Followings are the list of problematic nuclear reactors in japan
No 1 reactor at Genkai, 36 years old ductile brittle transition degrees, 98 Celcius degrees
No1 at Takahama, 37 years old, 95
No 2 at Mihama, 39 , 86
No1 at Mihama, 41, 81
no2 at Oi, 32, 70
No1, Suruga, 42, 51
No1, Fukushima Daiichi, 41, 50
They all are old enough for them to decommission, yet electric companies try to restart them and intend to use them up to 50 years.
They will plan to extend estimated lifespan for good.
Heaven helps those who abandon themselves.
How do you think about them, Mr Engineer Poet?
I think the USA has extended the licenses for plants including Three Mile Island Unit 1, Vermont Yankee and the Palisades plant (maybe closer to me than Fukushima is to you) to a total of SIXTY years, and I'm just fine with that.
ReplyDeleteNo 1 reactor at Genkai is just 70 kilometres away from my town. Because I'm not sure if people were told that the lifespan of reactors are 10 years at the time of construction, construction people made it using the strength of fine steel less than the standard illegally, according to a construction worker at that time, which led to the unusual high temperature of ductile brittle transition temperature right now.
ReplyDeletePlease bear it in mind that this is Japan standard, which is poorer than either world or US standard.
There's a very good reason people were not told that.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't true.The design lifespan of the reactors and systems was based on conservative estimates of factors like neutron embrittlement†, with the actual lifespan to be determined in practice. Those estimates have indeed turned out to be conservative, with the actual useful life appearing to be at least 50% longer.
Did you notice that none of the difficulties at Fukushima Dai'ichi are related to the age of the reactors... that the same thing would have happened if the tsunami had hit when they were new? The paranoia about age is totally irrational.
† Neutron embrittlement is caused by atoms being knocked out of place in the crystal structure, which changes the microstructure and the mechanical properties. It can be repaired by annealing the metal, though it's not likely that the rest of a 60-yr-old plant is worth the expense of annealing the reactor vessel in place.