Fukushima (35-YEARS-AGO): Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientists To Quit In Protest

[kpete]

THANK YOU GE

Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest
Damaged Japanese Nuclear Plant Has Five Mark 1 Reactors

By MATTHEW MOSK
March 15, 2011

Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest

Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.

Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.

"The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. "The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release."

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In the 1970s and 1980s GE marketed their Mark 1 reactor to utilities across the U.S. and to countries around the world.
23 US reactors share design with failed Japan nukes
http://www.gazette.com/articles/reactors-114501-mark-failed.html#ixzz1GkMAxyEe%3Cbr%20/%3E

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the rest:
I should note that ABC ran this story and not GE owned NBC.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/16/956868/-In-1976-3-GE-Scientists-quit-in-protest-over-flaws-in-Mark-1-Reactor-design-
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge-scientist/story?id=13141287

[ChicagoRonin]

1. Print and mail

Seriously. I think we forget that many people aren't net-savvy when it comes to news.
This info should be distributed at churches, community groups, etc.

[NewJeffCT]

2. I think Comcast owns NBC now

If I'm not mistaken.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/29/news/companies/comcast_ge_nbc/index.htm

[NewJeffCT]

3. The companies that have been running these nuke plants for 40 years

have had all that time to find & fix any flaws, report any problems, improve any faults, etc.

I would think the fault lies as much with the people who approved the nuke plants in the first place, despite the design flaws, as well as any regulators, engineers, etc who have been involved with these nuclear plants over that time period.

[L. Coyote]

4. Democracy NOW: Reactor Model Faulted for Safety Concerns

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/16/headlines#2

Reactor Model Faulted for Safety Concerns

More damaging revelations about the nuclear reactor used in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are coming to light. Components in the reactor have come under criticism since as far back the early 1970s. Developed by General Electric, the plant’s nuclear reactors use a containment vessel surrounding the reactors that are less robust than other models. The design is also used in 23 reactors at 16 American plants. Marketed as cheaper and easier to build, the Mark-I boiling water reactor drew criticism in 1972 from the Atomic Energy Commission, which said the equipment presented unacceptable safety risks and should be discontinued. In the mid-1980s, an official with the Nuclear Regulatory Committee said the Mark-I stood a 90 percent chance of bursting should the fuel rods overheat and melt in an accident.