Greetings Sterling and all,
Last OT post for me here, right or wrong.
My information comes from a Cook Nuclear Scientist who gave our
astronomy group a program topic a few years back. No doubt I can't
remember exactly what he said and my information may need updating.
How ever one thing he did mention was with the use of water as a
moderator, was a safety feature that would prevent a melt down. No
water no reaction.
Cited is a Wikipedia article. It mentions graphite moderator componets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
This event exposed the graphite moderator components of the reactor to
air and they ignited;
Perhaps it was the compents that warped and the rods couldn't be moved,
locking them in and allowing the core meltdown.
In any case it was a dangerous mess and your right the Japanese system
works different.Hope they get things under control.
--AL Mitterling
Quoting "Sterling K. Webb" <[email protected]>:
List,
Al Mitterling pulled Chernobyl into this. Chernobyl
was a graphite "pile" with pressurized water cooling
and with NO containment vessel. In a graphite pile,
graphite is NOT a control material and the control
rods were not graphite rods. Fukushima is not a graphite
pile; Chernobyl is irrelevant to the Fukushima discussion.
And the suggestion that correct procedure for a water-
moderated reactor is let it boil off and expose the core
to a meltdown is ludicrous.
Graphite is a "moderator." The moderator makes the
chain reaction happen. Moderators are substances that slow
the velocity of neutrons down until they are "thermalized,"
or moving with the kinetic energy of room temperature.
In the case of a neutron, that is the speed of an old man
crossing his living room (or me on a bad day).
Sterling K. Webb
______________________________________________
Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
[email protected]
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
