North Anna nuclear plant declared emergency, vented steam after earthquake.
They are running on generators after losing grid power. That doesn’t explain why they vented steam.
A slightly larger quake and two reactors could fail there. Interesting.
OMG…High temp gaseous dihydrogen monoxide! Run away!
The steam loop and the internal cooling loop are two different things in a Westinghouse PWR reactor like North Anna, and venting steam pretty much expressly CAN’T be from the hot loop. As I understand the engineering–and I’ll try to confirm this with my buddy who actually works on these reactors–venting steam with surplus water available at the site is a way of cooling a reactor to cold shutdown faster than just using the normal third stage condenser loop.
Now, unfortunately for everyone, the current North Anna plants are not capable of passively shutting down, so I hope to Christ those idiots have their local diesel generation ducks in a goddamn row.
Interestingly, they’ve recently started work on a 1700MW Generation-III+ APWR reactor at that site. I’m going to have to eagerly follow that–the APWR designs are SUPPOSED to be passive-cooling capable in a shutdown situation, but I’m not happy with the Westinghouse AP1000’s system and I can’t find anything useful on the system in the US-APWR Mitsubishi design that North Anna’s planning.
Also notable, the APWR designs are both capable of doing SOME work to reduce waste fuel–while they aren’t as efficient as fast-breeder designs, they ARE capable of using mixed-oxide fuels–practically speaking, that means they can burn fuel with a percentage of plutonium, reducing the worst long-term waste.
Also, regarding “unusual event” reports, the earthquake itself with no damage is a reportable “unusual event”–the definition is “Incidents which threaten the normal operation or security of a facility may be reportable but not result in any release of radioactivity.”
A normal scram with auto shutdown should not result in steam being vented. It seems the loss of grid power, and a failure in one of the four diesels led to a problem that caused emergency venting. The earthquake triggered an auto shut down, but the loss of power and one back up generator meant they declared an emergency.
Nothing to worry about. Unless the next quake is a 6.3, or the dam fails.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/23/virginia-nuclear-plant-had-quake-sensors-removed-due-to-budget-cuts/
\ Earthquake sensors were removed from the Virginia nuke plants in the 90s, because of budget cuts. It sits on a fault line.
Meh, every news report I see thus far indicates that the steam venting was a decision made under normal emergency shutdown protocols. Cite otherwise?
Lol, dam. You mean the dam that’s downstream from the plant, and if it goes will drain the nearby lake some?
See, FX, if you’d have linked THIS story, instead of making up some random bullshit, you’d have a better case. This corner-cutting idiocy is the kind of stupid shit that needs to stop.
I got my info from an official report. I stopped caring about links.
Translation of FX’s last post: “I am making shit up, as usual.” 
Wait a minute, let me see if I’m understanding you correctly… so your stance is that a nuclear reactor accident is a bad thing, is that right?
If you would provide a source or three, and explain the reasons and technology behind your claim, it would be a lot cooler than just saying it.
No seriously. Because you are saying it’s impossible for a Westinghouse PWR to vent steam from the RPV, or the containment structure. Which is pure bullshit of course. Of course it CAN be, because otherwise the pressure might damage the RPV, which is a very bad thing.
Why the US reactors are much safer
The Lake Anna specs
http://library.thinkquest.org/25916/database/virginia.htm
A graphic
See? That shit helps people understand the situation. Now of course the steam was most likely from the secondary loop. Otherwise all hell would be breaking out if the highly radioactive steam from the core was vented.
Yeah, but the thing is, you can’t make it stop. Like the Lake Anna situation. There is no back up plan for a dam failure. It’s the same with a lot of nuclear plants. The plant might be safe enough for a 6.1 earthquake, but not for a loss of cooling water, or worse, a flood from a dam failure.
And it cost money, a lot of it, to build a back up cooling system that can work with loss of primary water. Money is probably the main reason nuclear plants, even the old ones, are so dangerous.
And then there is the spent fuel problem, a much worse problem. Pretending it won’t ever happen is not a solution to a catastrophic disaster.
Oh please. That’s the best trollin you got? Of course, maybe you really are a brain damaged moron who can’t be bothered to read a single thing, but still needs the ego boost of pwning somebody with your high caliber wit. Is that it?
Here, let me put this double barreled sawed off thought gun in your mouth.
Revised Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit: read this shit before posting
Oh snap, you mean there is an entire forum to rant about shit? So why the butthurt? Why a new thread to try and shut down a discussion, the only discussion, about a huge disaster that is still going on? Why the begging to stop people from, you know, posting in a thread? What is really bugging you oh butthurt ones?
Are pro nuclears really that low life? Don’t answer that, we already know.
Meanwhile, in the real world, they got power back to the damaged nuclear plant.
http://dom.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1015
Until Godzilla starts rampaging through Southern California, who gives a shit?
Even if Godzilla lays waste to all of southern California, who gives a shit?
As far as I can tell its the floods, dams, earthquakes, and tsunamis that are the real danger.
No disagreement here.
There are valid solutions to the problem of spent fuel, but there are political obstacles to those solutions, not technical ones.
It is disingenuous to claim it is a rant and in the same breath complain that nobody wants to have a discussion.
Well gosh, I guess that showed me. Where do I send the check? Unlike you, who has done so much for the Japanese people (well, like starting this [del]blog[/del] thread, for example - I bet the cards and letters are just pouring in!) I guess I haven’t done my part.
Geez, you got me again. Sigh… I guess I just don’t stand a chance when you bring cites like the above to bear.
Well you’re right that someone around here is butthurt.
“There are valid solutions” The China/Russian/French solution?
What is the technical fix? Bury it and guard it for the next 100,000 years?
That is pretty astute. Add in acts of war, hurricanes and the occasional terrorists diving a 747 into a spent fuel pond, and you got it covered.