3 ms·
"sat on their hands, done nothing" That's how it should be, but in this case not doing anything was not an option. The passive (gravity fed) cooling system on
by jakeogh 11y ago
"sat on their hands, done nothing"
That's how it should be, but in this case not doing anything was not an option. The passive (gravity fed) cooling system on the first reactor to melt had it's valve's almost closed when they lost power. Seems like a bad design to even have valves on it but I'm not a Nuclear Engineer.
And people at Daini were able to prevent meltdowns by hand-laying miles of high current cable. Reasonable documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9wDRHZHP0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9wDRHZHP0
- ori_b 11y ago> The passive (gravity fed) cooling system on the first reactor to melt had it's valve's almost closed when they lost power. Seems like a bad design to even have valves on it but I'm not a Nuclear Engineer. It wasn't a great design. But that's what happens when you take reactors that were built before Chernobyl, were optimized for producing material suitable for nuclear bombs instead of safety, and then run them long past their designed lifespan. More or less, these reactors should have been retired long ago, and replaced with more modern designs.
- spronkey 11y agoBut they weren't because money. So people die.
- guscost 11y agoThis is repeating points from other replies, but it has to be said again that much of the passive-safe design in a BWR/PWR has to do with the fact that it will melt down (rather than go prompt-critical and explode) even when every cooling system fails, since the coolant itself is what allows the reaction to continue.
- DonHopkins 11y ago>"sat on their hands, done nothing" Sounds like Bush's response to Katrina. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Was Cheney the big dog they hired to bark at Bush in case he attempted to touch any of the buttons?