On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:13:09 -0500, dpb wrote:

Paul M. Eldridge wrote:
...
Well, bear in mind this is the same country that brought us the
Renault, Peugeot and Citroën. =:0

And with that your honour, I rest my case. ;-)
...

Excepting, of course, they started w/ US design for the most part...

Seriously, imo experience trumps conjecture of what if and their
experience has been pretty good for quite a significant time period for
not a small population sample.

I haven't kept up much on the CANDU situation -- weren't tube failures
primarily a water chemistry problem?

Well, as Betty Furness liked to tell us "you can be SURE if it's
Westinghouse".... ;-)

The pressure tubes in these CANDU reactors are made from a Zr-2.5Nb
alloy and are susceptible to something called Delayed Hydride Cracking
or "DHC", which is caused by a diffusion of hydrogen atoms that in
turn leads to the formation of hydride palelets. Over time, small
hairline fractures can develop which continue to grow and can
ultimately lead to castrophic failure, as had occured at Pickering A's
No. 2 reactor in August, 1983. Simply put, these zircaloy tubes are
prone to corrosion and blistering.

Cheers,
Paul