3 ms·
Queue the onslaught of articles expounding upon the problem with 20/20 hindsight. Couple of points that the article fails to mention: * BWR reactors use less s
by bradleyland 16y ago
Queue the onslaught of articles expounding upon the problem with 20/20 hindsight. Couple of points that the article fails to mention:
* BWR reactors use less substantial construction because pressures are much lower than PWR. Intense pressure is used to prevent the water inside a PWR from boiling. Pressure in a PWR can reach 22.064 MPa (3200 PSIA). Contrast this with the 7.6 MPa (1000–1100 psi) present in a BWR. PWR has its own set of risks, and the discussion of PWR vs BWR in the nuclear community would seem familiar to many in the tech community. cough Emacs vs Vim cough.
* Mark I reactors are Mark I for a reason. They were initial designs succeeded by Mark II, III. No one questions that we can do better because we have. We can all sit around and pontificate on the shortcomings of Mark I BWR units, but what is the solution? The solution is to pursue decommissioning and replacement with newer, safer technology.
- uikjhgyujmn 16y agoI think you have BWR/PWR he wrong way round in the first point
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- bradleyland 16y agoThanks for the catch. I had BWR/PWR reversed in the first sentence, which ended up contradicting the rest :)
- InclinedPlane 16y agoRe: Mark I, An important perspective that's missing from this discussion is the fact that the fear of nuclear power has kept older reactors in operation longer than they should/would have been, due to lack of replacement by newer designs.
- dialtone 16y agoThis is absolutely false. Standard lifetime for nuclear reactors is 40 years. With lifetime extension they can reach 60. Fear mongering is not in sight, the problem is nuclear plants cost a lot of money and time to build. Especially not true for Japan, the country with the highest number of nuclear plants in the world. http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2007/npp_extension.html http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2007/npp_extension.html
- lispm 16y agoIt is not. These old designs would not get any permission to get online by today's standards, at least in Germany. Some of these old reactor designs can't be brought to current safety standards. They just have to be closed.