Are you afraid of Nuclear Power?

by Bogie Posted 2011/06/29 21:06:53

Related Topics: nuclear weapons, New York, Customers, Emergency, New York Times, Natural Disaster, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Power Plant, Nuclear, fukushima, fukushima daiichi, Daiichi, Natural Disasters

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	Nuclear Power doesn't scare me!	2 votes	33%
	Nuclear Power is scary	1 vote	17%
	Nuclear Power is ...	2 votes	33%
	I feel	1 vote	17%

June 29, 2011

Nuclear Safety in the Spotlight

POWERnews

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Flooding that threatens two Midwest nuclear power plants and fire that reached the edge of the top U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory put U.S. nuclear safety in the news this week. Government officials responded with assurances that all facilities had adequately safeguards in place to ride out natural disasters.

River Flooding Affects Nuclear Plants

On Monday, The New York Times reported that Fort Calhoun, one of the two nuclear plants on the flooding Missouri River, "came under increased pressure for a brief period on Sunday" when some heavy equipment "nicked an eight-foot-high, 2,000-foot-long temporary rubber berm, and it deflated. Water also began to approach electrical equipment, which prompted operators to cut themselves off from the grid and start up diesel generators." The facility returned to grid power later in the day. It is operated by Omaha Public Power District and located north of Omaha. Fort Calhoun, had been shut down since April for refueling but stayed closed in anticipation of flooding.

Cooper Station, near Brownville, Neb., is owned by Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) and is still operating. Storms and tornados that damaged transmission lines and cut power to customers last week seemed to be of more immediate concern to NPPD.

When asked on CBS's "The Early Show" on Tuesday about the possibility of a Fukushima Daiichi-type incident at the two plants, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who had just visited them, responded, "All of the vital systems, the electrical distribution systems, are being protected. They have emergency backup diesel generators in the event that they would lose their normal power supplies. So we think that all the right systems are in place. But just to be sure we have our inspectors here making sure, 'round the clock, that all the right precautions are being taken."

[Update 4:30 EST: It should be noted that nuclear plants are not the only ones facing difficulties as the result of flooding. The Kansas City Business Journal wrote about an hour ago that "buses and perhaps boats" would bring essential workers to Kansas City Power & Light's Iatan Power Plant, the area's largest, beginning immediately. Nonessential employees are being told not to report for work, but "the plant won't shut down unless the Missouri River water elevation reaches 785 feet above sea level."]

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SovereignX 2011/06/30 00:57:24

I feel

+1
nuclear power can produce an enormous amounts of energy, but we need to install some extreme fail-safes, just in case some idiot decides to show up to work drunk or something

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Bogie to SovereignX 2011/06/30 14:34:05

+1
The reactor operators have the most stressful job on earth. I am a Nuclear Chemcial Engineer and I have investigated dozens of equipment failures including Three Mile Island. The issue is always one of budget not safety believe me I ahe seen the screw ups because of dumb purchasing and management decisions.

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connie (in name only) BN-0 2011/06/29 23:44:50

Nuclear Power is scary

+1
We fear what we don't understand.

We live right on the edge of a nuclear evacuation zone. I don't live in constant fear, but accidents and near accidents remind us to be very uncomfortable about living so near to a nuclear power plant. What I really wish is for nuclear physicists to find a way to reverse the fission process and/or create storage facilities for the used rods that can remain "safe" for thousands of years.

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Bogie to connie ... 2011/06/30 14:31:16 (edited)

+1
I have investigated many screw ups in nuclear power plants as I am a Nuclear Chemical Engineer. Every nuclear power facility leaks radiation all the time. It is impossible to prevent it. I investigated Three Mile Island for my company Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. I also have been involved in the Idaho Natioal Laboratory as a consultant in research and development of new methods of disposal of nuclear wastes especially at the Hanford site where the USA makes weapons grade fisslie materials. Being a nuckear power plant operator is a very streesful job because 99.99% of the time there is nothing to do and when something gose wrong there is little time available to react to it. Most of the reactors in operation have a fiedl so high nside the reactor building a person cannot enter it for more than a nanosecond. I have seen dozens of equipment failures over the years where parts of the calandria have come unattached in the cooling water supply lines. Every single calandria in the world is suffering from belt line fractures caused by neutron flux. Since no reactors have been built for 30 years all of them are on the verge of being shut down. If no new licenses are permitted then nuclear power will soon just become extinct. The Saudis are building 13 reactors however I hope you find t...

