Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge-scientist/story?id=13141287

by suprgeek • 15 years ago

49 20 15 years ago

abcnews.go.com

tres2• 15 years ago

The title is technically correct; however, it seems like link bait once you get to page two of the article and see:

"Bridenbaugh told ABC News that he believes the design flaws that prompted his resignation from GE were eventually addressed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant."

Paulomus• 15 years ago

Yes, but he hesitated to say this was sufficient and said the reactors were still "a little more susceptible to an accident that would result in a loss of containment".

tres2• 15 years ago

The qualitative assessment of the plant's design is outside the scope of what I'm commenting on. I'm referring to the journalistic bait-and-switch which hides a very relevant piece of information (that contradicts the implied assertion of the title) on page two of a banner-encrusted site.

In the context of current events, the title of the link suggests some kind of spectacular negligence.

At the point where the scientist says the design flaws were addressed, [his resignation due to design flaws] is no longer a story that adds anything relevant or noteworthy to the discussion. It's merely a historical fact disconnected from current events.

If the title of the article had followed the content and been focused on the expert sharing their knowledge and discussing possible problems with the design I would have appreciated it much more.

[edit: clarify what is no longer newsworthy]

rbanffy7• 15 years ago

> he believes the design flaws that prompted his resignation from GE were eventually addressed

Anyway, a design that blows up when power is cut because it cannot cool itself down to safe levels is... weird.

rbanffy7• 15 years ago

Dear downvoter, would you buy a car that falls apart (or blows up killing the passengers) when it runs out of gas?

If something can go wrong, it will, given time, go wrong. Even if there is one chance in a million for the whole chain of countermeasures to fail in tandem, give it a million chances to happen and you end up with a good chance of it happening.

bhousel2• 15 years ago

I agree with you -- actually go a step further and replace "weird" with "irresponsible" and that's how I feel about the whole situation.

There are newer generations of nuclear reactors that don't suffer from this design flaw, but convincing the public that nuclear power can be done safely is going to get a lot more difficult. This incident is going to be a huge step backwards for public acceptance of nuclear power.

dexen• 15 years ago

It's laid out pretty clearly in http://mitnse.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japa... which was posted to HN today as well.

In short, even after reactor shutdown, substantial heat is still produced, so some cooling is needed. Substantial as in, up to some 7% of normal output, early after the shutdown. That's mostly due to residue fissible elements -- byproduct of normal operation.

The explosion was not inside reactor pressure vessel, but in the housing. Top parts of fuel rods got exposed out of coolant water at some point and heated up considerably. When water level was raised back again, heat caused release hydrogen. Upon subsequent steam venting (necessary in case of overheating), the hydrogen combusted in the air in reactor housing (i.e., building, not the pressure vessel itself). The pressure vessel itself contains no air to avoid explosion.

Compare a very early mishap with a nuclear pile (not reactor): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire -- where the Brits tried to extinguish smoldering graphite & very hot fuel with water, and there was risk of hydrogen explosion (fortunately avoided).

koenigdavidmj• 15 years ago

Whose idea was it to put the thing on the fucking coast? In Japan?

georgieporgie• 15 years ago

The embedded video was American scare-journalism at its finest. Workers at a compromised nuclear site wearing full suits and masks? Why, that's just like CHERNOBYL!

Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest

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