Re: OT: Global cooling 34 million years ago

On Mar 7, 2:13 am, Jim Thompson <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-I...@My-Web-
Site.com> wrote:
On Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:50:54 -0800, John Larkin





<jjlar...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 15:28:25 -0800 (PST), bill.slo...@xxxxxxxx wrote:

You must know nothing about the Chernobyl accident; read up on it. It
was an inherently unstable reactor,

You don't seem to know what you are talking about. The reactor wasn't
"inherently unstable" alhtough it doesn't seem to have been well-
designed The idiots had to do something quite dramatically stupidn to
get it to blow up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

I'm impressed at how your prejudices constantly overpower your ability
to think or to research. This was right in your face:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster#Causes_of_the_disaster

"The reactor had a dangerously large positive void coefficient. The
void coefficient is a measurement of how the reactor responds to
increased steam formation in the water coolant. Most other reactor
designs produce less energy as they get hotter, because if the coolant
contains steam bubbles, fewer neutrons are slowed down. Faster
neutrons are less likely to split uranium atoms, so the reactor
produces less power. Chernobyl's RBMK reactor, however, used solid
graphite as a neutron moderator to slow down the neutrons, and
neutron-absorbing light water to cool the core. Thus neutrons are
slowed down even if steam bubbles form in the water. Furthermore,
because steam absorbs neutrons much less readily than water,
increasing an RBMK reactor's temperature means that more neutrons are
able to split uranium atoms, increasing the reactor's power output.
This makes the RBMK design very unstable at low power levels, and
prone to suddenly increasing energy production to dangerous level if
the temperature rises. This was counter-intuitive and unknown to the
crew."

And it's even more impressive how consistantly you get simple control
theory concepts wrong.

John

Unfortunately, Slowman is representative of the types of people now in
full-charge of our government :-(

Jim-out-of-touch-with-reality-Thompson outdoes himself. The people in
charge of the U.S. government are politicians, and I'm no politician.
Furthermore, they are US politicians, and probably share John Larkin's
delusion that US engineers don't screw up, whereas I've seen enough
crappy US engineering to be aware that US engineers are just as
fallible as the rest of us.

--
Bill Sloman, Nijmegen
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: Global cooling 34 million years ago
    ... "The reactor had a dangerously large positive void coefficient. ... designs produce less energy as they get hotter, ... fewer neutrons are slowed down. ... Chernobyl's RBMK reactor, however, used solid ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: Global cooling 34 million years ago
    ... was an inherently unstable reactor, ... increased steam formation in the water coolant. ... contains steam bubbles, fewer neutrons are slowed down. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: OT: Global cooling 34 million years ago
    ... was an inherently unstable reactor, ... increased steam formation in the water coolant. ... contains steam bubbles, fewer neutrons are slowed down. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Helium-3 Article in USA Today
    ... ITER will not be a demonstration ... >>reactor nor ... > potential partial conversion into a power reactor, ... of that regime before committing to designs as massively ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: "Who Killed the Electric Car?" opens July 14th
    ... The desirable isotope of Thorium is also the most common ... the products are useful in making fission weapons. ... Any reaction which produces only as many neutrons as it consumes ... reactor a slightly naive writer would use to make a story work-- ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)