With the increased interest once again in nuclear power, the nagging question on our minds is potential long term risks over short term gains.
One of those is Zirconium Fires where spent fuel when cut off from a constant resupply of coolant will ignite its cladding and disperse contents into the air in some (most? All?) Nuclear power plants when disrupted by natural disasters and systemic power failure that lasts longer than the 30 day diesel back up can provide to continuously service the spent fuel pools with fresh coolant.
What do you guys think? Is it true/false? over/underhyped?
Interview with Paul Blanch (50 year veteran in nuclear industry) over concealed nuclear risks. youtu.be/T7iV5gFCK70
You'd need a really powerful natural disaster to disable a nuclear reactor from being able to generate it's own power
Liam Martinez
Many are at sea level and so are vulnerable to tsunamis and potentially even rising seas if GW is non-linear and an ice shelf collapses raising levels by metres within a decade. Also net energy collapse due to post peak energy.
Benjamin Jenkins
Suppose also the hype about solar flares/ coronal mass ejections
Colton Cooper
Just enforce each sation to store its own fuel under bedrock and allow them only in areas you're ok to have nature reserve for few hundread years.
Zachary Davis
Most nuclear reactors can be operated analog/manually in case of a emergency
Julian Garcia
Yes the diesel back up generators? 30 day supply. But in an event that lasts longer than the back up supply of fuel?
Sebastian Wright
nuclear power is the only true green energy your precious batteries and windmills generate toxic waste which are given to nigger countries to throw into lakes nuclear waste secured by white countries appear like sesame seeds compared to the mt everest of burning coal each day
Brody Martin
Or put another way, we have experienced isolated failures in just a couple of nuclear power plants -- but if they all suffered at once due to a widescale long term impact, that may strain the ability to maintain them
Jack Gray
You'd think they'd have priority shipment for diesel? If need be the military could even be called in to help
Adam Sanders
Not denying that, you're right. Bright Green Lies
David Green
if that happened society as a whole would be shitting and dying so it's kind of a moot point
Tyler Taylor
Pebble bed reactors can't overheat, as far as I know.
Nicholas Garcia
Well it's more so about what comes after that society, will it bathe survivors in contamination for generations and retard all their offspring and cause crops to fail or not
Adam Russell
Nuclear power is safe....until it isn't.
David Diaz
Maybe that doesn't, I haven't heard of it myself / limited knowledge. I wonder what the breakdown is of existing power plants. Most are in Europe and North America so if they all have SFPs they may be a problem for Americans and Europeans.
