To save you a little time :

The quoted section, (below) is is from the bottom of page 22 of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Technical Training Center Manual on Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR's). Byron Units 1 and 2 are PWR systems.

You can download a copy of the entire manual at the following URL : http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/teachers/…

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Even after the reactor has been shutdown, there is a
significant amount of heat produced by the decay of
fission products (decay heat). The amount of heat
produced by decay heat is sufficient to cause fuel
damage if not removed. Therefore, systems must be
designed and installed in the plant to remove the
decay from the core and transfer that heat to the
environment, even in a shutdown plant condition.

Also, if it is desired to perform maintenance on reactor
coolant system components, the temperature and
pressure of the reactor coolant system must be
reduced low enough to allow personnel access to the
equipment.

The auxiliary feedwater system and the steam dump
system (turbine bypass valves) work together to allow
the operators to remove the decay heat from the
reactor. The auxiliary feedwater system pumps water
from the condensate storage tank to the steam
generators. This water is allowed to boil to make
steam. The steam can then be dumped to the main
condenser through the steam dump valves. The
circulating water will then condense the steam and
take the heat to the environment.

If the steam dump system is not available (for
example, no circulating water for the main condenser),
the steam can be dumped directly to the atmosphere
through the atmospheric relief valves.

By using either method of steam removal, the heat is
being removed from the reactor coolant system, and
the temperature of the reactor coolant system can be
reduced to the desired level.

USNRC Technical Training Center 4-22 0603

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The release of steam directly to the environment
indicates that at best, the steam dump system is not
available. At worst, they have lost substantial cooling
capacity and are having trouble controlling the reactor.

If you check the news, you'll see very little being
reported other than everything is fine. What you
won't see, is reporters asking why steam is being
released when this is not the normal process
implemented for emergency shutdown of the plant.

Obviously, they have access to the NRC manuals.

They were still blowing steam late last night.
What they are doing now, remains a mystery.

Best Wishes,

The Rad Rider

Study the close up views of the #3 reactor explosion and you will see that the blast was
not the type of blast one would expect from a hydrogen explosion. The fireball seen in the
corner of the plant was too small. Not only that, inspection reveals that this was a directional
blast. Much as if a cannon had been fired straight up from inside the reactor building. This is
what one would expect if the reactor dome exploded with enough force to take out the concrete
pads covering the reactor dome.

Injecting sea water into the molten core causes an immediate explosion of steam. If the temperature
of the reactor vessel had reached critical temperature, it would not have had the integrity required to
withstand this dramatic increase in pressure.

If my assessment is correct, the dark colored cloud we witnessed contained the MOX core of
the reactor and made this accident, worse than the one at Chernobyl.

I also suspect that the #1 and #2 reactor vessels have lost integrity due to the same process.

P.S. – I wish to contact me, try the e-mail address submitted with this post.
My Yahoo account seems to have been deleted.

Given the tremendous volume of radioactive run off created during the past several days, this is a problem that needs to be addressed most urgently.

If the electric company needs to hire ocean going tankers with specialized pumping equipment, this service should be available. The delay is allowing this to become an even larger disaster. Not only for Japan but perhaps for us all.

Someone must take command that understands the consequences of failing to properly contain the waste water being generated at Fukushima.

The solution is actually rather simple and the solution is not dilution. By dumping a few loads of sand into the manhole(s) closest to the ocean, the storm sewer system becomes a holding cell. The manholes closer to the plant could then be used as points from which the radioactive waste water could
be pumped back onto the reactor buildings or to a tanker.

PLEASE HURRY

P.S. – I love your show but the time slot sucks. Then again, so does the MSNBC weekend programming.
Hopefully you get a better time slot soon. I sent the above letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer and the Senate committee on the environment. No word back but I am a small voice among the masses.