Mystery Gas at China Nuke

A China Nuclear Generating Plant of French design has to allow higher levels of detection to avoid shutting down. A well placed anonymous source suggested the gas actually came from the off-gassing of Bat Guano used to fertilize the landscape around the plant...

 

The reports on dangerous leaks cannot be trusted. Here is a link to the story:
China Taishan plant: 'Performance issue' reported at nuclear facility

Note that the actual leak is from the reactor fuel rods, through the rod cladding, into the reactor coolant system. The coolant system is continuously processed in a "chemical and volume control system" which removes part of the fission gases leaked into the coolant. The more fission gases leaked into the coolant, the more they must be processed and released into the environment.

The linked story allows the PR folks to bury the truth in Bat Guano.

 

What is still being buried under "bat guano" is whether the clad damage was caused by "PCI" (Pellet Clad Interaction) or by debris circulating in their reactor coolant system. And of course, a sufficient concentration of "fission gases" will indeed generate a harmful radiation field.