Subject:
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Re: Unexplained power outages in New York, Toronto, and other cities
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 18 Aug 2003 06:49:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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497 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Powell wrote:
>
> Um...no. The reactor is called "TRIGA", and is located in Torry Pines, at
> General Atomic(s?) site. It CANNOT expode, or melt down. Physics dictate how
> anything will act, and it WILL NOT explode/PCI, no matter what you do with it-
> remove the control rods, walk away, turn off the cooling water, go on vacation
> for a week and forget to turn it off...no matter what you do, it won't
> (assembled) go supercritical (meltdown/prompt criticality incident).
>
> How is this done? Because, as materials become hotter, their neutron absorbing
> properties change. Things that are a good moderator when cold become neutron
> absorbant as they heat up- so, the design of TRIGA makes use of this to ensure
> that even if you are dumb enough to remove the control rods, all that will
> happen is that the power output will spike for a second, and then drop off as
> the previously non- active elements start robbing neutrons from the reaction,
> reducing the reactor to sub critical levels.
>
> The test was done in June, 1959.
And what if something else accidentally happened, that changed the properties of
the absorbing elements? Or what if a terrorist figured out a way to do the
above? Or what if it's effectiveness changed drastically after the first 2 days?
What they proved was, in their specific test scenario, that the reactor didn't
melt down. Saying a nuclear reactor is totally safe is like saying a ship is
unsinkable.
(BTW, the only references I can find about Project Orion refer to a project that
attempted to use atomic blasts as propulsion - is that the one you mean?)
ROSCO
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