Power cuts and nuclear meltdowns...

Is nuclear fission going to make a comeback and plug the gap in our energy needs? Will nuclear fusion ever become energetically viable?

Moderator: Peak Moderation

Post Reply
User avatar
Lord Beria3
Posts: 5066
Joined: 25 Feb 2009, 20:57
Location: Moscow Russia
Contact:

Power cuts and nuclear meltdowns...

Post by Lord Beria3 »

http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/201103 ... 62063f7829

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant was shut down automatically on March 11 due to the magnitude 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan. The on-site diesel backup generators also shut down about an hour after the event, leaving the reactors without power and thus without the ability to cool down the core. Japanese officials were operating the cooling system via battery power and were flying in batteries by helicopter to keep the temperature regulated, and TEPCO said early March 12 that it has installed a new mobile generator at the plant to enable the cooling system to operate even after the batteries are exhausted.
Assuming the world enters a world of sudden shortages/power cuts, than governments MUST start preparing for any nuclear power stations they have running will function without electricity.

This terrifying story reminds me how EVERYTHING in our society functions on electricity, without it, chaos collapse and literal radioactive meltdown can occur within days.
Peace always has been and always will be an intermittent flash of light in a dark history of warfare, violence, and destruction
User avatar
adam2
Site Admin
Posts: 11023
Joined: 02 Jul 2007, 17:49
Location: North Somerset, twinned with Atlantis

Post by adam2 »

Nuclear power stations need power for cooling even when shut down.
Under normall circumstances this is obtained from the grid.
Multiple alternatives are installed, normally diesel generators and batteries, in case of grid failure.

In the recent accident in Japan, it appears that these standby supplies did not function, whether due to bad luck, poor maintenance, defective design, or earthquake damage remains to be seen.

If the heat is not removed from the reactor core, then it will overheat and perhaps melt, as appears to be happening in Japan.
Consderable radioactive material can be released in such cases.

UK nuclear reactors are at little risk from earthqaukes.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
User avatar
RenewableCandy
Posts: 12780
Joined: 12 Sep 2007, 12:13
Location: York

Post by RenewableCandy »

There are earthquakes here. OK not 8.9 but even so.
Soyez réaliste. Demandez l'impossible.
Stories
The Price of Time
User avatar
Ludwig
Posts: 3849
Joined: 08 Jul 2008, 00:31
Location: Cambridgeshire

Post by Ludwig »

RenewableCandy wrote:There are earthquakes here. OK not 8.9 but even so.
You're being a bit pedantic RC! Adam said our nuclear reactors weren't at risk from earthquakes, not that they don't happen. We're hundreds of miles from the nearest fault lines; the chances of an earthquake in Iceland so catastrophic that it affects UK nuclear infrastructure must be near zero.
"We're just waiting, looking skyward as the days go down / Someone promised there'd be answers if we stayed around."
Aurora

Post by Aurora »

UK earthquakes? They just loosen a few bricks.

These minor tremors can't be compared to the overwhelming events which are currently unfolding in Japan.
Post Reply