Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing — the Mark 1 — was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident. Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday’s earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s.
“The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant. The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release.”
Read the rest at ABC News. You should also read Robert Reich’s piece on his Tumblr.
Source: kateoplis
Hello! I'm a marketing guy in Toronto, originally from Minnesota (hi Mom!), and I'm fascinated with web2.0, marketing, technology and Apple. But don't hold any of it against me please.
