4 ms·
You build a reactor and specify its lifetime, then push the reactor past its design lifetime, then you find way too many cracks in your reactor and you want to
by laydn 7y ago
You build a reactor and specify its lifetime, then push the reactor past its design lifetime, then you find way too many cracks in your reactor and you want to run it for 4 more years by asking for an increase in the $number_of_allowed_cracks?
What could possibly go wrong?
- anilakar 7y agoYou increase the limit and notice it works just as well as before. Then you'll increase the limit again, and again, and again... This is called "normalization of deviance", and it's what caused the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger. There is a large number of great articles about the phenomenon.
- stmfreak 7y agoExploration of the failure envelope is a human instinct.
- benj111 7y agoWell design lifetime is only really relevant at the design stage. I would hope they're proceeding on how the the reactor is now, regardless how how long it was designed to last. I don't per se have a problem with them changing safety limits, if we know more about how things behave, it seems sensible. I suppose the question is still, is it safe? Regardless of number of cracks, the design life time, or the actual age.