All My Preps (and yours) May Be Completely Worthless?

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by syoungs

im not going to venture a guess at how much is there, but the weights listed is the bundle weight, just pointing that out.

The zirc would melt, it melts at a lesser temp then the uranium thats inside.
maybe I dont get your point, can you reword it so I do?

just a question buddy, you are kind of a **** with your response's to people.

Your early posts on this subject were very vauge, now your copy and pasting articles from wikipedia, just curious how much experience you had before this.

Okay, now you're just arguing to argue.

And what did I copy/paste?

[syoungs]

Originally Posted by hebegbz

Okay, now you're just arguing to argue.

And what did I copy/paste?

your saying you never highlighted, pressed the copy button, and pasted anything?

you still havent answered my question.

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by syoungs

just a question buddy, you are kind of a **** with your response's to people.

I'd say that was more of a statement than a question.

Just sayin

[bobsmith]

Originally Posted by hebegbz

Since the poisons build up between the cladding and the fuel,
wouldn't the poisons be liberated upon melting, I'm sure at least all the gases would be.
At any rate, how about a link or something to better explain what you mean, because I am having trouble understanding your point.

you are claiming that the molten fuel assemblies (plus whatever else might be in close contact that melts) might become prompt critical from fast nuetrons.

this is impossible. the critical mass of low enriched uranium goes to infinity at 5.4% enrichment.

there would be no possible way to have a criticality event int he manner you describe unless there is some moderator there to increase the capture cross section.

[syoungs]

Your early posts on this subject were very vauge, now your copy and pasting articles from wikipedia, just curious how much experience you had before this.

that was the question.

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by syoungs

your saying you never highlighted, pressed the copy button, and pasted anything?

you still havent answered my question.

I'm not sure how that pertains to anything we are discussing. But yes, yes I admit I have copied and pasted. Nothing in this thread though.

And what difference could it make what my background is? Somehow I seem to know a lot more about nuclear power plants than you do.

[syoungs]

Originally Posted by hebegbz

I'm not sure how that pertains to anything we are discussing. But yes, yes I admit I have copied and pasted. Nothing in this thread though.

And what difference could it make what my background is? Somehow I seem to know a lot more about nuclear power plants than you do.

curiosity is all, humor me.

[syoungs]

I dont remember ever saying I was king with reactors, I have had more training then the average joe, I have been inside them, I build and service the fuel for them, as well as the poison for them, never said I was the the most knowledgeable though

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by bobsmith

you are claiming that the molten fuel assemblies (plus whatever else might be in close contact that melts) might become prompt critical from fast nuetrons.

this is impossible. the critical mass of low enriched uranium goes to infinity at 5.4% enrichment.

there would be no possible way to have a criticality event int he manner you describe unless there is some moderator there to increase the capture cross section.

I would love to read about this. Can you provide a link, or is this something you heard somewhere?
And remember, we have 1% Pu239 in the mix, along with the U235.
I don't remember atomic bombs having a moderator, and yet somehow they go boom.

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by syoungs

curiosity is all, humor me.

The fact is,
I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[bobsmith]

Originally Posted by hebegbz

I would love to read about this. Can you provide a link, or is this something you heard somewhere?
And remember, we have 1% Pu239 in the mix, along with the U235.
I don't remember atomic bombs having a moderator, and yet somehow they go boom.

last time i checked atomic bombs didnt have their core made up of 97% u238 plus fission products.


the relationship between critical mass and enrichment is a well known fact to those with knowledge int he field. sorry, no link.

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by bobsmith

last time i checked atomic bombs didnt have their core made up of 97% u238 plus fission products.


the relationship between critical mass and enrichment is a well known fact to those with knowledge int he field. sorry, no link.

Then it doesn't count for purposes of this argument.
Have a nice day.

[syoungs]

Not all things learned need links.
Here is a wiki on critical mass and enrichment though.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass

[bobsmith]

Originally Posted by hebegbz

Then it doesn't count for purposes of this argument.
Have a nice day.

it's one thing for me to be too lazy to educate you, it's another thing for you to be too lazy to educate yourself.

[hebegbz]

Originally Posted by bobsmith

it's one thing for me to be too lazy to educate you, it's another thing for you to be too lazy to educate yourself.

ouch

[TMcArthur]

Yes. We could easily have 422 times the amount of radiation as will reach us from Japan and it still would be such a low level that no test we have today could detect any biological effects on you. It would be overwhelmed by the level of natural background radiation.

Good grief. Who are you to tell anyone to "quit saying" anything?

[syoungs]

Originally Posted by hebegbz

ouch

I don't know if that really hurt, there was no link posted.

[EMPCover]

Originally Posted by Kansas Terri

Even an EMP should not take out the generators.

The generators will probably fire up after an EMP. The main problem would be if the power grid stays down for a long time. The generators can run out of fuel, which would then create the same situation as Japan.

The Japan plants had problems because the plants shut down, external power went out... AND the backup generators were washed out by the tsunami. If the backup generators had stayed online, things would probably have been fine.

As with other people in this thread, I worked at nuclear plants for a number of years. EMP issues are considered as part of plant safeguards. US plants have at least two big backup generators to power the cooling systems.

Yes, the plants would probably "scram" and go offline. And if the power grid went down, then the cooling would need to be on backup power.

So, improving backup power options would be a good idea at US plants. The backups are already very good, but could be improved to be excellent. The backup systems should also be reviewed to be sure they can survive an EMP attack of up to 45,000 volts per meter.

I've lost touch with the industry, but I would bet the backup power issue is being worked on. No nuclear worker wants to be a member of the next Fukushima 50. And no utility wants to be the next Tokyo Electric Power Company.

[Post18guy]

All My Preps (and yours) May Be Completely Worthless?


Now there is a happy thought......the fact is that you/OP (presumably) and I make preparations to include material goods, training and obtaining equipment that will serve to provide the basics for survival that will serve in a variety of circumstances.
Further any steps you take to insure your short term survival will and can only improve your long term survivability.
Remember always survival isn't about who's got the coolest gadgets, the most expensive firearms or the most money; it's an attitude to stay on top, and to overcome to the best of your ability what is thrown at you, and it starts with what you have between your ears, and never ends as you continue to seek training and a pertinent education.
I applaud the OP for his/her thread, judging from the number of responses hopefully he/she is more educated now and can continue to shape his/her response through obtaining worthwhile preps.
I hope this helps.

[evialvatar]

Most of these have emergency shutdown procedures and dedicated power supplies that are designed to take no longer than their current fuel storage would allow. For the most part, if the grid started to fail nation wide most would probably be shut down in plenty of time. I think the scarier thing would be a region wide earth quake that could result in serious a quick failures across a large region of the US.