There was a good bit of feedback from last week’s installment, and I want to point out that I am always glad when people point out flaws in my treatment. I emphasized a particular sort of reactor, and neglected a couple of other ones. I intend to set this right tonight.
The concern that seems to be in the forefront at present is the radiation leakage from the stricken plants. As I write this (20110326), it is still not clear whence it comes, but I suspect that fuel rods are compromised and that nuclear fuel rod material is becoming commingled with the water that is supposed to cool the systems.
I say that because it is unlikely that if the spent fuel rod ponds were the source that the high levels of radioactive materials would have found their way into the turbine rooms, where the subcontractors were exposed to extremely high levels of radiation.
The primary thrust of this piece is to go through some of the fission products in the spent (and in use) fuel rods. This will give us a basic understanding as to why used nuclear fuel is so much more dangerous than new fuel.