The Russians said that they did not yet have satisfactory information on the location of the fuel. They hoped to know
more later but it seemed that much of it was in the lower water pipeline areas.
They went on to discuss the interactions between concrete and uranium oxide.
There was a presentation on fire fighting activities. Rules existed for all nuclear plant covering the need to protect essential systems, cables and equipment. All plants had their own fire fighting unit. Different measures were designated for different types of area water for cable rooms, gas for control rooms, foam where oil was present, etc. Head of the unit at the Chernoybl station was experienced - 8 years general experience and 7 years on specialist simulators. All stations had a fire fighting plan.
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The
Three fire fighting units were quickly deployed to the accident from the plant and Pripyat and Chernoybl towns. fire had been put out by 5 am, mainly using water. Particular measures were taken to protect essential systems and prevent the spread to Unit 3.
The Russians proposed IAEA initiatives in a number of areas where improved knowledge was required guidance on nuclear fire fighting methods, development of protective clothing, automatic fire fighting robots, graphite fires and consideration of problems in newer reactor systems.
Dr Tom Kress (Oak Ridge National Laboratories) posed questions concerning the nature and quantity of radioactivity released. He related the four stages of the release. The accident gave rise to releases to atmosphere due to two different mechanisms, the boiling off of the more volatile fission products and the mechanical dispersion of fuel particles. The mechanisms governing the latter process have not been widely studied.
They
The Soviet delegation said that they had a great deal of data which they intended to make available to everyone. confirmed that the uranium fuel had undergone oxidation during the accident, and may have reacted with the graphite to form carbides.
Details of the amount of fuel materials spread around the site were given:
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