On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 5:50 PM, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > Would this have happened if Japan had been using subcritical reactors > with thorium fuel? >
If it were a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) and the cowardly operators saw the Tsunami coming and ran for the hills and completely abandoned the plant then the liquid Thorium fuel (Thorium dissolved in un-corrosive molten Fluoride salts) would get hot, and that would expand the liquid, and that would cause the fuel to get less dense, and that would cause the nuclear reaction to slow down. Then a freeze plug at the bottom of the reactor would melt and the liquid fuel would drain out by gravity (no pumps would be needed) into a holding tank and the reaction would stop completely and the reactor would enter a safe mode. All this is assuming that the operators were completely incompetent and never lifted a finger to help the situation. And because the liquid Fluoride salt is not under pressure as water is in the Fukushima plant leaks would be far less likely and much less catastrophic even if they did occur. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
