Exposed Fuel Rods in Empty, Cracked Cooling Pool May Soon Release 130 Tons of Uranium Directly Into the Environment

While much of the mainstream media appears to be moving on from the impending Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently released some startling and dire news about the now-empty spent fuel rod pool in the plant's Reactor 4. According to the NRC, a crack or hole in the empty pool is preventing efforts to refill it -- and since the pool does not have the same containment apparatuses that the actual reactors have, a fire or explosion could release the pool's 130 tons of uranium directly into the environment.

On Wednesday, NRC told the US House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that Unit 4 had run completely dry. And without any water in the pool, there is no way to cool the thousands of spent fuel rods and prevent them from catching fire, exploding, and releasing tons of toxic uranium directly into the atmosphere.'

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