Ed Storms sent me this message: As for the spent fuel, [the hydrogen explosion] was totally predictable. The ponds have to be actively cooled. Once the power went off, the water got hot and boiled away. The Zr got hot, made H2 and blew the building apart. The shock wave blew what was left of the water out of the tank. The fire went out once all the water had been used up by reacting with the fuel. Adding more water will generate another fire and more release of radioactive fission products. The spent rods will not get hot enough to melt but they will react with water. The fission products are slowly leaking out and this cannot be stopped. The best thing is to allow the rods to cool naturally, which may be the response because they cannot get close enough to do anything else. [Please note] . . . my work at LANL involved reactor design and the chemistry of the fuel.
- Jed
