According to Ukrainian specialists, to bring the heat processes in Fukushima-1 reactors under control, it is necessary “first, to ensure a normal cooling mode in the spent fuel pools by pumping water, sea water as a last resort, into them; second, the type of reactor fuel coolant needs to be changed – water, which might trigger a steam-zirconium reaction fraught with the release of hydrogen and potential blasts, should be replaced with low-melting and chemically neutral metal, for instance tin which will pull heat away from the fuel rods (molten or damaged) towards the inner walls of the reactor, while continuing to use sea water to cool down its outer walls”.
The tin ‘lake’ inside the reactor will “reduce the discharge of heavy fission products and bring ionizing radiation levels down. Chipped tin could be pumped in through steam communications under pressure using cylinders with helium or argon”.
Source: Kyiv Post