4 ms·
Well, no. A meltdown is when the stuff escapes containment and then continues undergoing fission, heating up and melting out of containment and into groundwater
by rland 6y ago
Well, no. A meltdown is when the stuff escapes containment and then continues undergoing fission, heating up and melting out of containment and into groundwater/the environment.
The drain tanks are shaped specifically so if the (liquid) fuel flows in, it will stop reacting. And presumably the whole apparatus (drain tanks included) is inside of a biological shield.
So a "meltdown" here just means a big hunk of solid nuclear salt inside the bio-shield. I think the idea being that you could just bury the whole thing in case of failure.
- jabl 6y agoIIRC draining the fuel salt into the drain tanks was standard operating procedure for one of the early MSR experimental reactors. Next morning when they came in to continue experiments, started the (electrical?) heaters to liquify the salt and pump it back into the reactor core. Wouldn't surprise me if the modern designs are similar.