23 US reactors share design with failed Japan nukes

[riverwalker]

(This is unbelievable. They knew about this in 1985!!!!!!!!) :grr: :grr:



http://www.gazette.com/articles/reactors-114501-mark-failed.html

March 14, 2011
CHRIS KNAP
THE ORANGE COUNTY (CALIF.) REGISTER

There are 23 nuclear power plants operating in the U.S. using the same General Electric Mark 1 reactors as the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 that suffered a hydrogen explosion on Saturday and then again early Monday, according to a fact sheet just released by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a Maryland-based nuclear power watchdog group.

This design, a General Electric Mark I, has been criticized by nuclear experts and even Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff for decades as being susceptible to explosion and containment failure.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/reactors-114501-mark-failed.html#ixzz1GdnWlInx

[Teaser]

1. hmmm....how close to the San Andreas Fault?

.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Diablo Canyon and San Onofre in California are Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactors...

...not boiling water reactors, like the General Electric Mark I

:patriot:

[Control-Z]

3. Is that any better? n/t

[Statistical]

4. Well for starters it has solid dry containment not the wet torus system designed by GE to save money

Also PWR operated under much higher pressure making water boil off in the primary loop more difficult.

Still they are gnerally the same. Old 1960s era technology. Newer designs are much safer but sadly only China is building newer designs in any large number.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Yes. About 70% of new reactors are pressurized.

Pressurized Water Reactors, PWRs, are generally regarded as safer than the older Boiling Water Reactors, BWRs.

"Environmental campaign groups say that the boiling water reactors are more vulnerable to explosion because human intervention is needed to vent radioactive steam in the event of a core meltdown."

Most of the articles I've been reading support that.

:patriot:

[AndyTiedye]

6. It's Gotta Really Suck to Be the Human That Has to Do the Intervention

human intervention is needed to vent radioactive steam in the event of a core meltdown

Some jobs really should be done by machines! Like this one.

What happened to all those neat robots they're building over there?