Nuclear Reactor in Texas Leaking Cooling Water

The New York Times (via Drudge Report) ^ | April 18, 2003 | MATTHEW L. WALD

[TexasGunLover]

Great...

/sarcasm

[Torie]

This is an example of why American reactors are uneconomic. Only the French knew how to do it right. Yep, the French. Deal with it.

[Paleo Conservative]

PING!

[Sangamon Kid]

Send a plumber already...

[vetvetdoug]

This means one will be able to find the bass easier in the dark and with a Geiger counter. Whoopieee!!!

[eastforker]

500 degrees with preasures over 2000 pounds,something wrong here.600 pound steam is about 750 degrees.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

[Sangamon Kid]

I just hope no one turns on the cold water spigot to the darned thing!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

[P8riot]

As an ex-Navy nuclear plant operator, let me offer a possible explanation for this. Normally there is a "Primary Shield" that encloses reactor vessels. This shield is actually a tank that typically is composed of a steel or inconel inner and outer shells with layers of lead, steel, borated plastic, and water (which is sometimes borated). Instrumentation is inserted in the primary shield tank to measure neutron flux, shield water temperature, and other parameters. Boron is practically never added to the primary coolant that circulates in the reactor since it has a tendency to reduce the neutron flux necessary to maintain steady state operations (this is what is known as a neutron poison). The only time Boron would be added to the coolant is during an absolue emergency shutdown where the core was about to fail, or when the reactor core is being decommissioned. What they are seeing is Primary Shield water, not primary coolant.

[2Jedismom]

And I thought I had a bad leak!

[Bogey78O]

Maureen Dowd is already planning on how she'll work this into her next Bush bash.

[ALS]

[Overtaxed]

LOL! I thought of you when I read the headline.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Shoulda used Lone Star Beer, not water.

[radmanptn]

Civilian pwr's don't have a primary shield water tank. During operation rods are fully withdrawn Tave is controled with boron. The penetrations in the bottom of the vessel are for flux mapping instrumentation.

[P8riot]

500 degrees with preasures over 2000 pounds,something wrong here.600 pound steam is about 750 degrees.

You don't want steam in a reactor vessel, you need liquid coolant. I assume that you are checking saturation tables. Water at saturation temperature is borderline steam. You want a pressure that will prevent steam from occurring in the core and removing the cooling effect of the water. So 500 degrees and 2000 lbs is a perfectly acceptable combination.

[P8riot]

It depends on the design of the core. Is this one a BWR or a PWR?

[meatloaf]

All the commercial reactors in the US are single wall pressure vessels. The coolant circulates to the steam generator and back to the reactor vessel in the case of pressurized water reactors or to the turbine and back in the case of boiling water reactors.