Did a short sharp Geomagnetic storm contribute to the Callide Coal plant explosion?

[Elderberry]

JoNova 5/29/2021

Ben Davidson speaks from Spaceweathernews.com mentions that there was a short sharp geomagnetic storm over the East Coast of Australia around the time the Queensland Callide Power plant exploded.

The CME that flew past Earth didn’t do much around the world,  causing a small 1% deviation in magnetometers. But there was a burst of activity in the Southern Hemisphere that appears to have hit the east coast of Australia. Magnetometers there saw a 300 – 500% change between noon and 3pm on the same day as the Callide Coal Power Plant blew up. The explosion happened at 1.44pm and the 275 kV transmission lines tripped at 2:06pm.

We don’t know if this tipped something over the edge at Callide, but the timing is awfully coincidental. If Earth’s magnetic field is weakening it would seem urgent, to say the least, to understand the risks these spaceweather events pose to our critical infrastructure.

Perhaps an engineer who knows the design of hydrogen cooled supercritical coal reactors might be able to explain if or how a geomagnetic storm might contribute to an explosion, or even if that is possible?

More: https://joannenova.com.au/2021/05/did-a-short-sharp-geomagnetic-storm-contribute-to-the-callide-coal-plant-explosion/

[thackney]

...design of hydrogen cooled supercritical coal reactors...

It would appear the author has no idea what they are writing about and is just stringing together words they found.  Multiple reports of the steam turbine coming apart suggests a blade in the turbine coming loose, or casing rupture.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/queensland-power-station-unit-could-be-offline-for-a-year-20210526-p57v7o

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Callide explosion was caused by a rotor blade breaking through its casing, causing serious damage that will require extensive and lengthy repairs.

Turbine parts flew hundreds of metres in Qld power station disaster
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/turbine-parts-flew-hundreds-of-metres-in-qld-power-station-disaster-20210527-p57vl8

This facility uses supercritical steam boilers, very hot, very high pressure.



Steam Pressure 25,100 kPa
Main Steam Temperature 566ºC
https://www.csenergy.com.au/ArticleDocuments/191/Electricity%20generation%20at%20Callide%20Power%20Station%2026%20Oct%202016.pdf.aspx

I have found nothing stating the facility used hydrogen for cooling.  All reports about hydrogen seem to go back to a professor offering early possible causes of the explosion as coal dust or some facilities use hydrogen for cooling.  He made no reference to this specific facility design.

https://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/story/7274068/cqu-experts-insight-into-cause-of-callide-power-station-fire/

[Hoodat]

It would appear the author has no idea what they are writing about and is just stringing together words they found.

There seems to be a lot of that going around.

[Joe Wooten]

If the turbine threw a blade causing it to fly apart, then the resulting debris punctured the generator causing the hydrogen used to cool it to explode. I saw that happen to a gas fired steam plant near Dallas back in 1974. The turbine tripped off at about 1AM but a LP turbine intercept valve failed open and the residual reheat steam caused the turbine to overspeed and it disintegrated as the bearings ran out of lube oil and locked up. The hydrogen in the generator exploded causing a fireball that was seen in downtown Dallas. Parts of the turbine and on shrunk on ring on the generator shaft were found up to 10 miles away.

The control room was right on the turbine deck and was shredded, but no one was badly injured. I got the full story from a guy who was a shift supervisor at Comanche Peak who was a SS there at Mountain Creek that night.

If they truly did have a highly localized geomagnetic storm there, yes it might have contributed to the disaster by tripping the plant and a stuck opne isolation valve might have caused an turbine overspeed that caused the turbine to disintegrate.