Chernobyl did not melt down: it burned up. It had no containment vessel of any kind. At the very beginning of the reactor era, Nichols flatly rejected any graphite moderated design – even with containment. Graphite moderated reactors are ALWAYS vulnerable to run-away power generation.
And who is Nichols? He ran Oak Ridge and transitioned to VP for Westinghouse. He’s the originator/super-salesman of the pressurized light-water reactor. He chose it precisely because run-away power excursions are self-terminating due to physical laws.
Meltdowns in a light-water reactor only occur because of coolant failure.
It took great effort but the Swedes finally discovered how Chernobyl really occurred. The chief plant operator was playing with the control rods to ‘pulse’ the reactor – much in the manner of a kid revving his motorcycle out of gear. That’s right, he was screwing around even while the reactor was at an extremely reduced level of coolant due to engineering tests. That was HIS DEATHBED ADMISSION. He died horribly that very day. View the movie K-19 to imagine what that was like.
When any poster makes any analogy from Chernobyl to light-water reactor designs you can know that he doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about. He’s gone religious. His opinions are based on faith, not fact, and he’s not about to let it go.
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Chernobyl did not melt down: it burned up. It had no containment vessel of any kind. At the very beginning of the reactor era, Nichols flatly rejected any graphite moderated design – even with containment. Graphite moderated reactors are ALWAYS vulnerable to run-away power generation.
And who is Nichols? He ran Oak Ridge and transitioned to VP for Westinghouse. He’s the originator/super-salesman of the pressurized light-water reactor. He chose it precisely because run-away power excursions are self-terminating due to physical laws.
Meltdowns in a light-water reactor only occur because of coolant failure.
It took great effort but the Swedes finally discovered how Chernobyl really occurred. The chief plant operator was playing with the control rods to ‘pulse’ the reactor – much in the manner of a kid revving his motorcycle out of gear. That’s right, he was screwing around even while the reactor was at an extremely reduced level of coolant due to engineering tests. That was HIS DEATHBED ADMISSION. He died horribly that very day. View the movie K-19 to imagine what that was like.
When any poster makes any analogy from Chernobyl to light-water reactor designs you can know that he doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about. He’s gone religious. His opinions are based on faith, not fact, and he’s not about to let it go.
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