Live Near a Nuke Plant?

[XD45 7,124]

A few facts about fission reactors that you may or may not know.

 

*Fission reactors need electricity for their cooling systems (you probably knew this one).

*Fission reactors cannot run without the load of the grid, so if the grid goes down, the reactor must be shut down.

*Fission reactors need cooling even when shut down, so all US nuke plants have multiple backup generators with about a month of fuel.

*Unless they are cooled for an extended period after being shut down, the active fuel rods can still melt down.

*Fission reactors produce "spent" fuel which is stored on-site in cooling ponds, which also need electricity to provide a continuous supply of water.

*Without pumps the cooling ponds will evaporate, exposing the spent fuel rods.  In the case of Fukushima, this took only about 100 hours.

*Spent fuel rods will burn if exposed to air, producing clouds of highly radioactive airborne particles.

 

Something else to think about.  If the grid goes down, everything goes down.  No food.  No water.  No fuel.  How many nuke plant workers will still be showing up for work to keep those generators going and the pumps going?

 

In the event of an extended grid failure, don't be near a nuke plant.

 

Look here for danger zones:  http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/

[Shandlanos 1,470]

I'd really like to see these neo-Luddite anti-nuclear folks stop quashing new tech and let new fission technologies enter the marketplace.

It's absolutely fucking shameful that we're still using what is essentially first-generation fission systems in this country. Yeah, some of the reactors are more efficient than what we were building in the 50's - but they have the same inherent design flaws outlined in your post, above. Because we're afraid of nuclear proliferation, we foolishly waste massive amount of recyclable fuel - because much of what can be recaptured from a uranium fission core is plutonium. Other nuclear nations, including France, use fuels composed of mixed oxides of U-235 and Pu-239 recycled from spent fuel rods and reactor cores in some of their reactors. This reduces the need to enrich uranium from new ore, and more importantly, reduces the amount of high-level radioactive waste that has to be stored indefinitely.

There is a very exciting new technology that could revolutionize power across the world, if it were brought to fruition. A molten thorium reactor is designed to run molten - it is literally impossible for a reactor that runs on molten fuel to melt down. Thorium cannot be used to make a nuclear weapon. It might somehow be feasible to make a dirty bomb - but it would be incredibly difficult to harvest, transport and weaponize a molten core. Once the reactor is started, you can't really touch the fuel. They could also be extremely small - instead of massive installations that require hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to construct, operate and decommission, molten thorium reactors could be manufactured and fueled at a centralized location, and shipped out to prepared sites for installation. They could provide clean, inexpensive power to rural areas all over the world.

Uranium fission is an old idea, with a lot of problems - and the way we're doing it right now is just plain stupid. Fossil fuels are finite and cause a lot of problems. We have some great opportunities available, if we as a species can find the funds and the will to pursue those opportunities.

[SouthernOne 203]

I can point one way toward the Savannah River Site and point the other way toward the Georgia Power reactors. We appreciate nuclear power around here.

 

Note to self, check the dates on the iodide tablets..

[Nailbomb 10,221]

Fear mongering about the nuclear industry is as prevalent as that about guns. Realistically its not even just the nuclear industry, its any industry, and perhaps rightfully so(but I'll get to that later)

 

The American Mindset is easily summed up with NIMBY.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NIMBY

 

Nuclear reactor? Fracking? Chemical plants? LPG Facility? Methanol plant?

 

"Not In My Back Yard!"

 

Bring in Americas dying industry and our penchant to ship our work overseas to china so they can pollute the environment without our hampering EPA controls, and we are no longer a industrial superpower.

We can't even get out of our own way.

 

As far as rightfully so, the age of one man building a empire with his company is dead. Nowadays its a team of investors with a CEO looking to slash costs(while simultaneously justifying their own job). Many times this is done by doing the minimum amount of work. After all, less maintenance is less opportunity for OSHA risks, and less money on parts and labor. Places get run into the ground for a few years, that CEO moves on, and another one gets handed the shit sandwich looking to do the same thing.

 

There is no pride, its about generating profit for the investors.

 

As a result you can just look around to the empty factories that abound. Specifically with Nuclear, Vermont Yankee just got shut down.

 

Indian Point, Nine Mile unit 1, Ginna,  and James A. Fitzpatrick are all under scrutiny as well.

 

The real question is, when we do get rid of them, what do we replace them with? Most green energy ventures are pipe dreams and a buzz word for the fleecing of tax dollars on feel good projects.

 

For example wind...

http://www.windaction.org/posts/38612-wind-power-expensive-inefficient#.Upj55eLiH8c

http://www.ff.org/wind-power-a-costly-inefficient-alternative/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9535165/Wind-farms-are-inefficient-says-new-Environment-Secretary-as-DECC-prepares-to-launch-review.html

 

as far as how we're being fleeced, remember Solyndra?

http://www.wnyc.org/story/159662-solyndra-context/

 

Natural Gas has recently gotten cheaper and is putting increased financial burden on Nuclear power. This is complicated further by the fact that we haven't allowed many new nuclear power plants to be built. Technology didn't end with us not building more, we just got passed.

