A new nuclear reactor in the U.S. starts up. It’s the first in nearly seven years

CNBC ^ | 7 Mar 2023 | Catherine Clifford

[DUMBGRUNT]

On Monday, Georgia Power announced that the Vogtle nuclear reactor Unit 3 has started a nuclear reaction inside the nuclear reactor. Technically, this is called “initial criticality” and is when the nuclear fission process has started splitting atoms, generating heat.

Vogtle’s Unit 3 reactor will be fully in service in May or June, Georgia Power said.

The last time a nuclear reactor reached the same milestone was almost seven years ago when the Tennessee Valley Authority started splitting atoms at the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor in Tennessee, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“This is a truly exciting time as we prepare to bring online a new nuclear unit that will serve our state with clean and emission-free energy for the next 60 to 80 years,”

[KC Burke]

Unless constructed on a very thick massive bedrock layer, extremely heavy structures always cause some settlement over time. The concern would be “differential” settlement where there is a large settlement in one area and a small amount in another.

I know a military airport that has subsided a dozen feet in my lifetime. The whole valley section it is in has settled as well so it is not an issue.

[punchamullah]

I cannot get my hands on that book, but I just last week finished reading Rhodes’ DARK SUN for the third time. Scary how Castle Bravo ran away to 15 megatons and nearly continued on.

[Paal Gulli]

"In the early 1980’s my dad had a sticker on his vehicle that said “More people have died in Ted Kennedy’s car than in nuclear power plants”."

More coal miners die in on-the-job accidents every year than have been killed by all US nuclear powerplant mishaps, ever, combined.

The US Navy has been operating nuclear reactors since 1948 and has a cumulative 5400 reactor years of experience. At the moment they manage about 90 reactors, almost all of which are mobile, float, and several of which spend weeks to months continuously underwater. All told, Navy reactors have traveled 128 million miles.

In those 5400 reactor-years and 128 million miles of operation, the US Navy has had one (1) reactor-related mishap that required so much as a crewman being medically examined (USS Guardfish, 21 April, 1973,). Some swabbie opened the wrong valve and let a few gallons (<5) of coolant out. Five crewmen were exposed and later examined and found free of any indications of radiation injury.

You can blame the Selective Service but it was the fault of neither the reactor nor its designer that some pinhead turned the wrong valve.

[Equine1952]

You make me smile. I qualified on three different Navy plants, rode the boats, and operate and refueled in one civilian plant. When offered removal or radiation treatment for prostate cancer I chose radiation. The boogeyman is In the ignorance. IMO

[VTenigma]

Vogtle nuclear reactor Unit 3 has started a nuclear reaction inside the nuclear reactor.

---

Thankfully the nuclear reaction didn’t start outside of the reactor. That might have been bad.

[vpintheak]

The US Airforce will be putting one in Eielson AFB in Alaska. There is also a utility that will be installing one as well.
If green freaks actually cared about the environment, they would be all over nuclear power.

[Revel]

IT was probably built with China materials and runs on Windows 10 or 11.

[6ppc]

It’s on Amazon Kindle. I have both.

[6ppc]

Dark Sun is good but Making is a tour de force.

[6ppc]

Read it. Best history of the Manhattan Project ever written.

[Celerity]

I get the idea from dumbgrunt that an idiot politician may have spread some lies.

Occums razor and all :)

So the whole thing may be fake news. Nuclear engineers are both really, really intelligent people who have the power to make their decisions final without the risk of outside idiots. I tend to believe these engineers would not proceed if it weren’t perfect.

[DUMBGRUNT]

—” I tend to believe these engineers would not proceed if it weren’t perfect.

Occums razor and all :)”

Yes, things happen.

Here is a famous case of foundation soil failure – the Transcona grain elevator.

NB: The state of the art has advanced considerably over the years.

https://www.geotech.hr/en/case-of-foundation-soil-failure-transcona-grain-elevator/

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My uncle left mechanical engineering school in 1942, enlisted in the Army, and they sent him to Oak Ridge where he was responsible for one of the enrichment lines. He said he had to manage the farm boys from Tennessee who ran the equipment. He was the grand old college educated man at age 22. After that, he and his new bride moved to Los Alamos where he worked on nuclear weapons. He didn’t like building weapons and went back to school to become a doctor and dentist.

[newzjunkey]

Georgia Power announced that the Vogtle nuclear reactor Unit 3 has started a nuclear reaction inside the nuclear reactor.

But did a nuclear reaction happen in the nuclear reactor? /s

[NohSpinZone]

Awesome. He worked at the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Process Building that was half a mile long to give the UF₆ enough room to diffuse as much of the U-235 as possible. Wonderful piece of history.

[Victor]

"... Nuclear engineers are both really, really intelligent people who have the power to make their decisions final without the risk of outside idiots. I tend to believe these engineers would not proceed if it weren’t perfect......"

Having come from the engineering world myself (electrical; systems engineering) I think your assessment is correct; especially regarding nuclear engineers, who no doubt work very carefully alongside the other disciplines to ensure near perfect outcomes...