As soon as they began to explain the situation of the exploding, and at least as of a few hours ago, the now abandoned Japenese nuclear Power Plant, it made sense, and I wondered why I had never thought of it before. It was intuitive.
Nuclear energy reactors/power generators cannot be left without human supervision, and they cannot be “turned off” in a short time period.
Hugh nuclear fuel rods, which generate heat by their nature of being radioactive, are packed by the hundreds into a grid and hang in a pool of water, control rods run interference between them slowing or regulating the amount of heat they create, along with the flow and volume of water pumped over them. The water boils into steam to generate electrical energy.
If a disturbance occurs, redundant systems are to maintain the plants safety through a proper temperature of the fuel rods in their bath. These did not work, and Japan faces a growing catastrophe.
The problem is this: the fuel rods require a regulated flow of water so long as they remain in this grid, they are less dangerous and easier to manage if they can be separated, but this takes a few weeks to pull them one at a time from the bath and properly handle and store them. Even stored they still require a water bath but it can be managed somewhat easier. However we see here that one reactor was being reworked and its rods had been stored yet with the failure of power within the system, now even those rods have reached such a temperature as to ignite yet another radioactive fire.
From this we learn what we should have known from the start. Without constant supervision these plants will burn up and spread their atomic poisons. A number of paths could lead to an unattended plant, pandemic among the plant workers, civil insurrection, a natural or man made disaster. This isn’t a car overheating, a TV too loud….the last guy out of the room can’t just turn the thing off. It has an atomic imperative to react, and it will.
What do we hear form the industry and the PM’s and Senators pushing to the microphone? All good news, don’t worry, not so bad, this could never happen anywhere else. Should we be building machines that cannot be shut off for weeks, which can destroy a region?
Amazing though what can be learned from the Japanese. Due to the loss of energy of this plant, and a couple of others were taken off line by the quake and are still being inspected, much of Japan was to endure rolling brown outs or outages as energy would be alternated from region to region.
ReplyDeleteNow it appears this will not be necessary, energy consumption has plummeted. People on their own went to candle light evenings, reduced TV and appliance use, companies have done somewhat the same. Shared sacrifice for the common good, amazing.
the yellow fringe:
ReplyDeleteRachel Maddow did an excellent job of explaining what was happening in the nuclear power plants in Japan. Your explanation more or less parallels hers.
Hey Whit, ya made it. Well I didn't know she (RM) did that, so I am glad not to be to far off then from being right. These are power plants without an off switch, (at least a quick off switch).
ReplyDeleteDUH
ReplyDeleteDon't build ur nuclear reactors on the pacific "Ring of fire"!