Re: Nuclear Technology goes Billiard Style

Posted by Dale on Feb 05, 2002 at 09:52
142.arc1.il-decatur1.fgi.net (204.212.222.16)

Re: Nuclear Technology goes Billiard Style (Amaranth Rose)

Pebble bed technology is so dangerous even I’m scared these plants might be built. Let’s look at the record of big nuclear accidents.

SL1 killed 3 people and irradiated a few dozen more. The problem was caused by an experimental rod breaking and a faulty operator decision causing a very fast reaction resulting in a steam explosion that threw fuel around the room. If there had been a containment structure there would have been no deaths or radiation release.

Chernobyl killed a few dozen and irradiated a few thousand. The problem was caused by a faulty experiment that caused a very fast reaction resulting in a steam explosion that threw fuel around the room. Then the graphite caught fire and melted the core which went into the air and around the world because there was no containment facility.

TMI killed no one and irradiated no one except the cleanup crew who were going to get the same radiation working elsewhere if they didn’t work at TMI. The problem was caused by a faulty valve combined with several faulty operator decisions that caused a total lack of cooling resulting in half the core being melted. TMI did as much damage to the reactor as Chernobyl but negligible radiation was released because it had a containment facility.

So now we propose the worst of both worlds. Graphite and no containment as in Chernobyl and an experimental Rube Goldberg mechanism as in SL1. So far nuclear power has had a far safer record of energy production than any other technology ever invented. Looks like the South Africans want to put a stop to that record.


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