[USMA:50082] Air drops of water on reactor

[Harry Wyeth]

On NPR this afternoon I heard a report that helicopters had dropped "30 
metric tons" of water on the exposed fuel rods, but that much of that 
had been blown off target.  That makes 30 cubic meters, or about one 
third of the water in our swimming pool (it  /is/ a rather big pool).  
If the rod pools are supposed to cover the rods with 5 m of water--which 
was also announced--this was obviously insufficient.  Anyone who has 
ever seen an airborne water drop on a wild fire, where the water 
disperses all over the place-- could have told Tokyo Electric that they 
were wasting their time.

Oh yes, they said the helicopters had been shielded against 
radiation--with lead.  What a good idea that was.

HARRY WYETH