Posted on 03/29/2016 11:08:55 AM PDT by djf
One of the nuclear reactors at Hanford has had a scram. That means the cooling failed and the reactor automatically shut down.
The news reports say they are checking it out and will restart when it's safe.
Which you will find mentioned in my second paragraph, although I didn’t use the term “prompt neutron”.
My Honda CRV speedometer goes up to 140. One day I am going to test that.
I worked at nuclear power plant for years (in IT). The general public would be surprised how often reactors shutdown. Operators have a very small window of time to correct an error state before the reactors shut down as a safety measure. The whistle would blow and people would say, “the blankety-blank thing has shut down again” in an exasperated voice. Lot of work to bring the blankety-blank thing back online again.
You said. Neutrons are rarely emitted by decay. All Neutrons are emitted by decay. Of an unstable nucleus.
The N reactor was also graphite moderated. It ran until 1987, a year after Chernobyl.
BTW it was used to make plutonium and electricity.
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