dagblog - Comments for "Merkel shuts down seven nuclear reactors"

One of the concerns about

Beetlejuice — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:34:03 +0000

In reply to Are earthquakes and tsunamis

One of the concerns about Chernobyl was in the event of a power grid failure, external power would not have been immediately available to run the plant's cooling water pumps...exactly what's happened in Japan. And why I suspect Merkel is drawing down those older nuclear power plants...make damn sure there's plenty of power available immediately without hesitation so they don't experience catastrophic failure like Chernobyl and Japan.

As to your question, the best I can figure out, cooling is the biggest problem so far :

3-mile island - On March 28, 1979, there was a cooling system malfunction that caused a partial melt-down of the reactor core.

Chernobyl - The disaster began during a systems test on 26 April 1986 at reactor number four of the Chernobyl plant, which is near the town of Pripyat. There was a sudden power output surge, and when an emergency shutdown was attempted, a more extreme spike in power output occurred, which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions.

The wikipedia artile is more indepth...keep in mind this was during the cold war so info is at best ballpark variety

url - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

For designs where the coolant

Verified Atheist — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:49:14 +0000

In reply to She's just playing to the

For designs where the coolant doubles as the moderator, if you lose the coolant, you also lose the moderator (meaning the reaction stops). Of course, you still have to worry about the existing heat, but at least you don't have a run-away nuclear reaction!

Are earthquakes and tsunamis

Donal — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:45:00 +0000

In reply to She's just playing to the

Are earthquakes and tsunamis the only things that can go wrong, or the first things that have happened so far?

She's just playing to the

Beetlejuice — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:43:02 +0000

In reply to Merkel shuts down seven nuclear reactors

She's just playing to the audience.

If you think about it, the nuclear reactors in Japan didn't have a problem. They were working as expected without a problem until the earthquake which set into motion a chain of events that causes the oh shit moments we're witnessing...the earthquake and tsunami didn't cause any direct damage to the reactors. As I understand it, the problem with the reactors was the result of loosing external electrical power, main and back-up, to keep pumping water into the reactor to keep it cool.

Germans are extremely efficient so there's little to worry about. I suspect they're just reviewing their power back-up planning to validate there would be ample power resources available in short order if a catastrophe, like Japan's, ever occurred. Besides, when was the last time Germany had to worry about powerful earthquakes, other than old underground, abandoned coal mines collapsing? or tsunamis? Think of it as soothing those with the Chicken Little Complex...the sky is falling!!! the sky is falling !!!