RE: Dateline NBC TMI story - A different evaluation

["Raymond A. Hoover" <rayhoover@hotmail.com>]

Even today no one is really sure that radioactive material from the 

Chernobyl Shelter is reaching the aquafier.  And the aquafier itself is not 

much below the bottom of the Shelter.  Some of the core did melt and 

penetrated into the basement of the reactor building.  While I was there, 

one of the projects was trying to come up with a method that was accceptable 

to all to determine if there was an outflow of water from the Shelter into 

the local aquafier.





>From: "Jacobus, John (OD/ORS)" <jacobusj@ors.od.nih.gov>

>Reply-To: "Jacobus, John (OD/ORS)" <jacobusj@ors.od.nih.gov>

>To: Franz Schoenhofer <franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT>,        Ted Rockwell  

><tedrock@CPCUG.ORG>,        Michael Stabin 

><michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>,        radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

>Subject: RE: Dateline NBC TMI story - A different evaluation

>Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 08:51:43 -0400

>

>Franz and Ted,

>I am aware the "China Syndrome" was a popular, non-technical term for the

>failure of the containment vessel during a partial or complete core

>meltdown.  I am just curious as to if the scenario was actually consider 

>and

>evaluated.  As Sandy Perle has mentioned, drills are often conducted that

>involve events that are unrealistic.  I think these are done to ensure that

>you exercise all of your resources, and can demonstrate response to less

>sever accidents.

>

>I do not know a lot of nuclear engineers, so again I ask if the idea of a

>core meltdown that lead to a failure of the containment vessel and

>containment building was considered follow a loss of coolant, AND failure 

>of

>the emergency core cooling system.  (Gee, that sounds like what happened at

>TMI when the control room turned off the emergency fuel pumps.)

>

>As a final thought, does anyone remember the news that during the Chernobyl

>accident, emergency teams tunneled under the reactor to pump in CO2 to cool

>off the core and prevent its penetration into the aqua filter under the

>plant?  And, yes, I know that the Chernobyl was a different design without

>the pressure vessel and containment building that are common for Western 

>and

>light water reactors.  If this is true, then the possibility of an 

>excursion

>into the ground water is a realistic scenario, if unlikely in the current

>designs.

>

>-- John

>

>John Jacobus, MS

>Certified Health Physicist

>3050 Traymore Lane

>Bowie, MD  20715-2024

>

>E-mail:  jenday1@email.msn.com (H)

>-----Original Message-----

>From: Franz Schoenhofer [mailto:franz.schoenhofer@chello.at]

>Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 3:36 AM

>To: Ted Rockwell; Jacobus, John (OD/ORS); Michael Stabin;

>radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

>Subject: Re: Dateline NBC TMI story - A different evaluation

>

>. . .

>-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

>Von: Ted Rockwell <tedrock@CPCUG.ORG>

>An: Jacobus, John (OD/ORS) <jacobusj@ors.od.nih.gov>; Michael Stabin

><michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

><radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

>Datum: Freitag, 17. August 2001 04:38

>Betreff: RE: Dateline NBC TMI story - A different evaluation

>. . .

> >

> >I don't know any serious engineer who believed it.  In fact, it was never

> >really defined in technical terms.  It just meant that the molten core

>might

> >penetrate the vessel and find itself facing several feet of concrete.  

>One

> >could postulate (guess) that this might lead to a crack in the 

>containment

> >and some minor amount of fps could get into the ground (which is a pretty

> >good filter--see Oklo).

> >

> >I don't think anyone was seriously concerned over the impact on Beijing.

>

>You describe, what really could happen, but the words "China Syndrome" were

>intended to describe, that the molten core would sustain criticallity and

>make its way all the way through earth and appear finally at the surface at

>the other side of the globe (China). This "China Syndrome" might have been

>invented by a cynical engineer, who joked, but I remember from the time of

>TMI that there were quite a few people who took it serious. BTW, I haven't

>heard it since at least 20 years. BTW(2): The film was recently broadcast 

>on

>Austrian TV, which obviously was connected to the ridiculous attitude

>towards the Czech power plant at Temelin.

>

>Franz

>

>

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