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> So........How do you introduce cooling water back into a superheated nuclear mass without an expolosion? I would think you would have to first boil the water into superheated steam (400 to 600 degrees) and then gradually throttle back the steam temperature once the heat absorption from the nuclear material settles the steam climb at an upper limit line to begin cooling from. Any smart folks out there who can idjucate me would be appreciated.

I wonder the same thing. I assume they're introducing it to the superheated areas slowly enough that the expansion can take place slowly enough to be safely contained.

Hell, I don't add cold water or oil to an overheated car engine, much less to an overheated reactor core.

I also assume that the amount of water they are able to "sprinkle" down from firehoses and whatnot is not contained, since the buildings are open, so while they'll get vapor expansion, it's happening in free air, essentially.

But I'm not there, and I'm not an expert... just a guy with a 35-year old physics degree... who wonders the same thing.

My grandmother cracked an engine block once years ago by spraying it with cold water after it overheated to cool it off.

Seems a lot of people would kind like to understand the answer to the question you proposed.

Since we have the physics guys on the thread, the article contained the following quote:

"While the maximum vessel temperature set by the reactors' designers is 302 C degrees, the surface temperature of the No. 1 reactor vessel briefly topped 400 C and dropped to about 350 C by noon, and that of the No. 3 reactor vessel stood at about 305 C, the agency said."

350 C is only 662 F. That seems to be very low for a stainless steel structure. You could barely melt lead (327 C) at those temperatures. Stainless Steel shouldn't melt until over 1500 C. Is there something else going on here or do they just have a massive safety factor built into their warranties.

I saw what happened to the containment roof when water was pumped into the reactor. Classic dry boiler explosion.

The spent rod pools are another matter since they are not contained under pressure. I still cannot figure out how you regain temperature control of an overheated core due to a total lack of cooling water? My industrial experience calls for the boiler fuel source to be locked out until the boiler is less than 100 degrees above ambient facility temperature. That can mean having to wait 24 hours to refire.

So I'm guessing that instead of cooling water pumps as reported, superheated steam has to be injected into the cooling system slowly. Then once the flow of superheated steam is able to peak at a manageable pressure, heat exchangers and makeup steam at incrementally reduced temperatures needs to happen. Something like no less than a few degree drop per six hours. I would thin once cooling steam reached condensate levels, you could introduce cooler makeup water and then really get thing cooled down. That whole proces would take months.