I was watching the History Channel's show on Earth After Man and remembered this site. It is just amazing to look at when you consider what you are seeing.http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
A Very Interesting Site With Pics of Chernobyl Now
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If you look at her other site about the wall around Kiev, you will see a human jaw bone with teeth that she discovered in one of the trenches. It's amazing how much stuff is left there from WWII (or as the Soviets called it, "The Great Patriotic War"). Human remains are still being found from that battle with regularity. I guess it is sort of like how they still uncover the remains of soldiers from the American Civil War from time to time, even though it was 150 years ago.
I was in high school when that was going on in Chernobyl, and had to do a weekly report on it for a current events class. Of course no internet back then, so my main source was Newsweek magazine. All I remember was how much the USSR was trying to cover up that blunder, trying to make it out like it was no big deal, it would have been to embarassing during those cold war years. They even kept running that plant until year 2000! I really think that girl who did that site was still putting her health in a lot of risk taking those pictures despite having the counter.
When I did trucking a took a lot of shipments in to power plants across the USA. Many of our own nuclear plants are old time bombs just waiting to go off. One in perticular I heard there are a lot of concerns with is the Davis Besse nuclear plant near Sandusky, OH. This was built similar to Three Mile Island in PA and has had quite a few safety incidents.
There is a reactor in Canada that produces half of the world's supply of radioactive medical isotopes. The lady who ran the safety comission in Canada recently ordered the reactor shut down as it was a major safety hazard, relying on only one operating pump to be able to cool it. As the isotope supply quickly diminished after the shutdown, the Canadian government ordered the reactor be turned back on and nothing was done to make it any safer.
Just shows that the almighty dollar prevails over safety, no matter where one of these things is located.
-UT-
When I did trucking a took a lot of shipments in to power plants across the USA. Many of our own nuclear plants are old time bombs just waiting to go off. One in perticular I heard there are a lot of concerns with is the Davis Besse nuclear plant near Sandusky, OH. This was built similar to Three Mile Island in PA and has had quite a few safety incidents.
There is a reactor in Canada that produces half of the world's supply of radioactive medical isotopes. The lady who ran the safety comission in Canada recently ordered the reactor shut down as it was a major safety hazard, relying on only one operating pump to be able to cool it. As the isotope supply quickly diminished after the shutdown, the Canadian government ordered the reactor be turned back on and nothing was done to make it any safer.
Just shows that the almighty dollar prevails over safety, no matter where one of these things is located.
-UT-
to correct a few misconceptions: 3 mile island was NOT a nuclear accident and there was no radiation released. american style Liquid Water Reactors can not "explode". what happened at 3 mile was a combination of operator inexperience/lack of knowledge and primarily equipment failure. a pressure relief valve that dumps "hot" coolant into a containment vessel (same as your cars overflow bottle) failed to close but the sensor showed open. this lowered the pressure and coolant level. the operators didn't recognize the other signs of trouble for what they were. the reactor took HOURS to overheat and suffer internal damage and shut down due to physics. but the core contained everything. there has been one death from nuclear power in the US and that was due to army stupidity and an incredibly stupid manually controlled design.
Chrenobyl was due to them shutting down multiple, major safety systems, and then running the reactor to well over the maximum capacity of the system. the core develped a steam bubble at the core which caused the core to superheat-more heat more steam on and on until the pressure blew the 100ton concrete slab off the top. this can only happen in a "breeder" style reactor, not in a LWR.
one of the cool things about an LWR is that is the coolant pump stops or the coolant supply is lost, physics causes the reaction to stop on it's own. plus the rated power is actually about 60% of the true max capacity. much like an engine with a governor.
i highly doubt that you can find a single power plant without "safety incidents". every time i see one for a nuc plant it involves the secondary, non-radioactive side.
europe and japan and other places have HUGE success with nuc power and derive most of their electricity from it. but because the media doesn't like it the US public has never properly learned how it really works and how safe the plants are.
as always info means nothing without a source, mine is from when i was in the Navy Nuclear Power School as an EM3.
Chrenobyl was due to them shutting down multiple, major safety systems, and then running the reactor to well over the maximum capacity of the system. the core develped a steam bubble at the core which caused the core to superheat-more heat more steam on and on until the pressure blew the 100ton concrete slab off the top. this can only happen in a "breeder" style reactor, not in a LWR.
one of the cool things about an LWR is that is the coolant pump stops or the coolant supply is lost, physics causes the reaction to stop on it's own. plus the rated power is actually about 60% of the true max capacity. much like an engine with a governor.
i highly doubt that you can find a single power plant without "safety incidents". every time i see one for a nuc plant it involves the secondary, non-radioactive side.
europe and japan and other places have HUGE success with nuc power and derive most of their electricity from it. but because the media doesn't like it the US public has never properly learned how it really works and how safe the plants are.
as always info means nothing without a source, mine is from when i was in the Navy Nuclear Power School as an EM3.
nucular power is one of the safest cleanest power sources available. everyone has the idea in their head that they are unsafe. i work for a company that is owned by mid american enargy and i get a daily newsletter, there was a huge article in there a few months ago that went into detail about the new technology we have for nucular and how safe it is but nobody wants to use it now because they fear that it will turn into a disaster. it is not true! it is very safe! wind energy is a big one right now also but it takes a ton of turbines to make enough power to make it worthwhile. i just drove past a few of teh wind farms in northern iowa, i gotta tell ya, there where hundreds of them and they the farms stretched for miles! there is also new technology in coal making it almost emissionless. all of the old power plants are obsolete and need to be replaced! if you ask me nucular is the best option!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image😀avis-BesseHole.png
A six inch hole discovered in the reactor head at the Davis Besse plant caused by a leak of borated water. (From the NRC, a pretty good source.) This problem was covered up by employees and a former contractor at the plant. I don't mind when they operate these plants in the manner they are supposed to accordring to the guidelines, but when they get sneaky and cover up problems just for the sake of keeping them operating is where it gets a little scary. How would you feel if you found out they were covering up structural integrity issues with containment cells for the same reasons and an accident occurred with a reactor? Yes, its generally safe, but the fact is people like to cheat.
