MOST DANGEROUS WAY TO BOIL WATER

THE MOST DANGEROUS WAY TO BOIL WATER
(Or Playing With Fire In A Ship’s Gun-Powder Magazine)
The 104 nuclear power plants operating in the USA produce electricity the old fashioned way---they simply boil water and let the steam produced expand across the blades of a turbine fan. The fan turns a dynamo –much like the generator (alternator) in your automobile—and produces electricity. The process is based on the 18th century concept of James Watt who modified earlier designs dating back to Greek experimental steam-machines of the first century AD. The engines of Watt were piston-type engines which could be hooked up to farm machinery. But late in the 19th century, Charles Parson (1884) devised the steam turbine to convert steam into more useful mechanical energy by way of a complex “fan” which rotates in the stream of expanding gas and generates electricity by turning an electromagnetic dynamo. The only thing that has changed much over time is how we boil the water to make the steam. The early Greek machines used olive-oil lamps placed under the metal “boiler”. Early 19th century designs burned wood, later ones burned coal or petroleum and even natural gas. But the most modern and most dangerous of all-- use nuclear energy (that is: nuclear, pronounced nu clee arrrr! There is no “u” after the “c” in “nuclear” as President Bush was wont to add).
To produce nuclear energy one must acquire and concentrate large, heavy, unstable atomic nuclei which naturally decay into lighter more stable nuclei (a natural process known as nuclear fission); or alternately permit nuclei of lighter elements to combine into heavier more stable ones (nuclear fusion). The former process is what is commonly used to generate electricity. By this means (nuclear fission) unstable heavy elements such as certain forms of Uranium and Plutonium (which decay naturally by releasing particles of matter such as protons or neutrons) alter into lighter elements. As they alter from one element or one state of matter into another they give off radiation (the nuclear particles noted above) and great quantities of heat. That heat can be trapped to boil water. The reactor where this process takes place must be shielded by great thicknesses of metal and concrete to protect the staff, workers and general population from dangerous radiation. The problem with nuclear fission is that the process besides producing ionizing radiation which is harmful to all living things also generates great quantities of highly radioactive waste material which must be stored and isolated from the biosphere and which requires long-term (permanent) storage deep underground (though sometimes that does not take place as it should—as in the exposed used fuel rod pools at the Fukushima incident).
The water in the reactor is heated in an enclosed vessel by long fuel rods each filled with pellets of uranium ore. The sealed rods are surrounded by water and as the eclosed uranium decays into its fusion products the pellets give off energy which heats the surrounding water to the boiling point. The steam is directed over the blades of the turbine which rotates and generates the electricity. The steam is condensed and carried back by pipes into the boiler vessel so that the process can continue. To modulate the rate of reaction, control rods (often of graphite) are used which can be introduced into the spaces between the fuel rods. The control rods absorb the radiation which would otherwise interact with other nuclei and increase heat production. To slow the reaction and shut the core reactor down, the control rods are introduced in such a way as to interpose their mass between the fuel rods and thus maximize their absorption and modulation effects. As this is going on the excess heat must be drawn away by circulating water. If it is not constantly flowing through the core within the boiler-vessel, heat will build up. Loss of water circulation or loss of water may cause the fuel rods to decay and melt. Some of the substances produced (such as Cesium 137) are gases at these high temperatures and if the containment vessel is breached, these radioactive gases can escape into the atmosphere. If the entire mass of fuel melts it can produce an extremely hot molten mass which can actually melt its way through the floor of the containment vessel. This is sometimes referred to as a “China syndrome” or “complete meltdown”. In a meltdown there is no longer any way to modulate the reaction and an uncontrolled chain reaction can ensue. The boiler vessel and the containment structure could be damaged and breached and the radioactive elements can escape into the atmosphere, seep into the groundwater, be run off into surface waters or the ocean. In each case the substances which are released are deadly to living things and will remain so sometimes for thousands of years. Cesium 137 however, has a short half-life of about 30 years. Thus half of the atoms will have altered to some other more stable element after 30 years, then after 60 years that half would have halved itself and so on.
In the Chernobyl Disaster of April 26, 1986 in what is now north-central Ukraine an accident during a routine shutdown of the plant ultimately caused the loss of water, an great explosion and exposure of the plants fuel and graphite moderator rods. The graphite rods began to burn and an explosion blew the top off the less-than-adequate containment vessel. Radioactive debris was carried across much of Eastern Europe by upper-air winds. Nearly a quarter of a century later, the plant and the near-by city are deserted as radiation exclusion zones. The radiation caused the deaths of several hundred who lived near the plant and those many valiant Russians who gave their lives to contain the disaster. Years later scientists using statistical methods estimated that in those areas affected by the fall-out nearly a million people died as a consequence of their exposure. Even today nearly a quarter-century later the incidence of thyroid cancer in affected areas is 500 times what is was prior to 1986.
The disaster at Fukushima in Japan has made it clear to all that there are no assurances that nuclear energy can be “tamed” and made safe.
Oh there will be many who will claim that this was a “unique” set of circumstances; the disaster occurred at an old, outdated plant that was going to be retired soon that was simultaneously hit by a massive earthquake and then a tsunami. “What do you expect?” they might add? You counter with…”What about the disaster in 1976 at the American nuclear plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (Three Mile Island)? Their response would be: “That was the result of a simple careless mistake.” “The plant itself and the construction were flawless!”
But what about the massive nuclear disaster in the USSR (Ukraine) in 1986 at Chernobyl? They would be sure to cite the facts that the Chernobyl melt down and explosion in 1986 happened at an old plant, designed by Russians. Would you ever buy a Russian-designed and manufactured motor-vehicle? You roll your eyes, and think, “No, probably not”, remembering those cheap “Lada” vehicles that the Russians exported to Cuba and other Soviet-block countries in the 80s and 90s. While Americans can be creative and inventive, they are not the ones you would want to repair your antique watch or fiddle with the fine mechanisms in your Infinity Sedan. You know that they have little interest in fixing that auto when we know that they all want to be either top executives or wealthy entrepreneurs (that is if they have no talent for baseball or football where they can really make money). You can expect Americans to make sloppy mistakes—just compare the maintenance records and finish on a Dodge Caravan-(a great idea that Chrysler Corporation came up with) with the Honda Odyssey—a copy-cat-design but mostly manufactured by the Japanese with better finish, and better maintenance performance. The Japanese have the mindset and the cultural background for that kind of work and success. They are methodical, systematic, precise and disciplined. So if the Japanese cannot keep the nuclear “tiger” under control, how could we expect the Americans—and all the others who want to use this dangerous way to boil water—the Chinese, Indians, Brazilians and others to do so?
It’s a sure thing that the name “Fukushima” will become another metonym for nuclear disaster. “What do you want to have another Fukushima here? The answer from most citizens, faced with the possibility of constructing a nuclear power plant in “their back yard” would be: “No Fukushima for us!”
And of course we would feel the same way ourselves!
Get the picture?