 

For example pebble bottom reactors

http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3657-alternative-nuclear-power-pebble-bed-reactor

 

Using helium in nuclear power isn't even a new idea, Peach bottom unit one was an experimental helium-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor.

 

So either we need new reactors, or we need to spend the money to properly maintain the ones we have. Our energy demands aren't going down.

 

As far as the current dangers, its hard to get out of a radioactive affected zones when we have reactors around the world, and the effects of one look like this...

At a minimum you might want to be sure your out of these...

Good luck.

[EthanM 514]

At a minimum you might want to be sure your out of these...

Good luck.

Well I'm screwed lol

[Nailbomb 10,221]

Backing up what I was talking about with the effects of Corporate America on the nuclear Industry...

 

 

 

The need for a condenser replacement at FitzPatrick comes at an economically inconvenient time for Entergy. Successive reports by the investment community have predicted FitzPatrick will lose money every year until at least 2016, due to low electricity prices, increased age-related maintenance costs, and required post-Fukushima safety upgrades.

“We believe the financial strain at FitzPatrick is leading the company to put off an obviously needed condenser replacement, putting the public at risk in an attempt to squeeze a profit out of this run-down reactor,” said Azulay. “It begs the question, what else is the company doing to save money and how else is our safety being compromised?”

source: http://www.allianceforagreeneconomy.org/content/fitzpatrick-nuclear-reactor-sees-skyrocketing-condenser-problems

[SouthernOne 203]

Looking at the Left coast it is no wonder they keep having brown-outs. Plant Vogtle outside of Augusta, GA should have two new reactors online in a few years. Construction is well underway. 

[EthanM 514]

Oops wrong thread haha

Edited November 29, 2013 by Ethan M

[Nailbomb 10,221]

Looking at the Left coast it is no wonder they keep having brown-outs. Plant Vogtle outside of Augusta, GA should have two new reactors online in a few years. Construction is well underway. 

Yep, no surprise as to the brown outs.

 

I'm jealous, there was paperwork in for nine mile unit 3 but we haven't been approved yet. A few new reactors would certainly ease the pain of potentially decommissioning one of our aging reactors.

[storm6490 2,768]

Nuclear energy is amazing. Our reactors are like steam engines compared to the new technology out there. I grew up near Genoa Wisconsin that had a nuke plant and coal energy. The nuke plant grew old and they shut it down. It was first generation shit. Some places still use them.

 

We need to get rid of the negative association nuclear energy has and promote getting new nuclear reactors that are privately owned.

 

If we grew up and started using and developing it, we could have cheap and safe power all over the world. There are several technologies that are shelved by oil and coal. They really hate nuclear power.

 

In 100 years, people will have a power chip the size of a cell phone that drives all the energy in their home, car and office. It will be radioactive or perhaps tesla's design that worked off the earths magnetism.

[DLT 1,646]

That map showing the reactors here in the USA is incomplete.  

[Sim_Player 1,939]

The first illustration showing radioactive fallout from Fukashima was proven to be a fake.

 

It was actually 75 Rads that the US West coast was projected to receive.

 

750 rads is what you could expect in "close" proximity to a modern nuclear detonation. A few hours, at that level, your a dead man walking.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Sim_Player

[Nailbomb 10,221]

The first illustration showing radioactive fallout from Fukashima was proven to be a fake.

 

It was actually 75 Rads that the US West coast was projected to receive.

 

750 rads is what you could expect in "close" proximity to a modern nuclear detonation. A few hours, at that level, your a dead man walking.

Hah, your right, should have paid a little more attention to that and less on citing my information with links.

 

here is the proper map.

 

Anyway, even the rings on the one incomplete map are questionable. I've seen people zone where you want to be to get further away, and others that say closer is okay. The most extreme argue 320 miles away from a reactor for a Chernobyl like meltdown(which could have been worse!)

[mostholycerebus 415]

Yeah, and maybe this admin will repeal the NFA too.

[Capt Nemo 882]

And that map doesn't show the dozen or more reactors at Idaho National Labs.  One of those was purposely destroyed to look at the power spike when rods are ejected.  Pretty good steam explosion with that one! ( I gots a pic )

[Sdustin 578]

Post em capt

[Capt Nemo 882]

I'd have to scan it out of a book.

[Sim_Player 1,939]

Nuclear power holds a lot of promise but, the tech needs to be allowed to evolve. Without a profitable market, it won't. Safety should be #1, profit #2.

[Remek 771]

Hmm, I thought that Mao had nuke money too? Guess he lied there too?

 

Otherwise, agreed, we need to embrace nuclear tech.

[Shandlanos 1,470]

I live near two nuke plants. I'm not really worried about it. I would very much like to see more money spent developing more efficient, safer technologies.

[scoutjoe 276]

The "location" map also missed the decommissioned reactor from Saxton, Pa.

 

Just the first commercial one...no big deal.

[BB1980 71]

I live 15 min away and work as an operator at Oconee Nuclear Station. As well as our on site diesel generators, we have an on site hydroelectric plant that can provide power to the station. If our spent fuel pools lose water/cooling, we have portable diesel pumps that can spray lake water through special nozzles over the uncovered fuel to keep it cool. We actually sent one of our nozzles to Atlanta to go to Fukushima but they had things under control in their pool before it got there.