Japan Fukushima nuclear thread

[Globs]

Scuffers said:

Could not happen here.

Nuclear stations here have very extensive standby setups.

Are they all able to run without external power from the grid?
I.e. after a decent sized solar event knocks out all the power lines...

[Globs]

hairykrishna said:

The standby generators are supposed to be able to run the primary loop coolant pumps. They pull on the order of 5MW in a PWR, probably similar in a BWR like Fukushima.

A 40kVA generator would have made next to no difference at Fukushima. You might believe otherwise.

How much power do you need to cool a reactor than has been hastily shutdown though?

[Globs]

scdan4 said:

What happens if all the containment tanks split and flow into the pacific.

WHEN, not if.

[Globs]

Reactors are always going to be safety critical, balancing enough energy to blow a large city away finely enough to eek the power out of it at the correct rate is always the key.

There are a few main failure modes I have seen:

1) You get the balance wrong and you get a critical excursion (power surge). Rocketdyne/Simi Valley, SL-1, Windscale, Chernobyl
2) You forget to cool the reactor, Three mile island
3) Decay heat causing melt down, Fukushima, with added hydrogen explosions.

I've probably missed some.

They haven't bothered to clean up the Rocketdyne one yet, SL-1 and Chenobyl/Pripyat appears to be the polluting ones handled with the most responsibility (TMI was non polluting).

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rhinochopig said:

Ross1988 said:

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-windscale-disas...

A link I wanted to share, as it seemed it may be of interest to some. Also it's a fantastic site.

A plane flying into a nuclear plant is not what you need to worry about, Nuclear reprocessing facilities hold that accolade, and you'll be pleased to now they are accounted for in the design.

We have a great man to thank for that not being the disaster it should have been.

As director of the AERE, he [John Cockroft] famously insisted that the coolant discharge chimney stacks of the Windscale plutonium production reactors be fitted, at great expense, with high performance filters. Since this was decided after the stacks had been designed, they produced iconic lumps in the shape of the structures. The reactors were designed to remain clean and uncorroded during use, thus it was not considered that there would be any particulate present for the filters to catch. These filters were therefore known as Cockcroft's Folly until the core of one of the two reactors famously caught fire in the Windscale fire of 1957, and the filters prevented the disaster from becoming a catastrophe.

Interesting!!
I'm glad he didn't take the advice of certain posters on this thread, because his expense was totally unnecessary as of course the reactors are safe and will never catch fire. I mean, how could they??

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V8 Fettler said:

Really? Which reactor is capable of blowing a large city away?

None of them, because that's not what I wrote.

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V8 Fettler said:

Globs said:

balancing enough energy to blow a large city away

There are no reactors capable of blowing a large city away.

I know, I didn't say there were.
What don't you understand about that? Read what I wrote more carefully.

[Globs]

Interesting news here, not sure if any can be backed up but worth a further look IMO.
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/10/something-is-k...

Is there really a site that can give you radiation readings or did someone create this picture?

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Scuffers said:

V8 Fettler said:

The original question revolved around the concept of safely shutting down an AGR reactor where all coolant circuits have been lost (gas and liquid), can this be achieved with the boron injection system?

not sure about later ones, but it would kill the magnox ones stone dead, permanently.

It's a good idea using the boron but wouldn't the actual problem come from decay heat anyway?

[Globs]

Crusoe said:

class action for 51 U.S. troops suffering from radiation poisoning.

http://www.silverdoctors.com/update-51-sailors-suf...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23307-us-sol...

Here too:

http://nypost.com/2013/12/22/70-navy-sailors-left-...

Nasty stuff