What Separates Chernobyl from Three Mile Island and Fukushima By Jim Geraghty

[mystery-ak]

   What Separates Chernobyl from Three Mile Island and Fukushima
By Jim Geraghty

June 5, 2019 2:43 PM

One of the dumber responses to HBO’s just-completed Chernobyl miniseries — discussed by Kyle Smith on the homepage today – is that somehow it’s unfairly picking on the Soviet Union. “Where’s the miniseries about Three Mile Island? Where’s the miniseries about Fukushima?”

This argument amounts to, “I’ve heard about two other nuclear power plant disasters, thus all three must be the same.”

As I wrote back in February, even a cursory study shows the three situations were all different. The partial meltdown and radiation leak at Three Mile Island in 1979 was serious — but the public was informed quickly, if not terribly clearly. Three Mile Island forever tainted the image of nuclear power in the United States; no new plants were opened for 30 years after the accident. The effects of the radiation leak were, thankfully, mild. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission summarized:

    In the months following the accident, although questions were raised about possible adverse effects from radiation on human, animal, and plant life in the TMI area, none could be directly correlated to the accident. Thousands of environmental samples of air, water, milk, vegetation, soil, and foodstuffs were collected by various government agencies monitoring the area. Very low levels of radionuclides could be attributed to releases from the accident. However, comprehensive investigations and assessments by several well-respected organizations, such as Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh, have concluded that in spite of serious damage to the reactor, the actual release had negligible effects on the physical health of individuals or the environment.

more
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/what-separates-chernobyl-from-three-mile-island-and-fukushima/

[Slide Rule]

Chernobyl was designed to produce weapons grade Plutonium.

Carbon blocks as moderators somewhat similar to a first nuclear
pile in Chicago.

:)

[Cyber Liberty]

Chernobyl was designed to produce weapons grade Plutonium.

Carbon blocks as moderators somewhat similar to a first nuclear
pile in Chicago.

:)

I'm not a brilliant Nuclear Engineer like Jimmy Carter, but I always considered the graphite-based control of the reactor to be the biggest cack-up of them all.  Chernobyl was this disaster waiting to happen, born of its very design.

[Slide Rule]

I'm not a brilliant Nuclear Engineer like Jimmy Carter, but I always considered the graphite-based control of the reactor to be the biggest cack-up of them all.  Chernobyl was this disaster waiting to happen, born of its very design.

I worked at an Electric Utility.

Our VP of Nuclear said at the time essentially what I posted.

Chernobyl was built for weapons grade Plutonium.

I have yet to hear this from the China Syndrome news people.

Our VP came from the other side of the company. It was the
first time I thought they had men of substance.

They did.

:)

[Elderberry]

http://nuclearconnect.org/chernobyl-in-brief

Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information of the American Nuclear Society

Chernobyl in Brief

The Chernobyl-type reactor was designed to produce weapons grade plutonium while also generating electricity and used graphite (similar to charcoal). A more prevalent practice is to have separate reactors for power and weapons material. The Chernobyl type reactors that continued in operation were modified to prevent a repetition of the accident.

The operators were attempting to repeat an “engineering run” to get data on the whole plant’s performance during shutdown. Because they were repeating the engineering run, overconfidence and schedule change pressures led to the operator errors. The accident began with a nuclear power burst about equal to 160 pounds of TNT. This caused a chemical reaction with the graphite, resulting in a much larger explosion. The reactor vessel lid was blown aside; a hole was blown in the roof, and pieces of core and fuel material blown on to the roof. The graphite was set on fire, and the reactor was burning down and melting down at the same time.

[Elderberry]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite-moderated_reactor

There are several types of graphite-moderated nuclear reactors that have been used in commercial electricity generation:

    Gas-cooled reactors
        Magnox
        UNGG reactor
        Advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR)
    Water-cooled reactors
        RBMK
        EGP-6
    High-temperature gas-cooled reactors (past)
        Dragon reactor
        AVR
        Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station, Unit 1
        THTR-300
        Fort St. Vrain Generating Station
    High temperature gas-cooled reactors (in development or construction)
        Pebble-bed reactor
        Prismatic fuel reactor
        UHTREX Ultra-high-temperature reactor experiment

[Slide Rule]

http://nuclearconnect.org/chernobyl-in-brief

Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information of the American Nuclear Society

Chernobyl in Brief

Thanks. That is the first time I have seen it in print.

It would be nice to include facts in movies.

:)