderation aspect is important currently. The reactor is shut down, and the neutron flux is already very low.
- marshray 16y agoIn the case of the reactors, they have control rods in place to inhibit the fission. For the spent fuel pools, hopefully the rods are spaced much farther apart. Conceivably they could boil away all their water and melt their steel fixture and recombine in the bottom of the pool drain. I doubt the Japanese would let that happen, but if things go much farther downhill it could turn into a suicide mission to do anything at that plant site. And that would be very sad.