[BartSimpson]

Um, not so fast. I'm hearing that the US military is evacuating Yakota and Yokohama. Seems we're bugging out ahead of the change in wind direction predicted for Tuesday.

[martin14]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

If they can repair the incoming power lines in time, they should be able to get the cooling back online and the people still manning their posts can take the time to recover in hospital or spend a couple months with their families before they die.

Looking at the amount of damage in the buildings, I'm not sure just
restoring power will be enough.

All the pumps may have to be rewired, and that takes time.



And may not be possible in #3 and #4 right now anyway, I read they will start with #2.

[Proculation]

Maybe it will be a good time for CANDU reactors selling.

[DrCaleb]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Extremely. I recall reading that the plants were designed for 30 years and magnitude 8 earthquakes, but given an extra 10 years if some improvements were made to the structure, and adding generators to hopefully let them endure a magnitude 8.6. They survived a 9.0. Like Bart says, it's no one's fault. They did their best, and probably averted a really big catastrophe with their preparations.

If they can repair the incoming power lines in time, they should be able to get the cooling back online and the people still manning their posts can take the time to recover in hospital or spend a couple months with their families before they die.

I don't know if you saw CNN last night, but they were showing people being scanned with a Geiger counter and this one fellow - late 20' to mid 30's - had hair falling off his head in patches and the stupid twits from CNN didn't even know what they were looking at.

That poor git is going to be gone in a week or two at most.

No, I gave up on the Natalie Hollaway channel a while back. Trouble is, radiation sickness and meth addicts symptoms can be remarkably similar. I'd like to see the Geiger counter on that one, but either way the prognosis isn't good for him.

[Bruce_the_vii]

Proculation Proculation:

Maybe it will be a good time for CANDU reactors selling.

My Uncle used to work for AECL, managed the cost estimates on a sales bid, and says that the CANDU has "appreciably" more safety features than the competition. This is in addition to being heavy water moderated and therefore "none core meltdown". He didn't talk much about his job and that was his short way of putting it. Yeah, the CANDU should be subsidized still because it maybe the way to go.

[DrCaleb]

Bruce_the_vii Bruce_the_vii:

Proculation Proculation:

Maybe it will be a good time for CANDU reactors selling.

My Uncle used to work for AECL, managed the cost estimates on a sales bid, and says that the CANDU has "appreciably" more safety features than the competition. This is in addition to being heavy water moderated and therefore "none core meltdown". He didn't talk much about his job and that was his short way of putting it. Yeah, the CANDU should be subsidized still because it maybe the way to go.

Totally the way to go. The Gen 3 ACR-1000 series too claims it can be built anywhere quickly and safely.

One downside of the CANDU is that it produces quite a bit of Tritium, but the bonus being it won't melt down and can not be used to produce weapons.

[andyt]

What about breeder reactors?

What's wrong with tritium - long half life?

[PublicAnimalNo9]

About 12 years half life

[PublicAnimalNo9]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Bruce_the_vii Bruce_the_vii:

Proculation Proculation:

Maybe it will be a good time for CANDU reactors selling.

My Uncle used to work for AECL, managed the cost estimates on a sales bid, and says that the CANDU has "appreciably" more safety features than the competition. This is in addition to being heavy water moderated and therefore "none core meltdown". He didn't talk much about his job and that was his short way of putting it. Yeah, the CANDU should be subsidized still because it maybe the way to go.

Totally the way to go. The Gen 3 ACR-1000 series too claims it can be built anywhere quickly and safely.

One downside of the CANDU is that it produces quite a bit of Tritium, but the bonus being it won't melt down and can not be used to produce weapons.

From what I understand, the US was using tritium produced by heavy water reactors at their Savannah River site to make nuclear weapons.

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

What about breeder reactors?

They aren't designed to produce electricity - but I really wish we had some. They take 'used' uranium and byproducts and 'recharge' it back to useful uranium. It produces a bit of electricity, but only as a byproduct.

andyt andyt:

What's wrong with tritium - long half life?

12.5 years. 14 days if ingested. And what do you do with the water 'contaminated' with it till then? Even though it would probably do no harm until it decays into Helium III, you can't dump it into a larger body, as it's seen as radioactive contamination. So you have to store the heavy water somewhere till it's 'safe', so you also need heavy water extraction facilities and large storage areas.

[hurley_108]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

One downside of the CANDU is that it produces quite a bit of Tritium, but the bonus being it won't melt down and can not be used to produce weapons.

andyt andyt:

What's wrong with tritium - long half life?

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

About 12 years half life

To my thinking, the tritium wouldn't be that much of a threat. It's still hydrogen, so it'll float up and either escape earth's gravity or live in the upper atmosphere.

Also, the long half life means fewer decays per second than something with a short half life, like iodine-131 which was one of the big problems from Chernobyl, which has a half life of 8 days. Good for being mostly gone soon, but atom-for-atom more radioactive. Also looks like the betas emitted by tritium have a mean energy of 19keV, while those from I-131 have 190keV.

All of which just means that the CANDUs are that much safer.

Or that I'm full of crap.

[andyt]

Can't breeder reactors be adapted to produce more electricity, or is that just not possible with the way it works?

[DrCaleb]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Totally the way to go. The Gen 3 ACR-1000 series too claims it can be built anywhere quickly and safely.

One downside of the CANDU is that it produces quite a bit of Tritium, but the bonus being it won't melt down and can not be used to produce weapons.

From what I understand, the US was using tritium produced by heavy water reactors at their Savannah River site to make nuclear weapons.

Savannah River was burning Plutonium, that can be used to make weapons. CANDU's use U-235 that doesn't need the processing required to extract the U-238 used in weapons, or Plutonium. It's cheaper to use raw U235, than to process raw ore to use the others, and it doesn't give countries the excuse to build processing facilities that can be user either for power or weapons.

[BartSimpson]

You could also use coal.

[DrCaleb]

hurley_108 hurley_108:

To my thinking, the tritium wouldn't be that much of a threat. It's still hydrogen, so it'll float up and either escape earth's gravity or live in the upper atmosphere.

Also, the long half life means fewer decays per second than something with a short half life, like iodine-131 which was one of the big problems from Chernobyl, which has a half life of 8 days. Good for being mostly gone soon, but atom-for-atom more radioactive. Also looks like the betas emitted by tritium have a mean energy of 19keV, while those from I-131 have 190keV.

All of which just means that the CANDUs are that much safer.

Or that I'm full of crap.

Quite correct. (you are not full of crap) Tritium gives off Beta radiation, which won't penetrate skin. But just the word 'radiation' scares irrational people. Tell them that their TV emits photon radiation, and I've seen some panic.

In total, in 50 years of nuclear power, something like 500 pounds of Tritium has been produced, but it's mixed into millions of tons of water. I saw one Greenpeacer on the news yesterday saying that 'cumulative radiation' is what kills residents, in regards to the demineralized (non radioactive) water spilled from the Bruce Power plant in Ontairo yesterday. It's those guys that self inflict many woes on the nuclear industry.

Can't get approval for a new plant until they can demonstrate what they'll do with the waste, even if the 'waste' really isn't.

andyt andyt:

Can't breeder reactors be adapted to produce more electricity, or is that just not possible with the way it works?

It's not really possible. The energy used to boil water in regular reactors is used in breeders to change the input elements into different elements. But whether it's cooled by water or liquid sodium or lead, the heat still needs to be radiated, so some electricity is produced. Usually only enough to power it's own compound. The first breeder produced enough to power 4 light bulbs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiment ... _Reactor_I

One of the bonuses of breeders, is newer ones don't need uranium or plutonium, they can use thorium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor