Lecture on Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant tonight at University of Pittsburgh (West Mifflin: calculation, live in) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

ML North · 03-16-2011, 02:53 PM

Tonight, March 16, at 615pm the University of Pittsburgh is holding a special lecture about the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The lecture will be held in Room 157 of Benedum Hall. This session is open to the community.

There will be presentations, including an overview of the reactor design, and a panel session by nuclear engineers and scientists from industry and academia.

Tiger Beer · 03-16-2011, 04:21 PM

Just for the record. I am currently exactly 96 miles away from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. I live in Shibata City, Niigata-ken. I'm here with my wife and son.

We're finalizing things, and getting out of here tomorrow night. Fortunately the winds are in favor here today, as they were yesterday. I mean, for whatever little radiation is being emitted at this point. Everything could change drastically very quickly though.

Anyways, interesting there is a lecture on this in Pittsburgh. Hope some of you go see it. Would be interesting to hear what they say.

ditchdigger · 03-16-2011, 04:36 PM

I'd been wondering about you, Tiger. I looked a few days ago and saw that you'd posted elsewhere on C-D Forums, so I figured you were ok.

When you say "getting out of here", do you mean out of town, or out of the country? And I wouldn't want to put you on the spot, but do you have a sense of whether the public is getting the full story on this thing?

rhondee · 03-16-2011, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Just for the record. I am currently exactly 96 miles away from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. I live in Shibata City, Niigata-ken. I'm here with my wife and son.

We're finalizing things, and getting out of here tomorrow night. Fortunately the winds are in favor here today, as they were yesterday. I mean, for whatever little radiation is being emitted at this point. Everything could change drastically very quickly though.

Anyways, interesting there is a lecture on this in Pittsburgh. Hope some of you go see it. Would be interesting to hear what they say.

Tiger, so glad to hear that you and family are OK and are able to get out ASAP in case the situation gets worse. Let us know how you're doing and keep us posted!

Tiger Beer · 03-16-2011, 07:27 PM

We're relocating to Osaka. We were planning to move there anyways. But moved up the moving date a bit sooner.

Lots of highs and lows with everything that is going on. Lots of conflicting information as well. Lots of scares than reassurances that everything is okay. Up and down.

At the moment, I feel that the radiation scare was a bit too much...might I might change my opinion about it again at any moment.

The constant aftershocks were very real though. The tsunami as well - which we didn't get over here. Tons and tons of aftershocks, and their epicenters keep moving around all over the place in northern Japan.

rhondee · 03-16-2011, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ML North

Tonight, March 16, at 615pm the University of Pittsburgh is holding a special lecture about the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The lecture will be held in Room 157 of Benedum Hall. This session is open to the community.

There will be presentations, including an overview of the reactor design, and a panel session by nuclear engineers and scientists from industry and academia.

KDKA News interviewed Westinghouse CEO this evening about the Fukashima reactor coolant problem. He said the new generation of Westinghouse Nuclear Plants have a much safer passive coolant system that flows by gravity without reliance on pumps.They are supposed to be building a number of the new plants in some southern states.
The problem is what do we do with all the aging nuclear plants that are throughout the nation? I wonder if there is a possibility that they can upgrade existing plants? I wish I could have gone to the lecture at Benedum Hall tonight to see what they have to say.

ML North · 03-16-2011, 08:31 PM

I attended the lecture and think it was an excellent crash course in the fundamentals of nuclear power generation for the average Joyce. I was surprised by the number of people in attendance.

The main presenter was the Director of Nuclear Engineering at Pitt, who has been a nuclear engineer at Los Alamos and Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin. He gave a quick overview of reactor theory, discussed the basics of radiation, described types of plant designs, and outlined the evolution of events at Fukushima Daiichi. (It all makes a lot more sense with even a very high level understanding of the fundamentals!) There was Q&A session with several nuclear scientists and engineers, but unfortunately I had to leave before this started. I think the whole event is going to be available online -- I'll try to find it and post it here for those who are interested.

Rhondee, to answer your question, to upgrade from an existing plant to the passive design that you heard being discussed on the news is really not a possibility. The design necessary to facilitate passive cooling involves buildings of a special size and geometry to allow the proper placement of huge components. In addition, nuclear plants are licensed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission based on their design. Thus, major design changes require licensing changes, which carry lengthy review periods and large costs. Literally, the regulator reviews every drawing, calculation, etc., and the culmination of these documents forms the basis for the plants' operating licenses.

The Fukushima situation could not happen with the Westinghouse passive design (AP1000). Not that it is completely fault-proof, nothing is, but the risk of core damage is literally orders of magnitude less than that of the Fukushima Daiichi BWR.

The United States has 104 commercial reactors, 35 of which are Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) -- the same basic design as Fukushima Daiichi. The US Navy operates 110 reactors.

rhondee · 03-16-2011, 08:43 PM

Thanks for explaining ML! I hope they do make the lecture available online as it sounds like it was a good one, especially for an average Joyce like me!

AaronPGH · 03-16-2011, 09:19 PM

Yeah, this sounds like it was a good one. Keep us posted. Pretty nuts what's happening over there. There have been a few times where I've had to stop reading about it or watching the news – way too grim.

hempfield mania · 03-17-2011, 06:50 AM

Yep, BWR's are inherently much less safe since the irradiated steam has to leave the containment vessel. Additionally, the Fukushima reactors have their spent fuel stored in the same bldg. and above the ground (as well as the reactor, it looks like).

Newer designs have the main reactor and the spent fuel storage ponds stored separately and both are essentially "underground" which lessens the chance of spreading radiation if an accident were to happen.

The AP1000 design is much safer than the BWR's design but as is life, nothing is "fool proof."

PS - Tiger Beer, stay safe and good luck on your move.