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"We learned that the reactor design should not rely on external power sources to prevent it from blowing up" This has been known for decades. Fukushima (like e
by khuey 8y ago
"We learned that the reactor design should not rely on external power sources to prevent it from blowing up"
This has been known for decades. Fukushima (like essentially all nuclear power plants) had backup diesel generators. But the electrical switching equipment that connected the generators to several of the reactors were located in areas that was flooded by the tsunami. Oops.
- vilhelm_s 8y agoAlso, it had an emergency cooling system (the isolation condenser) which could work passively without pumped water. Unfortunately the failsafe logic made the valves to the isolation condenser close when electricity was lost, and then without electric power the reactor operators could neither open the valves, nor monitor whether the valves were opened or closed, so it didn't work and the operators were confused about why. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK253938/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK253938/]