[PvK]

Originally posted by Timstone:
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quote:

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Originally posted by Raging Deadstar:
... Definitely a prominent warning we may be messing with things we're not ready for yet...

Believe me good RD, we're ready for more fusion and fission. The only thing that was an big error in Chernobyl was that the military was in control of the powerplant.
On order of the military the people of the powerplant shut off all the 50 different failsaves. This causes the reactor to produce more energy (thus more electrical output). The darkside of this was the gigantic risc of a meltdown. This meltdown doesn't always have to lead to a mushroom, this was averted by a clever maintenance worker who decided to drop the carbon rods into the reactor. Thus preventing a thermal overload.
The coolant of the reactor was often given the blame of the overload (because the West used water to cool things down and the Russians use a more efficient carbon based liquid (a little bit more dangerous than water, but far more efficient)), but this is not true. It was a plain and simple economic decision which created this accident. Stupid military guys. If those failsaves were in place the plant didn't produce as much output, but at least it would have still been in operation.
"No, we don't fail. So we don't need those pesky failsaves. We are the invincible Red Army." Tss... suckers.

Edit: Typo's, typo's, typo's...

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The problems, however, have to do with insuring that the "we" who may think they are ready to use nuclear power, are always ready, and that there is no danger of anything going wrong. Those are matters of politics, business, adiministation, education, counter-terrorism, security, preparing for the unexpected, natural disasters, etc. The US just "lost" two spent fuel rods somewhere?

Abstainance is the best guarantee that there will NOT be a meltdown, dirty bomb, or other catastrophe. Indulgence creates a huge need for competence, vigilance, security, intelligence, lack of corruption, lack of fanatical enemies, etc.

PvK