4 ms·

Nukes should be the future but it won't happen. People are scared of it, and don't understand fission. Popular docudrama shows, like Chernobyl, propagate myths

by trimbo 7y ago

Nukes should be the future but it won't happen. People are scared of it, and don't understand fission. Popular docudrama shows, like Chernobyl, propagate myths that reactors can explode with "2-4 megaton power".[1] Politicians won't back it because no one wants it in their back yard. And carbon gives them new revenue they can leverage and borrow against to balance the budget.[2] I list more reasons at [3], which I link every time this comes up. [1] - https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/480113/how-large-would-the-steam-explosion-at-chernobyl-have-been https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/480113/how-large... [2] - https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059981189 https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059981189 [3] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19167207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19167207

acidburnNSA 7y ago
I ROFL'd so hard when the HBO miniseries said 2-4 megatons from a steam explosion. Like, what!? We engineers did a similar bounding calc as the one in your link and got about the same conclusion. So ridiculous. I do a lot of nuclear outreach in seattle. Audiences are skeptical but open. If we can scale the facts and education, I still think nuclear can and will play a major role in decarbonizing. Especially as intermittent renewable fleets get bigger and the intermittency issue becomes more serious.
- LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
  Do you ROFL at this https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1384269 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1... also? Especially the conclusion at the end?
  - acidburnNSA 7y ago
    No. I read this right when it came out with much interest. Why would I ROFL? It's not physically impossible like a 2-4 MT stream explosion postulated to happen days after the nuclear excursion when decay-heat melted fuel was dipped in the suppression pool. The best statement I heard in that regard was: "If that was true, then Hawaii would be wiped off the map multiple times per day as lava falls into the ocean" Related to this paper, nuclear chain reactor excursions are limited in energy by the vaporization and dispersal of fuel.
LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
Since you link to Stack Exchange, have you seen [4], and what do you think of the linked paper about possible nuclear jets [5] from there? [4] https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/502898/was-chernobyl-explosion-a-small-nuclear-detonation https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/502898/was-chern...? [5] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1384269 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1...

by trimbo 7y ago

acidburnNSA 7y ago

I ROFL'd so hard when the HBO miniseries said 2-4 megatons from a steam explosion. Like, what!? We engineers did a similar bounding calc as the one in your link and got about the same conclusion. So ridiculous. I do a lot of nuclear outreach in seattle. Audiences are skeptical but open. If we can scale the facts and education, I still think nuclear can and will play a major role in decarbonizing. Especially as intermittent renewable fleets get bigger and the intermittency issue becomes more serious.

LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
Do you ROFL at this https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1384269 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1... also? Especially the conclusion at the end?
- acidburnNSA 7y ago
  No. I read this right when it came out with much interest. Why would I ROFL? It's not physically impossible like a 2-4 MT stream explosion postulated to happen days after the nuclear excursion when decay-heat melted fuel was dipped in the suppression pool. The best statement I heard in that regard was: "If that was true, then Hawaii would be wiped off the map multiple times per day as lava falls into the ocean" Related to this paper, nuclear chain reactor excursions are limited in energy by the vaporization and dispersal of fuel.

LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago

Since you link to Stack Exchange, have you seen [4], and what do you think of the linked paper about possible nuclear jets [5] from there? [4] https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/502898/was-chernobyl-explosion-a-small-nuclear-detonation https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/502898/was-chern...? [5] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1384269 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00295450.2017.1...