If anyone is interested, a great book titled "We almost lost Detroit" by John Fuller is available as a PDF:
https://avalonlibrary.net/ebooks/John G. Fuller - We Almost Lost Detroit.pdf
It details several early nuclear power plant failures and then how a liquid metal (sodium) breeder reactor, Fermi 1, came within inches of being a major catastrophe in 1966.
Detroit Edison wrote a rebuttal to the book because, you know, an electric company is unbiased:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...oQFnoECEUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3WkkbvfT1AhP49ibKWsArA
The Detroit Edison rebuttal essentially says 'Trust us, we know what we're doing." The rebuttal does note on page 5 that backup power is critical for cooling and as with Fukushima, that's the rub.
Just like how we trusted the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo, Ohio where the reactor lid was almost entirely corroded away and only a 3/16" stainless steel plate remained when the damage was found:
Piping rupture caused by flow accelerated corrosion
The workers found a large hole in the reactor vessel head next to CRDM nozzle #3. The hole was about six inches deep, five inches long, and seven inches wide. The hole extended to within 1-1/2 inches of the adjacent CRDM nozzle #11. The stainless steel liner welded to the inner surface of the reactor vessel head for protection against boric acid was at the bottom of the hole. This liner was approximately 3/16-inch thick and had bulged outward about 1/8-inch due to the high pressure (over one ton per square inch) inside the reactor vessel.
Think of the current world situation with threats of "limited" nuclear strikes. Or an EMP weapon causing widespread power failures. Then think of each nuclear plant in the world or even this country and what will happen if they lose backup power for cooling for days to weeks to months.
The NRC, of course, has studied the issue and decided it's not a problem:
Resolution of Generic Safety Issues: Issue 20: Effects of Electromagnetic Pulse on Nuclear Power Plants (Rev. 1) ( NUREG-0933, Main Report with Supplements 1–35 )
But that's only valid if everything works as designed and keeps on working as designed until the fuel is cool
and there is no physical damage to the systems creating and supplying the backup power. Think no fuel trucks to deliver diesel to the nuclear plants to keep their backup generators running because those fuel trucks had their electronic controls damaged. And that's only if the nuclear plants are afforded top priority by the fuel vendors
and that there are drivers available who have not beat feet out of the area with their families.
Military chips were spec'd as being EMP-protected and then a major supplier was found to be buying chips from China that did not survive EMP testing but they were already installed in a lot of military aircraft.
When I worked on a fire department in Ohio we were exactly 50 miles to the southwest from Perry where Gumby worked. Since we were barely in the 50-mile evacuation radius we got training at Perry for free as part of their evacuation plan.
Perry is on the shore of Lake Erie. The instructor was discussing what would happen and the best advice he could give us was to grab our critical stuff and family and head south. "There will be about two million people in a mass panic trying to leave and they can't go north due to Lake Erie. They are going east, west, and south. When you hear about a major problem get the heck out because the horde is coming your way, straight down I-77 and I-71. You have a head start on everyone else so use it."
And if you're interested in anything going on radiation-wise here is a great web site:
Geiger Counter World Map
People with compatible Geiger counters can automatically upload their data to GMCMap and show up on that world map. There are a lot of devices reporting in from Europe and the USA plus a smattering from the Middle East. There are a few in Israel but they come and go. The ones in Cyprus always seem to report in.
You'll see a few red outliers, almost certainly malfunctioning Geiger counters. But if a lot of that green goes yellow or red, or suddenly disappears, I'm going to believe it.
www.theguardian.com
"Fukushima Daiichi lost its cooling systems during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, causing meltdowns in three of its reactors. An estimated 880 tons of fuel remains in them, and Tepco has carried out several robotic operations."
