On Mar 16, 2011, at 13:21 , eckinator wrote: > 2011/3/16 Joseph McAllister <[email protected]>: >> >> As I discussed with some friends yesterday, I think any reactors built in >> the future should be situated uphill from the ocean, and downhill from a >> gazillion gallon water source, like a lake or man-made reservoir, that could >> gravity feed reactors for a few weeks in an emergency. It would need to be >> much higher than the plant, as it takes quite a but of pressure to pump >> water into a pressurized containment vessel. > > "much higher" is your problem here, Joe - it would need to be probably > something like at least a a mile higher if my guess of the pressure is > anywhere near realistic... but I do agree that there is much still to > be invented in that field...
I agree with that as well. If I recall though, to get a good water flow into a reactor with pump failure, one needs to vent the pressure from the containment vessel, normally through the Torus in these units, though in an emergency greater than that there are valves that can be opened to vent the steam from the boiling water out the top of the vessel. The downside of that is, if you remember from science class, if you have superheated water under pressure, removing the pressure lowers the boiling point of the liquid, which causes a great amount of steam to be generated that needs to be released. Sort of a cascading problem, because at some point so much water is being turned to steam that it lowers the water level, perhaps faster than water can be pumped in to replace it. I do not claim to know everything about the operation of the GE reactors in trouble in Japan right now. I did learn the basics as a teenager some 50 years ago, conversing with my father as well as listening in on many conversations over dinners with several of the big names in the Atomic Energy business. R.G. McAllister was a Nuclear Health Physicist sent to represent the the U.S.A. Insurance Pool at several ISO conventions held at the Hague in the 1950's and 60's where the many safety measures in the use of these radioactive materials, from dentists and hospital use up to weapons production, were discussed and agreed upon. The reason for these month long meetings was that no insurance company, nor any country's insurance industry, could afford to cover a catastrophic event such as the one we are currently witness to in Japan. The risk had to be covered on a global scale. Don't be surprised if some of the large insurance companies in the world start selling off assets such as downtown buildings and other properties in the next year or three. If it doesn’t excite you, This thing that you see, Why in the world, Would it excite me? —Jay Maisel Joseph McAllister [email protected] -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
