- #1,121
jlduh
- 468
- 0
@rhody: to my knowledge, the russians were planning to install a big cooling system below the core and that's why they made this tunnel below the reactor with a big room. But finally they didn't do it (why? Maybe not enough time?) and filled the room with concrete to increase the protection towards the phreatic water. The corium finally stopped his way before any contact to water. I don't know if some data have been released since on how deep it went and stopped.
For those new to the forum, i put again the link towards the video "The battle of Tchernobyl" in english (i found a direct complete version in one part on google videos instead of the previously 10 parts on you tube):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5384001427276447319#
In the case of Fukushima plant, it seems that the concrete below the reactors ("radier" in french, don't know the name in english sorry) should be around 8 to 10 meters thick, some experts here talk about a speed of progression (very dependant on many factors anyway) of the corium in the concrete of around 1 meter per 24h (which is impressively quick). Anyway this shoud be quickly seen from outside because there shoud be a big amount of gas released from the interaction.
But again, the big fear is water + corium. And this can be before it contacts the concrete. Hope not.
For those new to the forum, i put again the link towards the video "The battle of Tchernobyl" in english (i found a direct complete version in one part on google videos instead of the previously 10 parts on you tube):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5384001427276447319#
In the case of Fukushima plant, it seems that the concrete below the reactors ("radier" in french, don't know the name in english sorry) should be around 8 to 10 meters thick, some experts here talk about a speed of progression (very dependant on many factors anyway) of the corium in the concrete of around 1 meter per 24h (which is impressively quick). Anyway this shoud be quickly seen from outside because there shoud be a big amount of gas released from the interaction.
But again, the big fear is water + corium. And this can be before it contacts the concrete. Hope not.
Last edited by a moderator: