On The Japanese Quake and Tsunami (analysis of the nuclear reactor type that exploded)

market-ticker.org ^ | 3-12-11 | Karl Denninger

[dynachrome]

A primer for those who are not familiar with nuclear power in general may be helpful. The plants in question are "BWR" plants, or "Boiling Water Reactors." Fuel comprising a mixture that contains Uranium-235 and/or Plutonium-239 are placed into rods with a zirconium cladding. These are arranged inside a high-pressure container. Hydraulically-controlled rods that contain material that absorbs neutrons are placed in the core as well. The pressure vessel is filled with ordinary water.

...steam outlet to the turbines is closed. This causes the pressure to rise rapidly and the steam to collapse back to liquid water in part of the reactor. That in turn causes a temporary power spike in the output of the reactor until the control rods are fully re-inserted, as the neutron moderation capacity goes up as the steam bubbles collapse.

[dynachrome]

Move to blog area if necessary, but I thought this was good info.

[mountainlion]

Wasn't the explosion the outer building and wasn't it designed with blow out panels? The reactor did not blow up. The containment is still intact.

[proxy_user]

It seems like the real problem is that the backup diesel generators were not tsunami-proof.

Could they have put them fifty feet above the ground level, maybe? Let that salt water flow underneath them.

[dynachrome]

“The containment is still intact”

correct. There are still big problems if cesium is being detected outside of the vessel.

[dynachrome]

My addendunm to the headline was not clear. ahould say “the building around the containment vessel” (most likely a hydrogen explosion)

[cripplecreek]

Personally I think restricting the building new technologically advanced reactors increases the danger in America.

We’re forced to rely on nuclear plants far past their intended service life because new ones aren’t being built.

[mongo141]

“Move to blog area if necessary, but I thought this was good info.”

A most excellent article!

[mountainlion]

Reactors the size of an Aircraft carrier or sub are probably the most trouble free and efficient. New designs are amazing. Safety should be phenomenal. I saw one that ran on spent uranium. They make these look old fashioned.

[cripplecreek]

We’ve regulated ourselves into danger. Its the same with our aging pipelines.

Risk has become more cost effective than trying to keep up with regulation.

[Jedidah]

Does the cesium release indicate that, although the containment structure is still intact, it may have been damaged by the quake and is leaking?

[dynachrome]

If I understand it correctly, it may mean that the fuel rods are damaged, which is not good.

[KoRn]

Totally LOVE your tagline!!!!!

(request permission to use it whenever the subject comes up!)

[ponygirl]

Denninger totally amazes me sometimes. He wrote that so even I could understand it, and I'm one of those that says, "Nooo-cleee-yur? Noook-ya-ler? Duhrrr?"

ANd I love how he wraps that blog post up. If you're not willing to live with the risks associated with First World benefits, then you better be living in a hut and eating bark off the trees and walking, not driving, when you go out to milk your goats every day before you start telling everybody else how to live.

[dynachrome]

Please do. I stole it from a poster here:

http://www.survivalblog.com

[dynachrome]

I’ve been following his posts on the real estate mess for a while.

[listenhillary]

Totally agree. The worst case scenario happened and 50 or so nuclear plants in Japan are up and running.

[chimera]

137Cs is a fission product so it indicates somehow there are fission products in the release. It could be a partially damaged core. But it could also be a result of the earlier pressure releases where coolant had to be spurted out to relieve pressure when they lost their auxiliary cooling capability. There was a partial failure of containment isolation when emergency power was unavailable, and that allowed some containment effluent to be released to the outside. There is always a small inventory of fission products in the coolant of a LWR and we may be seeing those, not necessarily damaged fuel (although it could be that too).

[Windflier]

The worst case scenario happened and 50 or so nuclear plants in Japan are up and running.

Yet world renowned physicist, Michio Kaku, has gone on record with the statement that this is the second worst nuclear plant disaster in history - right behind Chernobyl.

My deep respect for the man just became very shallow.

[listenhillary]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste

What do you plant to use to power your utopian world?

[listenhillary]

I may have misinterpreted your post. Sorry.