News about Fukushima

[Poll_Blind]

21. It can blow up, has "blown up". But not in the way you're thinking. Not like a nuclear bomb.

When the nuclear fuel rods heat up enough (as some of the cores and fuel rods have), if enough material pools together a [link:v|criticality] can take place which is a mini runaway nuclear chain reaction, which (if unchecked) will cause the material to A) produce a neutron burst and B) cause the material itself to explode, usually dispersing itself- but not necessarily ensuring that some level of fission isn't still going on or that, in a molten state, that the material does not eventually pool up again to form another criticality.

None of this is like an atom bomb explosion, more like a conventional explosion.

If you search for "criticality" AND "neutron" on DU alone (esp. the old DU site), you'll find quite a bit of information about this. Multiple neutron bursts from the area indicate brief-lived criticalities which blew themselves up.

PB