This story is a bit misleading because the reactor being dismantled is an experimental fast neutron reactor. The materials it is made of were not really designed to be easily disassembled. This is different from a commercial light water reactor where part of the design requirements are being comparatively straightforward to dismantle.
This is a fair point but we didn't know about the health effects at the time. Also a lot of the worst cases were actually at uranium mining facilities specifically for defense purposes. Uranium mining processes have undergone a huge change in the last 50 years because of this. Today uranium mining is in large part in situ leaching which isn't actually mining at all just pumping water into and out of the ground.
Statistically the number of people who die prematurely due to power production using coal is roughly 40,000/year(ok this is an national resources defense council number but the science is good). This includes people dieing in mines due to collapses explosions, people dieing prematurely due to working in a mine their entire life(lung cancer), but most importantly people dieing prematurely due to the increased risk of cancer of living near a coal plant. The number for nuclear is 0. For that matter the total number of premature deaths due to radiation in the population surrounding Chernobyl was roughly 40,000. So as many people in the US are dieing yearly due to coal production as died in total due to the only significant release of radioactivity to the public in the history of civilian nuclear power in 60 years.
Knoll family not just programming geniuses
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20 Years of Photoshop
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· Score: 5, Interesting
While the sons may be known as the creators of photoshop their father is a giant in the field of nuclear engineering. His book "Raditation Detection and Measurement" is considered the bible on the topic for all nuclear engineers.
When something like this happens the plant monitors the flow of the tritium into the aquifer, river, etc. VERY carefully. If those levels rise above set limits then they have to shut down. However, right now they most likely just have to pay a daily fine to operate and that fine is less than the cost of shutdown prior to the fuel reaching the desired burnup. They will most likely continue to operate unless they see a rise above safe levels in the groundwater or the river that is used for cooling.
Last time I went to see a shuttle launch I called my state senators office several months ahead of time and after a lot of holding and a little convincing I got a pass to get closer in. I'm not sure exactly how close since it was several years ago but that's what I would do, it was worth it.
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This story is a bit misleading because the reactor being dismantled is an experimental fast neutron reactor. The materials it is made of were not really designed to be easily disassembled. This is different from a commercial light water reactor where part of the design requirements are being comparatively straightforward to dismantle.
This is a fair point but we didn't know about the health effects at the time. Also a lot of the worst cases were actually at uranium mining facilities specifically for defense purposes. Uranium mining processes have undergone a huge change in the last 50 years because of this. Today uranium mining is in large part in situ leaching which isn't actually mining at all just pumping water into and out of the ground.
Statistically the number of people who die prematurely due to power production using coal is roughly 40,000/year(ok this is an national resources defense council number but the science is good). This includes people dieing in mines due to collapses explosions, people dieing prematurely due to working in a mine their entire life(lung cancer), but most importantly people dieing prematurely due to the increased risk of cancer of living near a coal plant. The number for nuclear is 0. For that matter the total number of premature deaths due to radiation in the population surrounding Chernobyl was roughly 40,000. So as many people in the US are dieing yearly due to coal production as died in total due to the only significant release of radioactivity to the public in the history of civilian nuclear power in 60 years.
While the sons may be known as the creators of photoshop their father is a giant in the field of nuclear engineering. His book "Raditation Detection and Measurement" is considered the bible on the topic for all nuclear engineers.
When something like this happens the plant monitors the flow of the tritium into the aquifer, river, etc. VERY carefully. If those levels rise above set limits then they have to shut down. However, right now they most likely just have to pay a daily fine to operate and that fine is less than the cost of shutdown prior to the fuel reaching the desired burnup. They will most likely continue to operate unless they see a rise above safe levels in the groundwater or the river that is used for cooling.
Last time I went to see a shuttle launch I called my state senators office several months ahead of time and after a lot of holding and a little convincing I got a pass to get closer in. I'm not sure exactly how close since it was several years ago but that's what I would do, it was worth it.