-UT-
A six inch hole discovered in the reactor head at the Davis Besse plant caused by a leak of borated water. (From the NRC, a pretty good source.) This problem was covered up by employees and a former contractor at the plant. I don't mind when they operate these plants in the manner they are supposed to accordring to the guidelines, but when they get sneaky and cover up problems just for the sake of keeping them operating is where it gets a little scary. How would you feel if you found out they were covering up structural integrity issues with containment cells for the same reasons and an accident occurred with a reactor? Yes, its generally safe, but the fact is people like to cheat.
-UT-
RE: Power Energy
Whether it's Nuclear, Hydro or Coal, it's safe environmentally. My father is a Bio Chemist & licensed with nuclear energy. I've heard alot of stories over the last 28-30 yrs. about all 3 & never heard anything bad about them. I live in Ohio, drive a truck & go by Davis Besse all the time never really had bad thoughts about it. My cousin lives about 1 mile away at hwy's 590 & 2 & never worries about it. The only time we have to worry about the word "Nuclear" is when it's put in front of the word bomb or missle. I probably spelled nuclear wrong, but oh well. lol......
Whether it's Nuclear, Hydro or Coal, it's safe environmentally. My father is a Bio Chemist & licensed with nuclear energy. I've heard alot of stories over the last 28-30 yrs. about all 3 & never heard anything bad about them. I live in Ohio, drive a truck & go by Davis Besse all the time never really had bad thoughts about it. My cousin lives about 1 mile away at hwy's 590 & 2 & never worries about it. The only time we have to worry about the word "Nuclear" is when it's put in front of the word bomb or missle. I probably spelled nuclear wrong, but oh well. lol......
I was just posting it because I thought it was interesting. For once, I had no real agenda in posting something. However, to me it shows what happens when you give a government too much power and control over people's lives. The central government was not really thinking about the health and safety of the people who worked and lived there. They were just pawns. No matter weather something is controlled by private industry or government, it can go bad and kill people. Communism proved the evils of the state, and the early days of the industrial revolution proved the evils of unregulated private industry.
As for the one US fatality, it was in the stupid early days of nuclear in the US. It was a experimental reactor and the guy was trying to do something with the control rod when it shot up out of the reactor, and impaled him in the ceiling. What was disturbing about this is that it had occurred in an industrial park that was pretty near some neighborhoods, IIRC. If you have ever watched anything on the early days of nuclear weapons and power (I.E. :Trinity and Beyond), you are doubtless amazed at the utter stupidity of the scientists who were conducting these experiments. They were like a child with a new toy, or some helpless animal that they were playing with to see what would happen.
The thing that should scare everyone about Chernobyl today is that the sarcophagus is disintegrating and is cracked and leaking. It was built poorly with part of it supported on the rubble of the reactor building. Should it loose containment, the results for the region could be catastrophic.
As for the one US fatality, it was in the stupid early days of nuclear in the US. It was a experimental reactor and the guy was trying to do something with the control rod when it shot up out of the reactor, and impaled him in the ceiling. What was disturbing about this is that it had occurred in an industrial park that was pretty near some neighborhoods, IIRC. If you have ever watched anything on the early days of nuclear weapons and power (I.E. :Trinity and Beyond), you are doubtless amazed at the utter stupidity of the scientists who were conducting these experiments. They were like a child with a new toy, or some helpless animal that they were playing with to see what would happen.
The thing that should scare everyone about Chernobyl today is that the sarcophagus is disintegrating and is cracked and leaking. It was built poorly with part of it supported on the rubble of the reactor building. Should it loose containment, the results for the region could be catastrophic.
I don't worry about these plants when I drive by them either, and I used to go in to the facilities. As mechanical types of people we know two things, nothing lasts without proper maintenance, and nothing lasts forever. The time bombs are the ones where maintenance has not been performed right due to power companies trying to save money, or not taking them off line when their time has run out. DB is starting to get quite a history of problems and it is the humble opinion of myself and others that maybe it is time to shut that one off. A 6 inch hole in the reactor head is definitely a serious problem. The NRC uses a syetem of subsiquent failures. That is what happened at TMI- one problem caused a chain of events where other problems were found down the line.
Many reactors across the USA have been permanently shut down due to age, the typical lifespan has been 20-25 years. I'm not at all against nuclear power. But when these reactors get old, they need more mantenance and eventually need to be shut down. Those two items are seeming to go neglected as power companies try to push the envelope on keeping the plants operating and yes, trying to push more power from old systems also as was done at the Quad Cities plant in IL. This resulted in the steam generators nearly shaking themselves apart.
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Many reactors across the USA have been permanently shut down due to age, the typical lifespan has been 20-25 years. I'm not at all against nuclear power. But when these reactors get old, they need more mantenance and eventually need to be shut down. Those two items are seeming to go neglected as power companies try to push the envelope on keeping the plants operating and yes, trying to push more power from old systems also as was done at the Quad Cities plant in IL. This resulted in the steam generators nearly shaking themselves apart.
-UT-
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