Now for something completely different; a nuclear reactor!

[hidetheelephants]

Any ambitious modellers out there fancy a restoration job? This cutaway model of an AGR reactor is rather sad looking and has been damaged by rough handling and neglect.



The bent green wedding cake/raygun thing is the refueling machine, and should sit on top on the big beams.

[dr_gn]

I bet that cost a bit.

What's the story?

[Red Firecracker]

What a marvellous thing, absolutely cracking.

[RichB]

Is it Chernobyl?

[hidetheelephants]

Presumably it was made when UKAEA or the NPG were trying to flog AGRs back in the 1970s; it's now sitting in a shed at Hunterston.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Tuesday 18th February 23:07

[Anthony Micallef]

RichB said:

Is it Chernobyl?

Exactly what I was thinking as I read the post.

[Jader1973]

I remember having to walk round the all the green/red/blue pipework just after 3 and 4 had both tripped together (only the 2nd time they'd done it iirc) to make sure it was all still in one piece. Would have been early 1997.

I was out for a walk up the access road at lunchtime, and as we wandered back 3 tripped "oh dear" (or similar) someone said - when 4 tripped we started running back to the office.

The noise was incredible!

[Ross1988]

Jader1973 said:

I remember having to walk round the all the green/red/blue pipework just after 3 and 4 had both tripped together (only the 2nd time they'd done it iirc) to make sure it was all still in one piece. Would have been early 1997.

I was out for a walk up the access road at lunchtime, and as we wandered back 3 tripped "oh dear" (or similar) someone said - when 4 tripped we started running back to the office.

The noise was incredible!

I have no idea what you're talking about, but sounds interesting, can you expand please?

[hidetheelephants]

Ross1988 said:

Jader1973 said:

I remember having to walk round the all the green/red/blue pipework just after 3 and 4 had both tripped together (only the 2nd time they'd done it iirc) to make sure it was all still in one piece. Would have been early 1997.

I was out for a walk up the access road at lunchtime, and as we wandered back 3 tripped "oh dear" (or similar) someone said - when 4 tripped we started running back to the office.

The noise was incredible!

I have no idea what you're talking about, but sounds interesting, can you expand please?

If there's a reactor or turbine trip(shut down due to a detected unsafe condition), there's a lot of enthalpy dressed up with no place to go except out through the relief valves; ~1GW of thermal energy being squirted into the atmosphere makes a loud noise and startles the locals and usually makes the local paper, especially just a week or so ago as Homer and the other kettle drivers had avoided any unplanned trips for over a year.

[pstruck]

I remember having a guided tour around Hinkley Point B many years ago. That refuelling arrangement looks familiar from memory. As a teenager at the time I was in awe of the place.

An interesting project for someone to refurbish this model.

[Jader1973]

hidetheelephants said:

Ross1988 said:

Jader1973 said:

I remember having to walk round the all the green/red/blue pipework just after 3 and 4 had both tripped together (only the 2nd time they'd done it iirc) to make sure it was all still in one piece. Would have been early 1997.

I was out for a walk up the access road at lunchtime, and as we wandered back 3 tripped "oh dear" (or similar) someone said - when 4 tripped we started running back to the office.

The noise was incredible!

I have no idea what you're talking about, but sounds interesting, can you expand please?

If there's a reactor or turbine trip(shut down due to a detected unsafe condition), there's a lot of enthalpy dressed up with no place to go except out through the relief valves; ~1GW of thermal energy being squirted into the atmosphere makes a loud noise and startles the locals and usually makes the local paper, especially just a week or so ago as Homer and the other kettle drivers had avoided any unplanned trips for over a year.

What he said.

Essentially the core gets very hot, and boils the water in the boilers (grey vertical rectangle between the core and the pressure vessel in the first pick
). The superheated steam then travels to the turbines and gets condensed just after it exits. Pumps then pump the water back onto the boilers, and off it goes again.

Hunterston B has two reactors, 3 and 4. The trip I witnessed was as a result of 3, and then 4 losing power to the boiler feed pumps - resulting in a trip - safety valve lifts and an awful lot of energy gets vented to atmosphere.

The resulting mechanical shock to the system was the reason we had to go and check the pipework.

The Wee Paper then gets all excited about "incidents" and "safety" etc etc.

I found a link:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/n...