Source: First try to remove spent fuel from Unit 4 could be next week — Nuclear Engineer: Everyone’s nervous about pulling out used rods that are corroding; Will zircoloy tubes break and spill fuel pellets, leading to a criticality? (AUDIO)
Kyodo News, Nov. 23, 2013: Work to remove used fuel at Fukushima No. 4 spent fuel pool eyed Tues. [...] Work to remove spent fuel from a storage pool inside a damaged reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex will begin on Tuesday at the earliest, a source close to the operator of the Fukushima plant said Saturday. [...]
Chris Harris, former licensed Senior Reactor Operator and engineer, Nov. 21, 2013 (at 30:15 in): [I spoke with some colleagues this week and they're] concerned about a criticality event. […] Of course I asked them about the boraflex, which is the boronated rubber — again a nervous laugh. They said that’s all gone, you’ve got to consider that gone also. That’s pretty much the consensus of everyone there, including one of the fellows that actually goes to Fukushima. So I got some inside information on that too.
Harris (at 45:30 in): The corrosion that’s occurring because of the seawater, everyone is rather nervous about the corrosion that’s happening and how much material is being lost, mainly from the zircoloy tubing that houses the fuel pellets themselves. They don’t know the actual wastage, and of course the structural integrity — so when you go ahead and start pulling the fuel, is there going to be a loss of the pellets? […] You could get a criticality event.
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