In message , Chris Hogg
writes
On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:24:56 +0000, hugh ] wrote:

In message , Chris Hogg
writes
On Sun, 20 Mar 2011 11:49:57 +0000, hugh ] wrote:

In message
,
Andy Dingley writes
On Mar 19, 5:19*pm, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

PWR reactors are capabe of cooling the cores by convection alone in a
shutdown situation.

Firstly they're not. Only some recent designs, very few of which have
yet been built (at commercial sizes)

Secondly the reactors at Fukushima are BWRs, not PWRs.
I was reading p on Windscale today having more than a passing interest
in that particular accident. It was air cooled and they put out the fire
by - switching off the fan!!

errr...well, yes they did do that, but they also pumped in a very
large amount of water. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire

That was to cool it, not to put out the fire.

Well, whichever it was, it wasn't sufficient on its own. I've just
read Tuohy's account of his actions during the fire, see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h...0_07_ukaea.pdf
Pages 22 to 25 of the PDF document, or 1.14 to 1.17 by the document's
own pagination.

Turning off the air was what made the difference, so in that sense
you're right, although Tuohy himself said that in his opinion it was
the combined effect of the water and cutting off the air that put out
the fire, and that cutting off the air alone wouldn't have been
sufficient.

Tuohy died in 2008, aged 90, so whatever level of radiation he
received didn't do him any long-term harm, but a remarkably brave man
under the circumstances.

Do you know if ALL the documents were released after 30 years? I have a
feeling some were not declassified but I can't find any reference to
them - maybe it's a secret :-(
--
hugh
"Believe nothing. No matter where you read it, Or who said it, Even if
I have said it, Unless it agrees with your own reason And your own
common sense." Buddha