Spent fuel pool # 4 Flow
NHk report states "Water injection from a special vehicle has not been intense enough to cool the water in the pool, allowing the temperature to remain at more than 80 degrees Celsius."now water boils at 100 celsius so the pool needs circulation to keep it below 100c .seems I am missing something because if they can maintain 80 Celsius this is preventing boiling???
when the pool was undamaged how manny gallons were circulated a minute through this pool to remove heat?
So after some research it
So after some research it appears the hotter fuel would have boiling around it making boiling localized not the whole pool boiling but parts.intresting here's a great document showing all likely problems that can occur in event of loss of cooling in spent pool. With picture diagrams .
http://www-ns.iaea.org/downloads/ni/embarking/argonne_workshop_2010/Brau...
Data
The maximum temperature of the spent fuel bundles decreases significantly between 2 and 4 years, and less from 4 to 6 years. The fuel pool water is continuously cooled to remove the heat produced by the spent fuel assemblies. Pumps circulate water from the spent fuel pool to heat exchangers, then back to the spent fuel pool. The water temperature in under normal operating conditions is held below 50°C (120°F)[1]. Radiolysis, the dissociation of molecules by radiation, is of particular concern in wet storage, as water may be split by residual radiation and hydrogen gas may accumulate increasing the risk of explosions. For this reason the air in the room of the pools, as well as the water, must permanently be monitored and treated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spent_fuel_pool
Us dangers worse than japan
Report: 'Unacceptable threat' from spent-fuel pools at US nuclear power plants
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20110525/ts_csm/386290