Tick Tock - Is Koeberg next?

Alan said:
They're being shut down because of the scare. It remains to be seen whether it's permanent or just been done to appease the strong anti-nuclear lobby there. I'm sure Germany has strict emissions targets for the future that will probably necessitate those nuclear power plants are kept running for a while still
Click to expand...

From what I've read, it was because they were set to be decommissioned ages ago. There were a group of people protesting for the plants closure but that swelled to immense numbers when news from Japan reached the world.
Nuclear energy is very safe. I'm not denying things can go wrong, but the chances are minuscule. The pros far outweighs the cons, what cheaper, cleaner alternatives can countries such as Japan, France, Germany and Korea afford without quadrupling energy prices unnecessarily?
 
phaktza said:
In fact it's looking like the Japs have it under control. It only took a 9.0 earthquake and 33ft tsunami to cause even a remote panic. Nuclear is very safe.
Click to expand...

The reactors actually survived the earthquake with no damage. The problem was the tsunami damaged the cooling systems. At this station, which is an older design, I think it's the fuel tanks for cooling systems which where exposed to the tsunami which resulted in the cooling systems failing and the resulting explosions occurring due to overheating.
 
zippy said:
The reactors actually survived the earthquake with no damage. The problem was the tsunami damaged the cooling systems. At this station, which is an older design, I think it's the fuel tanks for cooling systems which where exposed to the tsunami which resulted in the cooling systems failing and the resulting explosions occurring due to overheating.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the designs did not consider all the major risks associated with an earthquake. Engineering designs in the past have been Deterministic. These days, most engineering designs are Probabilistic and a lot of work is conducted in Risk-Consequence analysis than mere Factor of Safety analysis.

The Koeberg has been Designed to withstand an Earthquake but its worthwhile revisiting the designs, conduct a Risk-Consequence analysis and recalculate to reliability of the system.
 
Last edited:
forewarned is forearmed.

building a nuclear plant on a fault line in not smart, doesn't matter how "active" it is
 
After reading the OP title again carefully one can only deduce that he is really asking whether Koeberg is next to be hit by a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami. The anser is no. Mods can close the thread now, thanks. :-)
 
A pellet of plutonium glowing from its own radioactivity.

Plutonium_pellet.jpg

Picture: Wikimedia Commons
 
SiriS said:
After reading the OP title again carefully one can only deduce that he is really asking whether Koeberg is next to be hit by a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami. The anser is no. Mods can close the thread now, thanks. :-)
Click to expand...

Never mind that - it's built to withstand a major earthquake - and it doesn't sit on a major fault line.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X