Duffy
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Fermi 1 breeder reactor, 1966 — Faded Giant
This incident was immortalized as the night "We Almost Lost Detroit" by both John Fuller's book of the same name (with the terrifying cover), and Gil Scott-Heron's groovy slow jam about nuclear nightmares.
What happened at Fermi 1 was the result of engineering mistakes, lax safety standards and simple inexperience at building nuclear reactors. The designers made changes to the cooling system without documenting them, so the engineers working on the reactor didn't know that there were extra dispersion plates in the liquid sodium containment tank. When one of the tanks blocked the coolant pipes, the reactor core overheated to 700 degrees F and partially melted down.
In a meltdown, the reactor fuel overheats beyond the point that the cooling system can handle. It eventually begins to melt the infrastructure surrounding it, such as containment casings, cooling systems and, in extreme cases, the floor of the installation. In a full meltdown, the fuel catches fire and sustains itself at about 2,000 degrees F. Although the term wasn't in use in 1966, the hypothetical (and technically impossible) chance of a burning reactor melting its way through the Earth all the way to China gives us the term "China Syndrome."
Fermi 1 actually sits in between Detroit and Toledo, but I guess "We Almost Lost Toledo" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Faded Giant, by the way, is the codeword for a non-weapon nuclear incident like this (who actually goes around using these code words, I have no idea).
From: http://http://io9.com/5664390/5-times-we-almost-nuked-ourselves-by-accident
This incident was immortalized as the night "We Almost Lost Detroit" by both John Fuller's book of the same name (with the terrifying cover), and Gil Scott-Heron's groovy slow jam about nuclear nightmares.
What happened at Fermi 1 was the result of engineering mistakes, lax safety standards and simple inexperience at building nuclear reactors. The designers made changes to the cooling system without documenting them, so the engineers working on the reactor didn't know that there were extra dispersion plates in the liquid sodium containment tank. When one of the tanks blocked the coolant pipes, the reactor core overheated to 700 degrees F and partially melted down.
In a meltdown, the reactor fuel overheats beyond the point that the cooling system can handle. It eventually begins to melt the infrastructure surrounding it, such as containment casings, cooling systems and, in extreme cases, the floor of the installation. In a full meltdown, the fuel catches fire and sustains itself at about 2,000 degrees F. Although the term wasn't in use in 1966, the hypothetical (and technically impossible) chance of a burning reactor melting its way through the Earth all the way to China gives us the term "China Syndrome."
Fermi 1 actually sits in between Detroit and Toledo, but I guess "We Almost Lost Toledo" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Faded Giant, by the way, is the codeword for a non-weapon nuclear incident like this (who actually goes around using these code words, I have no idea).
From: http://http://io9.com/5664390/5-times-we-almost-nuked-ourselves-by-accident
Ironic how it's often the technology we fear, yet it's us humans who end up causing catastrophe.