I have investigated many screw ups in nuclear power plants as I am a Nuclear Chemical Engineer. Every nuclear power facility leaks radiation all the time. It is impossible to prevent it. I investigated Three Mile Island for my company Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. I also have been involved in the Idaho Natioal Laboratory as a consultant in research and development of new methods of disposal of nuclear wastes especially at the Hanford site where the USA makes weapons grade fisslie materials. Being a nuckear power plant operator is a very streesful job because 99.99% of the time there is nothing to do and when something gose wrong there is little time available to react to it. Most of the reactors in operation have a fiedl so high nside the reactor building a person cannot enter it for more than a nanosecond. I have seen dozens of equipment failures over the years where parts of the calandria have come unattached in the cooling water supply lines. Every single calandria in the world is suffering from belt line fractures caused by neutron flux. Since no reactors have been built for 30 years all of them are on the verge of being shut down. If no new licenses are permitted then nuclear power will soon just become extinct. The Saudis are building 13 reactors however I hope you find that comforting because I do not. They will all be located on the coast to use seawater as the condenser cooling water. There isn't a whole lot of fresh water in Saudi Arabia. Seawater is very corrosive and full of pernicious aquatic life that grwos in the pipes plugging them up. Doubtless they will build GE reactors like Fukushima's but a little better as they have learned how to clad the fissle material better so they don't produce hydrogen gas so well. The GE reactor building containment is still square however which is why the ones in Fukushia blew to pieces but it's the cheapest way to build them. Round buildings are expensive. Of course all the US GE reactors are Mark I's like Fukushima and hydrogen is always building up inside of them.

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connie ... to Bogie 2011/06/30 19:04:31

+1
Thanks, Bogie, for this information. I hate nuclear power, and now I fear it even more. It is too bad that we didn't begin building alternative forms of energy decades ago. It will always be costly to change; but if we had done it gradually, we wouldn't be facing these decisions today. As humans continue to make poor decisions, we are further risking the health of our planet and future generations.

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Bogie to connie ... 2011/06/30 19:22:13 (edited)

+1
Nuclear Power receives huge subsidies from the government, too so if the consrvatives want to cut back spending why not cut that out and the subsidies for huge farming conglomerates, coal fired power plants, oil refining and oil exploration, etc. Nuclear power uses the very inefficient Rankine or Steam Cycle so it is very inefficient in its use of its fuel. Nuclear fuel costs about $54 a pound right now, a lot more than coal ($50 a ton) and that is one reason nuclear needs welfare payments The other reason is that operating them costs a huge amount in amortozed capital, equipment repair, operators slaries (super high!), and all the very expensive consultants and contractors on the gravy train. Canada has the most reliable nuclear power plants but thier operational costs were driving the cost of electricity way above the cost from thermal and hydro power. The alternative energy business is also full of crooks as they are getting $0.95 a kilowatt hour (ten times what is considered expensive) in Canada for example to run a crappy garbage to electricity plant that will never work because the engineering is so poor. The fuel feed conveyor for example is way too steep and the fuel rolls backwards on it. But they don't care as they are getting hundreds of millions of investment dolla...

Nuclear Power receives huge subsidies from the government, too so if the consrvatives want to cut back spending why not cut that out and the subsidies for huge farming conglomerates, coal fired power plants, oil refining and oil exploration, etc. Nuclear power uses the very inefficient Rankine or Steam Cycle so it is very inefficient in its use of its fuel. Nuclear fuel costs about $54 a pound right now, a lot more than coal ($50 a ton) and that is one reason nuclear needs welfare payments The other reason is that operating them costs a huge amount in amortozed capital, equipment repair, operators slaries (super high!), and all the very expensive consultants and contractors on the gravy train. Canada has the most reliable nuclear power plants but thier operational costs were driving the cost of electricity way above the cost from thermal and hydro power. The alternative energy business is also full of crooks as they are getting $0.95 a kilowatt hour (ten times what is considered expensive) in Canada for example to run a crappy garbage to electricity plant that will never work because the engineering is so poor. The fuel feed conveyor for example is way too steep and the fuel rolls backwards on it. But they don't care as they are getting hundreds of millions of investment dollars and they are just lining their pockets with gold from naive, stupid bankers. One got $175 million through K street lobbyists then started to build a plant in Mongolia then suddenly everyone was laid off! It smacks of the same vanishing act the $12 billion did in Iraq!

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connie ... to Bogie 2011/06/30 19:58:48

+1
Everytime the power companies talk about changing over to a different form of energy, they talk about how much it will cost and that it will have to be passed down to the consumer. It keeps people divided, so that nothing ever gets done. And regulation? Oh no! That's another "price" that they claim they want to keep us from having to pay. They know how to control voters and politicians.

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Bogie to connie ... 2011/06/30 20:35:54

+1
Yes they do they are masters at it and they also know how (like GE) not to pay any taxes whatsoever!

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FAWKES' NOOSE ~ ΔTX 2011/06/29 21:33:49

Nuclear Power is ...

+2
The most ridiculous way to boil water ever conceived.

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Bogie to FAWKES'... 2011/06/29 21:41:27

But a great way to boil flesh!

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