By: Ray Rife – raysbbr@gmail.com
Welcome to Ray’s “Boom-Boom” Room.
Okay, so I’m a big Dallas Cowboys fan and this stuff with Dez Bryant just tickles me to death. I mean, c’mon son, you can’t go to the mall with your pants saggin’. Well, wait, I think I heard that it wasn’t him – it was his friends but either way its a bad look. Learn from Michael Irvin, you gotta win a Super Bowl championships FIRST, then if you get in trouble…they may let it slide. Not before.
Japan and the nuclear reactor.
Okay, I’ll admit, that I’m not really paying much attention to the nuclear power plant story in Japan. I get it, it could leak radiation and people are afraid they will wake up with a third eye (and not the proverbial third eye, really, a third eye). I guess sometimes I get enough of the “world is coming to an end” spin from the media. They just reported that there was radioactive rain in Massachusetts.
Recently, I received an email. In this email was the description of how a nuclear reactor cools. I’m not an engineer, let alone a nuclear engineer, but this person claims to be and took the time to give an explanation. I don’t know this person and it wasn’t originally addressed to me. I asked to get his contact information but apparently when I received it I was several times removed so…read with a grain of salt but it was interesting and I thought I would share. Here you go as I got it…
OK – Just a quick note to my dear family and friends, from your resident
Nuclear Engineer … Well, at least I’ve prospered in the industry for
35 years without too many odd growths or strange habits … and have
probably learned a few things.
First – it’s amazing the reactor structures are still standing because
the earthquake seismic loads were 100s of times beyond the design
requirements for these plants. Not only are the plants still standing,
the reactor vessels (very thick carbon steel) and the containment (dome)
structures around the vessel are still very likely in tact ( from what
I’ve heard).
Next – these plants shut down automatically when an earthquake hits. If
you assume the plants were running at full capacity at the time of shut
down, they would be generating about 3000 Megawatts (MW) of heat –
that’s a bunch. At shut down (called “scram”) the power drops almost
immediately to ~200 MW, after 1 day power drops to 10 MW and after 1
week the decay heat produced in the core is approximately 5 MW. That’s
about where the Japan reactors are now. So the core is naturally
producing less and less power by the day (that’s because radioactive
materials decay away with a characteristic1/2 life of the radioactive
materials produced by the fission of uranium).
Since the power level in the core is dropping, if a melt down is going
to happen, it typically happens toward the beginning of the accident –
not later on. This is because the core heat is decaying away and
producing less power as time goes on. It was tough in Japan because all
the electricity was lost for pumps to get cooling water into the
vessels, so the water that was there, and flowing in slowly boils away –
thus removing heat and generating steam. That steam pressure has to be
released to the outside. Usually through huge sand/gravel filters. You
reach a point that if all the water is boiled away that the core will
radiate away its heat (red hot). In other words it will sit there and
glow – that’s not bad, it’s just how it gets rid of the heat.
In a loss of cooling accident, the fuel clad (metal tubes the ceramic
reactor fuel is inside of) gets really hot and chemically reacts with
the water and steam. This water-metal reaction (oxidation) produces
hydrogen. Additionally when water is in a radiation field, the water
“radiolyzes” or breaks the H20 into hydrogen and oxygen. Under normal
operation this gas is slowly vented (it’s not radioactive) so it doesn’t
build up. In an accident it can build up and explode or burn. This is
what “blew up” external (outside of) to one or two of the Japanese
reactors. This should have no impact on the reactor vessel and
containment structure, so the fuel should still be safely inside. Hence
those reactors should be in pretty good shape from a fuel containment
perspective.
In early 1979 a US reactor core melted down (Three Mile Island).
According to Jane Fonda, an accident like this would wipe out the entire
east coast of the USA (except for the Mainers, cause they’re a tough
breed!!). In reality the number of deaths caused by the TMI accident
was zero (0). A tribute to the safety of nuclear plants.
Very important point – Chernobyl is nothing like the Japanese, US, UK,
French, German … reactors. Chernobyl had NO containment vessel, no
containment structure and was a graphite moderated design that does not
naturally shut down in an accident like the “water reactors” do.
Comparing Chernobyl to the Japanese reactors is very deceiving.
(Chernobyl killed 1000s and made a big mess, TMI did not harm anyone and
released minimal radiations – both had core melt-downs).
So watch on. I think you will ultimately see that … there will be
some radiation release (just like there is from coal plants, the earth,
nuclear stress tests and dental x-rays), but I don’t think it will be
significant. We are seeing media hysteria at its worst.
Yes, I do work in the nuclear industry, but I’m not trying to sell you
anything. I’m just sharing what I know in hopes of to putting your
minds at rest. The economic woes, national debt, terrorism and such are
a much greater threats that those nuclear plants in Japan.
Sleep well – Erich
A story to tell….
So that was pretty heavy so I won’t go into talking about 3 other things that struck me over the last week and a half or so. What I will do is tell a story from my past. This didn’t happen to me but I was with the guy before all of it happened and the following is what happened after he left my house. You can’t make this stuff up.
I’ll start the story with the two of us being at my house. Cale (not his real name, gotta protect the “innocent”), has decided to leave my house and go get his car. It’s about 2:30 am and I’m ready to go to sleep. Our evening consisted of consuming copious amounts of alcohol so I was tired and ready to pass out. I ask him to stay because of his inebriated condition but he declines. He has to walk about 15 blocks to retrieve the car he was driving.
