There are signs of nuclear decay at Japanese power plants

There are some signs of nuclear decay that may have occurred at the Fukushima I power plant. But the Japanese nuclear agency later confirmed there is little possibility of a nuclear fuel fusion. at this factory.

>>>Japanese nuclear power plant needs 30 years to "die"

Nuclear power plants leaked radioactive materials since the plant's cooling system was destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck tsunamis nearly 8 months ago.

Yesterday, concern that possible nuclear decay has caused Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPC) to spray boric acid into one of the reactors suspected to be able to occur decay reactions. new nucleus.

TEPC confirms the discovery of 'very small amounts ' of xenon radioactive gas at the No.2 reactor, one of three reactors damaged after the March 11 earthquake.

Both the Xenon 133 and Xenon 135 radioactive substances, also discovered, are the sub-products of nuclear decay. These substances, by themselves, are not considered a threat to health.

Spokesperson Tepco, Hiroki Kawamata said, 'does not rule out the possibility of a local nuclear decay reaction' , and added that the above pump is just a precaution.

Nuclear decay reaction is a process that occurs in nuclear reactors, but under control, and in Fukushima, it is not. However, Tepco confirmed the temperature and pressure inside the reactor as well as the level of radiation did not change significantly.

The Japan Agency for Nuclear and Industrial Safety also held a press conference yesterday that held a press conference, after discovering the radioactive xenon in the chamber of the No. 2 reactor.

The presence of this substance indicates the possibility of a nuclear decay reaction that may have occurred over a period of time.

However, the agency assured that it is unlikely that nuclear fuel will continue to melt, due to the low xenon concentration and the constant temperature of the reactor.

The agency said it was unable to assess how the discovery would affect the government's plan to put nuclear reactors in a stable cooling state before the end of the year.

'It is difficult to assess the situation'

Nuclear power plants leak radioactive materials since the plant's cooling system was destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck tsunamis nearly 8 months ago. This caused melting at the core of 3 of all 6 reactors. Many towns and villages within a 20km radius from the factory were evacuated. High levels of radiation have been detected in food, water and soil in remote locations as far away as Tokyo.

A nuclear safety research institute in France said the disaster at the Fukushima plant had led to the loss of the largest amount of radioactive material in the ocean.

People began to worry that the nuclear disintegration reaction would restart again, since the discovery of 133 and 135 xenon gases, two gases were produced when a decay reaction appeared. These substances have a fairly short radioactive effect - with xenon 133 for 5 days, and for xenon 135 for 9 hours, indicating decay reaction has just occurred shortly.

Professor Andrew Stuchberry, in charge of the Department of Nuclear Physics at the Australian National University, said: 'The origin of xenon radioactive gas is probably due to some degree of nuclear decay that has occurred. The Japanese react by spraying more boric acid, which is a substance that is eaten by neutrons, would probably block the decay process. '

Professor Stuchberry described this process as "quite surprising" , but said that until now, there was no reason for the public to be too worried.

However, a French expert said: 'At this time, it is very difficult to analyze exactly what will happen, because no one knows whether the fuel is melting in the reactors after the March 11 disaster, currently under what conditions, where and under what form. '

This new incident occurred while the temperature at the bottom of the furnace was brought back below 100 ° C, after months of efforts to cool the reactors. This is an indispensable condition to achieve the goal of fully cooling the furnace from now until the end of the year.

Officials at Tepco also said the latest incident would not slow the company's goal, to cool it down and shut down all damaged nuclear reactors before the end of the year.

A Japanese government committee said it would take at least 30 years to safely shut down the Fukushima plant.