PCFormat Forum Archive

Siemens wrote:Either that or the pumps aren't working. They did state that they were busy pumping in sea water.
Also when you think about those hydrogen explosions. If it is so hot that water decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen then sea water wouldve probably had the same effect. I dont know.

StarBound wrote:So then nothing more they can do? Sea water not working?

RuadRauFlessa wrote:Stuart.... obviously it is cooling down... we are heading for a winter...

Prime wrote: No, the hydrogen is a result the caesium and iodine as far as I understand. And It can only explode in the presence of oxygen, the by product of which is water again.

The only way to decompose water is a chemical reaction or high vltage electricity. heating it won't break those bonds.

Grimston said a build-up of pressure inside the inner containment of the reactors was the likely cause. "My suspicion is that as the temperature inside the reactor was rising, some of the metal cans that surround the fuel may have burst and at high temperature, that fuel cladding can react with water to produce zirconium oxide and hydrogen.

"That hydrogen then will be part of the gases that need to be vented. That hydrogen then mixes with the surrounding air. Hydrogen and oxygen can then recombine explosively."

StarBound wrote:Well.... they never had the oppertunity to test a hydrogen nuke on anything else than Bekini Atol. Then again wasnt a hydrogen nuke the next step closer to igniting the atmosphere?

Ron2K wrote:Not concerned. From what I understand, Koeberg had a team of IAEA monitors permanently stationed there that submit a weekly report to the IAEA. If there were serious maintenance concerns, you can bet that they would have raised a massive fuss by now.

At the end of 2005, Koeberg started experiencing numerous technical difficulties. On 11 November 2005, a fault on a transmission busbar caused the reactor to go into safe mode, cutting supply to most of the Western Cape for about two hours. On 16 November a fire under a 400kV transmission line caused the line to trip, causing severe voltage dips which resulted in Koeberg once again shutting down. Various parts of the Cape were left without electricity for hours at a time. On the evening of 23 November 2005, a routine inspection of the backup safety system revealed a below-spec concentration of an important chemical, resulting in a controlled shutdown of the reactor. Major power cuts were not experienced until Friday 25 November, when the backup capacity began running out. At this point, rotational load shedding was employed, with customers being switched off in stages for most of the day. Koeberg was re-synchronised to the national grid on Saturday 26 November.

On Sunday 25 December 2005, the generator of Unit 1 was damaged by a worker dropping a spanner into it. While the generator was being powered up after scheduled refuelling and maintenance, a loose bolt, which was left inside the generator caused more severe damage, forcing it to be shut down. Subsequent to the unexpected unavailability of Unit 1, Unit 2 was also brought down for scheduled refuelling, resulting in a severe shortage of supply to the Western Cape. This resulted in widespread load shedding in order to maintain the stability of the network. A replacement rotor for Unit 1 was shipped in from France and the unit was brought back into operation in May 2006.

On 18 and 19 February 2006 large parts of the Western Cape again experienced blackouts due to a "ccontrolled shutdown" of Koeberg. According to Eskom and the City of Cape Town, power cuts were to continue until 26 February 2006, however power supply problems continued beyond this date. The estimated economic losses due to the power cuts was over R500 M as at February 2007, and was estimated to rise to possibly as high as R2 billion.

StarBound wrote:2 Days in the dark isnt minor. Infact I start jumping if the power flicks off already. Anything more than a nanosecond of power loss = a nanosecond too long. If you like the dark, go camping. I will stick to my digital lifestyle thank you very much.