He leaves and I go to sleep. About 7:30am I get a phone call. Now this is about 15 years ago so I have a wired phone above my head. It rings insanely loud. When I go to answer it my head is pounding (that damn brown liquor). I answer it;
“Hello.”
“What the f*ck happened last night and why are you at home and Cale is in jail.” said a female voice.
Shaking the cobwebs from my head I respond, “What? Who is this and Cale is where?”
“This is Rebecca (again, name change), you know who this is and Cale was with you last night, now he’s in jail. What happened?”
Rebecca is the woman that he lives with and has two kids by, now I’m starting to wake up and becoming coherent, “Cale is in jail? What happened?”
“He got arrested, I’m on my way to get him and he said the last place he was before he got arrested was your house…why weren’t you with him?”
“Hold up? I’m starting to think you’re mad at me because I’m home and not in jail with him. He said he was leaving and knowing how drunk I was I suggested that he stay here but he declined.”
“Why didn’t you make him stay there?”
“Because he’s a grown-ass man!!! I asked him, he declined. What am I going to do? Handcuff his ass to the house, get the f*ck outta here, did all you do is call to yell at me?”
“I just want to know why he left your house, what was so important that he had to leave? Plus, how did he end up in jail?”
“Well, Rebecca, you are asking the wrong person, don’t call here talking sh*t on my phone again!”
I abruptly ended the conversation.
Several hours later Cale, free from Johnny Law, and his brother Mark, stops by my house. Cale is very jovial, clearly high from marijuana and states, I got a story for you. He proceeds to tell me what happened.
He starts talking; “So I left your house and walked to the apartment complex where we left the car (I’m not going to explain why we did that – Haha!), I climbed the tree and got my beer and Hennessey and started driving home. I get on the expressway and was feeling froggy so I stood on the accelerator. I’m going about 95-100…Dude, I was flying and I come around this corner and pass two police cars. I didn’t see them until it was too late. Needless to say, they start following me with their lights and sirens on. Well, I got a opened 12-pack of beer, a half drunk 1/5th of Hen and a loaded .32 caliber pistol. I’m going to have to make it happen.”
“I call my brother and tell him that I need him to meet me at Lori’s house (Note: Lori is another woman he’s seeing and the owner of the car). He agrees, I get off the expressway and there are now 3 police cars behind me. My heart is racing but I have a bit of a lead.”
At this point, Mark chimes in; “Yeah, I get this phone call and Cale is telling me he’s running from the cops and meet him a Lori’s. I have questions but I can tell he’s a little busy so I just say yeah and start over to her house.”
“I get to 42nd and Battlecreek and I hear what sounds like a battalion of squad cars. Just then I see Cale driving Lori’s car and he’s moving at a high rate of speed. He hits the intersection. Since there is a crown from the intersecting street; his car hits the crown and goes airborne. Sparks are flying everywhere. He lands the car and doesn’t miss a beat or lose speed. About 5 seconds later 4 police cars proceed through the intersection. As I’m watching this, I notice that 2 more squad cars are coming from behind me. Needless to say, I’m really wondering what Cale did.”
I’m sitting in stunned silence.
Mark continues; “I wait there about another 30 seconds and decide to start to follow. I proceed to the intersection of 42nd and Harcourt where the elementary school meets 42nd. You know where the school t-bones the intersection?”
He’s making sure I know where they are.
“Well, I see Lori’s car, it’s crashed into another car…t-boned. The door is open and Cale is no where in sight. The police are standing around looking in all directions. At this moment, I happen to start scanning the scene and about 300 yards away, I see him running through the school yard and heading towards a neighborhood. I was amazed that he got away.”
Cale starts again, “Man, when I hit that woman’s car, all I could do was think about running. I opened the car and just took off. I don’t think the woman driving the car even saw me.”
I just pictured Cale running through the school yard as fast as he could, like a cartoon character with bobby pins spinning in his wake.
“I’m a couple blocks from Lori’s but I’m hearing police cars with their sirens on all around me. I got to hide. So I cut through a couple yards and I hear a car coming up the block I’m on. I look for cover but it’s too late, he’s close. So I jump up in a tree. The police car drives past but I hear other sirens so I decide to stay put for a minute.”
“The sun is starting to break so I know I got to get to Lori’s house soon. I start to look around for an escape plan and that’s when I notice the homeowner of the tree I’m in, standing in the window, drinking coffee, looking right at me. Then I notice that two squad cars are coming. They stop at the house and the officers get out of their cars. They start to walk up the sidewalk. I’m trapped. So I’m thinking that the only thing I can do is wait for them to get by me and then jump out of the tree and run. They get about 15 yards from me and I reposition my weight so I can jump out of the tree. Just as I shift my weight, the limb cracks and then breaks. I fall at the feet of the oncoming officers.”
Needless, to say, he gets arrested.
He laughed hysterically. I look at Mark, he just shakes his head. Cale says, “Man, that sh*t was fun, wanna go get a drink?”
I’m amazed at his cavalier attitude about all of it. Just when I was going to ask a question, I change my mind and start to get dressed.
The final thing I say before leaving the house; “Okay, I’m going but I’m driving myself!”
Final Thought
I hope you take the time to look at some of the other writers on the site. Taboo Jive is growing rapidly and make sure you are one of the people that say, “I knew them when…”
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Ray
Ray's Boom Boom Room - Vol. 3: Japan's nuclear reactor; A story in the life of....,
sammykjo
31 Mar 2011Hilarious story! Love the new pic by the way, ;)!