So Much For Modern Nuclear Reactors

Post by **Thane** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:27 am

<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12721498" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pa ... 2721498</a>

Explosion at one of Japan's. Guess building them in areas that get earth quakes makes total sense now

Post by **Nellyboy** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 4:41 pm

I think in the long run Japan are trying to be self sufficient with power needs and not be tied to any other countries for energy.

In that area of the world they will have to rethink how to maintain reactor integrity if everything fails.

Definitely brown trouser time for the whole nuclear industry.

Good job those Italians are leading the way with <a href="http://pesn.com/2011/03/07/9501782_Cold ... niversity/" target="_blank">Cold Fusion.</a>

EDIT: Just heard the company that own the nuke plant is saying a full meltdown is now in progress.

Post by **Nellyboy** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:04 am

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siCr66Na ... ploademail" target="_blank">Another</a> large explosion at the plant. A second reactor building exploding it seems. God this could make chernobyl look like a test tube spillage. Apparently these reactors are a magnitude of about 100 times larger.

Post by **Trig** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:34 am

Karma's a bitch, the US nukes Japan during WW2 and now the Japs are getting there own back...

Post by **Legthigh** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:19 pm

Currently concerned about my Ex-Girlfriend, last I heard from her she was living in Akihabara, about 15mins from Tokyo centre.

As happy as I am married to Allie and haven't even spoken to her since we split up 12ish years ago, it's still quite scary that she may be badly injured or dead.

The sheer destruction is shocking, watch this video to the end.

<a href="http://video.l3.fbcdn.net/cfs-l3-snc6/8 ... cd6dc12abf" target="_blank">http://video.l3.fbcdn.net/cfs-l3-snc6/8 ... dc12abf</a>

Post by **Nellyboy** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:20 pm

Chills me to the bone footage like that.

Post by **Trig** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:24 pm

Personally doesnt chill me to the bone, just a reminder of how insignificant we are..

Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:41 am

Trig wrote: Personally doesnt chill me to the bone, just a reminder of how insignificant we are..

Pretty much how I feel. Not much point in worrying as we're all gonna die in the end.

I'd certainly be recommending a much larger evacuation zone than 20km if it was me running the show. I think I'd be thinking about evacuating 50-60km+ just to be on the safe side.

Post by **D3s3rt_F0x** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:43 am

For me so far (touching wood) it shows how safe nuclear reactors are. Remember these are 40 year old reactors that were due to be decommissioned this and next year that survived an earthquake that was 5x larger than they were designed for and thus far there hasn't been a major release of radiation even after they never cooled the reactors for a few days.

The main concern at the moment isn't with the reactors themselves but with pools that contain some spent fuel. But these shouldn't be able to start a fission reaction anyway.

Post by **Claw** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:43 pm

The econmic generation of electricity is still via steam powered engineering. Nuclear reactions are the favoured process for superheating water tp achieve this process.

According to reports I've read, it wasn't the earthquake that caused the failure of the backup generators for the cooling system, but the tsunami water surge.

There is enough information out there, as well as historical examples, to show that 'developments' made in market value energy production has walked mankind into a corner. They've found themselves fighting with, and defending themselves from, the natural environment about them. Reminds me of a rodeo... how long can they stay on this bull they've agitated?

Post by **Dangerous Bob** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:18 am

Thats the problem with most of the structures out there.
Being earthquake resistant tends to make them easy tsunami targets.

Post by **Trig** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:52 am

How about reactors suspended above the seabed?
Anything goes wrong with the cooling loop theres plenty of water around to cool them..

Post by **Claw** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:21 pm

Trig wrote: How about reactors suspended above the seabed?
Anything goes wrong with the cooling loop theres plenty of water around to cool them..

Chernobyl should have dropped it's reactor into a hole like chamber, but it got stuck. Which is the problem with these try-once back-up features. Also, the on-the-day tests compounded the problem.

Perhaps dropping the reactor into a purpose made lake of sorts would keep the greenies happier than dropping it into the ocean, but that may not solve the problem, neither lake nor ocean. Thermodynamics would require the removal of heat via a constant flow of coolant for the heat to be transferred to and taken away. Otherwise it is just heating up the static water about it in the much, much slower process of convection.

It could possibly be compared to magma flows on the ocean bed. It isn't always stopped, in fact entire Islands have been formed because relatively static water around the flow of magma/lava has just been boiled away - which in itself creates a slight thermal barrier, slowing the transfer of heat away from the magma/lava flow... so the magma/lava flow just keeps on going.

A reactor dropped into the ocean may not always result in the water reaching where it needs to reach in enough quantities to be useful either.

But, this is just supposition, I could be very, very wrong and you should be jumping into yer motor and burn some rubber on the way to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/apply/" target="_blank">Dragon's Den</a>...

Post by **Nellyboy** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:35 pm

How about dropping it into a volcano? Would this not just melt everything and dilute it in the millions of tons of hot lava type stuff?

Oh dear, windpower fail <a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=280_1300598013" target="_blank">here.</a>

Post by **Claw** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:33 pm

Nellyboy wrote: How about dropping it into a volcano? Would this not just melt everything and dilute it in the millions of tons of hot lava type stuff?

Yeah, Bob's chopper!

He'd only need to hook up that clunky old unstable reactor amidst all that rubble and then fly it through the aerospace of some willing nation with an active volcano in its back garden. He'll probably get there before it goes into "meltdown". Hopefully nothing untoward will happen as the lava envelops it... blowing open the sides of a volcano may mean a few more people evacuating, etc.

You ready to go, Bob?