Spent Cool Rods Dry And Dangerous? Where? In The Air? In Pieces On The Ground?

(Updated)

Where is the top floor of Reactor 4? They say the spent cool rods there are dry and thus dangerous. BUT THERE IS NO TOP FLOOR ANYMORE. It blew up in a mushroom cloud you comatose media. It's not there anymore, get it?

From The New York Times.


Even as workers race to prevent the radioactive cores of the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan from melting down, concerns are growing that nearby pools holding spent fuel rods could pose an even greater danger.

The pools, which sit on the top level of the reactor buildings and keep spent fuel submerged in water, have lost their cooling systems and the Japanese have been unable to take emergency steps because of the multiplying crises.




Ok, let's have a look at some pictures of the reactors again.

Here are Reactors 3 and 4. You can clearly see that the upper half of Reactor 3 is completely destroyed. This is the reactor where it seems obvious that the control rods probably went up in the giant explosion. Reactor 4 also shows considerable to damage to the area around where the control rods should be.


(photo: The Daily Mail)


Here is Reactor 1. As someone pointed out in a comment, you could make the case that in this reactor the spent fuel pool might still be intact, however damage is certainly possible.



At the very least it seems that in Reactor 3, the rods blew up. They must be scattered in the explosion. Maybe in Reactor 4 as well.