Let's not forget, too, reactor failure could just be the coup de grace. Loss of the grid would probably lead to immediate loss of civil control.
BTW, here is a recent assessment on nuclear plant safety - "The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety in 2011 - LIVING ON BORROWED TIME" http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/nuclear_power/nrc-nuclear-safety-2011-full-report.pdf Jed Rothwell wrote: > Vorl Bek <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> I thought that reactors were designed so that inserting rods of >> some material would kill the reaction. I imagine they would have >> battery power for long enough to insert the rods; heck, maybe >> they even have a manual way to crank the motor to do it. >> > > They can all be gravity actuated as far as I know. The rods are above, and > they fall straight down into the reactor core. That is called a reactor > SCRAM. It does stop the reaction. Every reactor undergoes an emergency > SCRAM from time to time, usually in response to a stuck valve or a clogged > pipe. The Three Mile Island reactor accident began with a SCRAM from > clogged pipe. Fukushima was scrammed in the first seconds of the > earthquake. However, that is not enough to prevent a catastrophe. At > Fukushima the tsunami destroyed their generator capacity, and cut their > connection to the network, which led to the destruction of the reactors > and > the hydrogen explosions. > > - Jed >
