Jump to content

A Pictorial History Of Chernobyl


sol740

Recommended Posts

I scrolled through most of those photos. Definitely appreciate the history lesson.

 

I vividly remember in school seeing the "Elephant's Foot": a huge, solidified glass column that formed from super-heated nuclear fuel and sand that melted and then cooled below the radiator.

 

Also scary to think (especially for you youngsters) how close we came to a similar situation in Three Mile Island in PA, though the operators and systems prevented a total failure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I scrolled through most of those photos. Definitely appreciate the history lesson.

 

I vividly remember in school seeing the "Elephant's Foot": a huge, solidified glass column that formed from super-heated nuclear fuel and sand that melted and then cooled below the radiator.

 

Also scary to think (especially for you youngsters) how close we came to a similar situation in Three Mile Island in PA, though the operators and systems prevented a total failure.

 

 

They also called this the "Medusa" because if you looked upon it you would die from radiation exposure.

 

http://i.imgur.com/9fqbBCB.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whats also a little crazy to me is that we have yet to come up with a better way to protect ourselves from/deal with radiation. I mean, firefighting methods have improved tremendously in the past 50 years, and were pretty much still at "Oh shit, it's radiation, bury it!" for this stuff.....
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whats also a little crazy to me is that we have yet to come up with a better way to protect ourselves from/deal with radiation. I mean, firefighting methods have improved tremendously in the past 50 years, and were pretty much still at "Oh shit, it's radiation, bury it!" for this stuff.....

 

Yes it is. What else is scary to me is there is two nuclear power plants (that I know of) right on lake Michigan, if something happens the radiation could cover a large area pretty quickly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it is. What else is scary to me is there is two nuclear power plants (that I know of) right on lake Michigan, if something happens the radiation could cover a large area pretty quickly.

 

There's two on Lake Erie, Perry and Davis Besse. Here's a bit of info on Davis-Besse from wiki

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%E2%80%93Besse_Nuclear_Power_Station

 

On March 5, 2002, maintenance workers discovered that corrosion had eaten a football-sized hole into the reactor vessel head of the Davis–Besse plant. Although the corrosion did not lead to an accident, this was considered to be a serious nuclear safety incident.[1][2] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission kept Davis–Besse shut down until March 2004, so that FirstEnergy was able to perform all the necessary maintenance for safe operations. The NRC imposed its largest fine ever—more than $5 million—against FirstEnergy for the actions that led to the corrosion. The company paid an additional $28 million in fines under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.[1]

 

According to the NRC, Davis–Besse has been the source of two of the top five most dangerous nuclear incidents in the United States since 1979

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_C._Cook_Nuclear_Generating_Station

 

 

Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant is a nuclear power plant located just north of the city of Bridgman, Michigan which is part of Berrien County, on a 650-acre (260 ha) site 11 miles south of St. Joseph, Michigan, USA. The plant is owned by American Electric Power (AEP) and operated by Indiana Michigan Power, an AEP subsidiary. This is

currently the company's only nuclear power plant, which has two nuclear reactors.

 

The construction cost of the power plant was $3.352 billion (2007 USD).[1] The plant produces enough electricity to meet the needs of a city 1.25 million people.

 

The plant is connected to the power grid via one 765KV line that goes from the plant to AEP's DuMont substation near Lakeville, Indiana and by numerous 345KV lines, two of which interconnect with Consumers Energy/METC, connecting with the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station, owned by Entergy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

D.C. Cook and Palisades are the two plants I was referring to, I have been to cook and worked (briefly) at Palisades. I did not know about the 2 on lake Erie or that incident. It is scary to think that there are 4 that close, what if something happened to them (say a terrorist attack and they were bombed or something). A good portion of the midwest would be unlivable for a very, very long time.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...