Sodium metal reacts explosively with water. Sure, it's fine when working as designed, but this piece aims to be reassuring people about disaster scenarios. An

Sodium metal reacts explosively with water. Sure, it's fine when working as designed, but this piece aims to be reassuring people about disaster scenarios. And it's easy to imagine a disaster where part of the plant gets physically damaged and the sodium's exposed to the outside world, possibly including rain or flooding. So why sodium? What does sodium accomplish that can't be done equally well with a cheap non-explosive metal like aluminum or iron?