Posted on 03/29/2016 11:08:55 AM PDT by djf
The axe man cometh.
“That means the cooling failed “
Not necessarily.
Lots of things are “downwind” from Washington State.
I hope not.
“Of course, everyone here knows that SCRAMming a reactor means interrupting the chain reaction with carbon control rods which absorb outgoing neutrons.”
Carbon?
There are a lot of reasons for a reactor to SCRAM. The most common is that there was a sudden drop in load and they cannot back the boiler down fast enough.
Rodney Dangerfield: How do you do, how are you?
Ross Denton: Rodney, can you please tell us, how big is the president?
Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he's a big guy, I'll tell you that, he's a big guy. I tell you he's so big, I saw him sitting in the George Washington bridge dangling his feet in the water! He's a big guy!
Rosalyn Carter: Oh my God! Jimmy! Oh God!
Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he's big, I'll tell you that, boy. He's so big that when two girls make love to him at the same time, they never meet each other! He's a big guy, I'll tell you!
Rosalyn Carter: Oh no! Oh Jimmy! My Jimmy!
Rodney Dangerfield: I don't want to upset you lady, he's big, you know what I mean? Why he could have an affair with the Lincoln Tunnel! I mean, he's really high! He's big, I'll tell you! He's a big guy!
Rosalyn Carter: No! No! No!
Ross Denton: Rodney, thank you very much. You can go.
Rodney Dangerfield: It's my pleasure. He's way up there, lady! you know what I mean?
Chernobyl got going during a shutdown test.
Is this reactor really graphite? I didn’t think we had any of those (anymore).
SHHH, it’s “AMSCRAY!” we don’t want to alarm anyone.
” and they cannot back the boiler down fast enough.”
The ‘boiler’ can ‘back down’ as fast as the load rejection.
Some nuclear power plants are designed to stay running with a full load rejection. Others, only for a partial load rejection.
“IIRC Hanford is a graphite reactor, similar to Chernobyl.”
Coincidentally I was just reading a book on Chernobyl. Apparently in that instance attempting to SCRAM the reactor made things worse. But that’s the Russians.
Our Unsung Hero - The Inanimate Carbon Rod
It Russia, it’s “SCRAM-SKI”
“IIRC Hanford is a graphite reactor, similar to Chernobyl.”
Reload your memory cells:
Hanford - se Washington state, Tri-Cities/ Richland + Kennewick + Pasco - east side of the Cascade Mountains. We used to live there - couple of hours west of WallaWalla/ couple of hours southwest of Spokane.
The engineers there are top-notch. But human.
This was how it was explained to us in school:
Radioactivity is the quality of giving off neutrons. A nuclear chain reaction starts when radioactive material is sufficiently concentrated to create a storm of neutrons which split atoms which in turn give off neutrons to split other atoms.
An uncontrolled chain reaction can result in an atomic explosion. A controlled chain reaction gives off usable heat; the controlling element is carbon which is in the form of bundled rods inside the nuclear reactor. Carbon absorbs neutrons like a sponge; the control rods are inserted or withdrawn within the reactor chamber to regulate the amount of heat given off.
Nuclear heat operates boilers which drive steam turbines. There is also a cooling system which if I recall is a backup or fail-safe to the reactor control rods. If that should fail, the emergency response is to ram the control rods all the way into the reaction chamber (scramming) which shuts down the chain reaction process. Meltdown averted.
Scramming a reactor always makes news because of the Three Mile Island incident of 1979.
I’m no nuclear scientist. Does this help?
Quite a bit. Good Job!
Actually, all these years and that’s all anyone had to tell me? that’ pretty easy to follow.
I remember that ##### Jane Fonda in the China Syndrome
“Radioactivity is the quality of giving off neutrons.”
:the emission of ionizing radiation or particles caused by the spontaneous disintegration of atomic nuclei.
Common types of radiation are beta, gamma, alpha and neutron.
“Carbon absorbs neutrons like a sponge” BORON!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.