I have to agree with Bob on this one. I would say that most of this
article could be criticized by a high school physics student. In my
professional life, I'm a commercial diver. I work for a large company
that does exclusively power plant work, diving both inside and outside
of nuclear and fossil fuel power plants. Just a few of many, many, many
more discrepancies I found:
"This incredibly fast process is supposedly controlled by the relatively
slow movement of the graphite (pencil lead) control rods being lowered
into, and retracted from, the enriched uranium fuel rods which
constitute the core."
All reactors used in this country use pretty much the same design. All
current reactors being built in the rest of the world also follow this
design. Modern reactors use cadmium as a control rod material.
"In reviewing the process I have come to the conclusion that any large
reactor surrounded with a containment dome must generate steam at too
low a temperature for use in turbines. There is a direct relationship
between temperature and pressure. If the dome can withstand 100 PSI
(pounds per square inch) then its working pressure must be less than 50
PSI. At that pressure, very, very low by modern standards, the
temperature in the reactor is only 281 degrees F. Since a heat exchanger
can not increase the temperature of the fluid in the system, pony
boilers must be used to super heat the steam."
The containment dome that is visible from the outside of a nuke plant is
make of concrete, and is liked with about 6 inches of steel. The
reactor vessel itself is contained within this containment structure.
The reactor vessel, where all the nuclear magic happens, is made of
stainless steel that is about a foot thick. A Pressurized Water Reactor
operates at around 600 degrees Fahrenheit at 2200 psi. No boiling takes
place in the reactor, but a separate heat exchanger. In a Boiling Water
Reactor, the water actually boils in the reactor vessel, and they
operate at around 1120 psi and 545 degrees Fahrenheit..
"These "spent" rods are generally removed after a year or so and then
are stored in pools of water. The storage is forever because we still
don't know how to dispose of them. I suspect they can't even be
re-processed because they are so radioactive. Just think every insect
that passes by these pools and is later absorbed into the belly of
another, carries just a little bit more radioactivity into the environment."
Nuke divers work in fuel pools all the time. The spent fuel pools are
not just swimming pools sitting outside with fuel rods in them. Spent
fuel pools are housed in hermetically sealed buildings and guarded by
armed security. Accessing fuel pools or any other area of a nuclear
power plant requires drug screening, an FBI background check, and a
psychological examination. Insects don't just fly into these pools,
frogs don't just jump from lily pad to lily pad in the fuel pools, and
fish don't swim in them.
"I also saw a number of separate lines of high tension towers radiating
outward to all points of the compass. There were more as I passed the
plant and many were carrying extremely high voltage as judged by the
long insulators used to "standoff" the lines from the steel towers that
hold the power lines. The Martins Creek Plant is a real heavyweight
producer of power."
Some coal fired power plants produce up too 1500 MW. A power plant
isn't going to produce electricity into the national grid through a
bunch of extension cords, if thats what the author is expecting to see.
All power plants send power out in extremely high voltage (115,000 volts
and higher) to minimize power losses and wire size.
Wow, I could just keep going with this. Its scary, but many people are
going to actually believe everything contained in this article. Anyone
else out there with at least some knowledge of the power industry care
to help me out with this?
By the way, Martin's Creek is a coal burning power plant. Two of my
co-workers are going to be cleaning the sediment out of their two
"atomic style" cooling towers sometime in the next month.
Daniel Albano
___
Biofuel mailing list
Biofuel@sustainablelists.org
http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages):
http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
