[geeks] Global warming, was Mr Bill?

[Patrick Giagnocavo]

Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> 
> One of the problems is that we can't even seem to run fairly "safe"
> reactors very well.

I think that so far the USA (if that is what you are referring to) has
done "OK" on that score.

Even Three Mile Island, considered "disastrous", did not lead to a loss
of containment (although half of the fuel rods did melt) and released
only a very small dose of radiation, which despite study after study,
did not seem to have affected anyone.

One of the advantages that building a lot of nuke plants gets is economy
of scale, and the ability to have a more or less standard number of
designs.

A problem found in one, say a temperature issue due to hot weather at
one found in the southern part of the USA, can be identified and a fix
found and implemented before they all encounter it.

In my example, such a plant located farther north and only seeing very
hot weather once in 5 years would already have the "fix" before
unusually hot weather caused an issue.

--Patrick