If the pool leaks or the cooling system breaks, as happened in Japan, the nuclear fuel rods could become exposed and
release radioactive gas.
But the fuel still inside the reactors must be cooled with water to prevent it overheating and
releasing radioactive gases.
Not exact matches
This is potentially more worrying than the venting of contaminated
gases from reactors 1, 2 and 3, as the fire
released radioactive material straight into the atmosphere.
«The result could be a runaway oxidation reaction» and the
release of
radioactive fission
gases» and some of the
radioactive fuel material.
The machines handle the decaying element's radiation better than human miners and can tolerate the radon
gas released by the ore; early Navajo miners of uranium in the U.S. — and their families exposed to residual
radioactive dust and debris as well as contaminated water — developed lung cancer and other ailments by the 1970s and 1980s.
With more than 17 million Americans now living within one mile of an oil and
gas well, there is concern about the possible contamination of surface and groundwater by trace metals,
radioactive isotopes and other inorganic compounds
released in these areas, they point out.
Radon is an invisible and odourless
radioactive gas that's
released from the ground thanks to radium (which comes from uranium).