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Reactor at Hanford SCRAMMED...

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.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Local News
KEYWORDS: chinasyndome; crisis; hanford; nuclearplant; scram; washington
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To: djf

The axe man cometh.


41 posted on 03/29/2016 11:39:17 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: djf

“That means the cooling failed “

Not necessarily.


42 posted on 03/29/2016 11:42:38 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: djf

Lots of things are “downwind” from Washington State.


43 posted on 03/29/2016 11:44:34 AM PDT by Battle Axe (Repent: for the coming of the Lord is soon.)
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To: dfwgator

I hope not.


44 posted on 03/29/2016 11:44:36 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Admit you were conned / This means you are good and honest / There's no shame in this)
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To: elcid1970

“Of course, everyone here knows that SCRAMming a reactor means interrupting the chain reaction with carbon control rods which absorb outgoing neutrons.”

Carbon?


45 posted on 03/29/2016 11:47:22 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: djf

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.


46 posted on 03/29/2016 11:47:37 AM PDT by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: djf
"Is there any radiation leakage!?"


47 posted on 03/29/2016 11:47:42 AM PDT by DungeonMaster (the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.)
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To: showme_the_Glory
Rosalyn Carter: Well how big is he?

Dr. Edna Casey: Well Mrs. Carter, it's difficult to comprehend just how big he is but to give you some idea, we've asked comedian Rodney Dangerfield to come along today to help explain it to you. Rodney?



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!

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Rodney Dangerfield: It's my pleasure. He's way up there, lady! you know what I mean?

48 posted on 03/29/2016 11:47:55 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Vinnie

Chernobyl got going during a shutdown test.

Is this reactor really graphite? I didn’t think we had any of those (anymore).


49 posted on 03/29/2016 11:48:27 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Admit you were conned / This means you are good and honest / There's no shame in this)
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To: tatown

SHHH, it’s “AMSCRAY!” we don’t want to alarm anyone.


50 posted on 03/29/2016 11:49:58 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Boiler Plate

” 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.


51 posted on 03/29/2016 11:50:28 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Vinnie

“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.


52 posted on 03/29/2016 11:51:24 AM PDT by PLMerite (The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: TexasGator

Our Unsung Hero - The Inanimate Carbon Rod

53 posted on 03/29/2016 11:52:00 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Admit you were conned / This means you are good and honest / There's no shame in this)
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To: PLMerite

It Russia, it’s “SCRAM-SKI”


54 posted on 03/29/2016 11:52:44 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Vinnie

“IIRC Hanford is a graphite reactor, similar to Chernobyl.”

Reload your memory cells:

https://www.energy-northwest.com/ourenergyprojects/Columbia/Pages/How-Columbia-Makes-Electricity.aspx


55 posted on 03/29/2016 11:54:45 AM PDT by TexasGator
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To: djf

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.


56 posted on 03/29/2016 11:58:08 AM PDT by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: dp0622

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?


57 posted on 03/29/2016 12:00:22 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam. Buy ammo.")
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To: elcid1970

Quite a bit. Good Job!


58 posted on 03/29/2016 12:02:00 PM PDT by longfellowsmuse (last of the living nomads)
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To: elcid1970

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


59 posted on 03/29/2016 12:04:27 PM PDT by dp0622
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To: elcid1970

“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!


60 posted on 03/29/2016 12:04:53 PM PDT by TexasGator
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