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Japan To Create a Nuclear Meltdown
Taco Cowboy writes "Japanese researchers are planning an experiment to better understand what transpires during a nuclear meltdown by attempting to create a controlled nuclear meltdown. Using a scaled down version of a nuclear reactor — essentially a meter long stainless steel container — the experiment will involve the insertion of a foot long (30 cm) nuclear fuel rod, starting the fission process, and then draining the coolant. The experiment is scheduled to take place later this year."
What could possibly go wrong?
By the way, didn't they have to hand in their license to do nuclear stuff already?
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
I mean, didn't they see all those Godzilla movies?
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Can't wait for this mini meltdown to lead to its inevitable ultimate conclusion: MiniGodzilla!
It seems so obvious to me now, having seen the idea in print. This is not the sort of thing that is easy to analyze. A test is really a good way to understand the phenomenon. The paradigm where engineers attempt to make sure it never happens has its limits. Looking at what happens during the failure will allow engineers to develop meaningful "defense in depth" measures.
Regards,
Jason C. Wells
Are they going to do this in already contaminated areas, or are they going to potentially screw up some new place?
It's not unreasonable to want to know more from a scientific standpoint, but hopefully someone is asking "what if this goes worse than expected?"
Don't they have an open-air experiment going on already? Just take a day trip to Fukushima.
The situation with the imports of coal and oil / gas is not sustainable.
Renewable sources are part of it, but they do not have the energy density for baseload required to run a modern society. Japan is a nation with limited resources. Their power options are limited. Import of power from neighbors isn't a great long term move for sovereignty.
This puts them between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. Mark my words though, those reactors will be fired up, because they need to be. They should build more.
The scale of the amount of energy consumed by modern civilization is head-spinning. Nuclear is our only real option. Existing technologies should be deployed, and new ones researched. No politician in the west has the balls to do that, so we're going to burn every drop of oil instead, largely because nobody ever looks at the numbers and amount of energy required. (I however, did.)
Thankfully, China may save us.
I just hope the nuclear option picked isn't the one with the warheads. That will fix the problem too. There is some quality black humor and irony there.
..don't panic
It's possible that because of some failure, their test reactor does not melt down.
holy crap, next you're gonna be blathering about non-existent sequels to "The Matrix", "Highlander" or Star Wars prequels.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
That sounds like a worst case scenario to me, at least in the scope of a single experiment. Rinse, repeat, SCIENCE!!!!
You're misremembering Chernobyl I think. They disabled various safety systems in order to perform some tests that did not strictly require that those systems be disabled. It was never their intention to allow the reactor to enter an unsafe state, though. And in this instance, they're not working on a living reactor.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
From what I remember, there were at least 2 tests at that facility, they were successful. By MSR, do you mean molten salt? Personally I've always been a fan of the HTGR design. What I don't understand is why the NRC has not approved any design beyond the BWR and PWR designs. These designs are more than 40 years old. Think of using a computer or a car from 40 years ago. Instead of zircronium we can encase the fuel in ceramics whose melting point exceeds the maximum thermal output of the fuel. We have passive heat exchangers which depend on gravity instead of pumps. We have thorium designs that make nuclear proliferation almost impossible (or at least a heck of a lot harder). We have traveling wave designs that mean no refueling for 30 years. But instead we are stuck with designs from the 1960's.
The nuclear accident at Fukushima has been greatly overblown.
My family owns a condo in the city mentioned in Pandora's Promise (Guarapari-ES-Brazil), where a Geiger counter reads 20 micro sievert/second, while a half mile away from Fukushima Daichi plant it reads about 4 micro sievert/second these days. That spot isn't isolated, it's in a beach right in the downtown area, people have been sunbathing right there for generations. hundreds of thousands of people flock every summer to the beaches there.
There has been studies and studies trying to find a pattern of elevated cancer in that city. There's none !
The real problem isn't radiation per se. It's the leak of radioactive materials (that in turn produce radiation), mostly Cesium.
With the containment areas and everything, you'd need to actually ingest that material in order to get sick (in large enough quantities).
People mix up the hydrogen gas explosions (which is not radioactive), trying to make the case that it is.
The interesting fact is should the plant operators decided to keep it going, the accident would have been prevented.
Radiation is everywhere. Our body produces radiation from Potassium and other elements that have naturally radioactive isotopes in small concentrations.
It's possible in the days right after the accident it was dangerous, but the risk now is beyond tiny considering the area they relocated people from.