Fukushima Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

[Bryan 1]

Is it possible to bombard the reactors at the Fukushima power plant with alpha particles and or protons, and or neutrons and or electrons in a combination that would alter the radioactivity presently being admitted by the failed reactors

 

[Borek]

Possible? Sure, why not. Technically viable - no. It would create tons of new problems on top of those we already have.

 

[willem2]

Is it possible to bombard the reactors at the Fukushima power plant with alpha particles and or protons, and or neutrons and or electrons in a combination that would alter the radioactivity presently being admitted by the failed reactors

Not to make anything better. The only kind of radiation that would do anything is neutrons. Alpha particles and electrons won't penetrate into any material. If you want to transmute anything with them you need tiny samples in vacuum. This is useless here.

If you want to irrediate anything with neutrons, you will have to separate the stuff that will get more dangerous from the stuff that will get less dangerous. Unfortunately there is far more stuff that will become more dangerous than less dangerous. Firing neutrons at the remaining nuclear fuel will produce more fission products and plutonium. You would need to separate all the radiactive elements, and if you had done that you would already have solved the problem

Transmutation of nuclear waste seems only to make sense for transuranic elements, which you could let fission in a reactor to form fission products, which will be much shorter lived. The main problem at this time is Caesium-137. Unfortunately it doesn't absorb neutrons well. It will collect over a few years in a nuclear reactor after all. Firing neutrons at a swimming pool of mostly water with a bit of ¹³⁷Cs in it isn't useful.

 

[Vanadium 50]

that would alter the radioactivity presently being admitted by the failed reactors

Sure. The alteration would make everything more radioactive. What is the benefit of that?