1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,920
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

3
00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:17,800
Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone,

4
00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,320
Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and

5
00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,720
Speaker 1: I am an editor at how stuff works dot com.

6
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,759
Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as always a senior writer, Jonathan Strickland.

7
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:30,840
Speaker 1: Hey there, Okay, I think we'll probably be a little

8
00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,839
Speaker 1: subdued for those those of you who are long term fans.

9
00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,600
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago we recorded an episode of tech

10
00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:43,600
Speaker 1: Stuff because of a seismic event in christ Church, New Zealand.

11
00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:49,239
Speaker 1: Yet uh did a lot of damage, but hadn't resulted

12
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:55,600
Speaker 1: in a lot of human costs. Since then, of course, um,

13
00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,520
Speaker 1: you know, we've had the earthquake in Japan nine point

14
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:03,560
Speaker 1: oh earthquake um, which, if you remember in the Seismology podcast,

15
00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,840
Speaker 1: each each number in the Richter scale is ten times

16
00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,120
Speaker 1: greater in intensity than the previous number, So a two

17
00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,759
Speaker 1: is ten times more intense than a one. So nine

18
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 1: is an incredibly intense earthquake. What's what's interesting about that too?

19
00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 1: Just as a note, um, I understand that that was

20
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,120
Speaker 1: actually an aftershock of a six point two I believe

21
00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,560
Speaker 1: magnitude earthquake. It was in the sixes. Yeah, it can

22
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,679
Speaker 1: sound kind of unusual to some of us that an

23
00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 1: aftershock would actually be more powerful than the initial earthquake.

24
00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,480
Speaker 1: But you just have to remember those those plates that

25
00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,759
Speaker 1: we talked about in the Seismology podcast are the pressure

26
00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,760
Speaker 1: is incredible. There's nothing else like it on Earth really

27
00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:52,640
Speaker 1: where uh and if if those plates slip against each other,

28
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,160
Speaker 1: then your you can get a pretty massive earthquake or

29
00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:00,120
Speaker 1: an aftershock. So um, of course, we we touched on

30
00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:04,760
Speaker 1: how earthquakes are measured, the different devices have been used

31
00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,079
Speaker 1: to measure them in the past. Um. And uh, you know,

32
00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,519
Speaker 1: of course in Japan there were the earthquakes and aftershocks

33
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,760
Speaker 1: in the tsunami that followed, resulting in a lot of

34
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,000
Speaker 1: property damage and loss of life. We're still not sure

35
00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,840
Speaker 1: at this point how many people are gone. No, it's

36
00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,840
Speaker 1: a tragedy that is definitely on a on a huge scale.

37
00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:30,239
Speaker 1: We just don't know the extent of that yet. And um,

38
00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,200
Speaker 1: although no one has really asked about this yet, we're

39
00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 1: kind of thinking that maybe people would want to know

40
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,880
Speaker 1: about the other major news event that has gone along

41
00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:44,919
Speaker 1: with that, which was the the nuclear power plant that

42
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:50,519
Speaker 1: has suffered catastrophic failures as the result of the earthquake. UM,

43
00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:52,800
Speaker 1: and we thought it might be interesting to talk about

44
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,040
Speaker 1: how nuclear power plants work, and then we'll we'll go

45
00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,720
Speaker 1: into exactly what the problem is in Japan. Yeah, with this, frankly,

46
00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,040
Speaker 1: this could be a marathon episode. We could talk about

47
00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,639
Speaker 1: nuclear power plants for hours because they are very involved.

48
00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:10,520
Speaker 1: So we decided to stick primarily to the general type

49
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,040
Speaker 1: of nuclear power plant being used in question, but also

50
00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:18,960
Speaker 1: some of the others that have had major problems in

51
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:23,440
Speaker 1: the past, notably the Chernobyl reactor and the one in

52
00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 1: Three Mile Island in in the United States. So let's

53
00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,040
Speaker 1: talk first about what a nuclear reactor is and how

54
00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:35,880
Speaker 1: it generates power. Uh, of course, it's using a nuclear process, right,

55
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,280
Speaker 1: It's using decay. Really, it's we're talking about controlling the

56
00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:47,000
Speaker 1: decay of of uranium. Really, it's when you compare it

57
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:51,960
Speaker 1: to a coal power plant, um, and you and you

58
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,320
Speaker 1: take the very very basics together, this type of nuclear

59
00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,120
Speaker 1: power plant is almost exactly the same type. You're using

60
00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,000
Speaker 1: a new clear reaction to generate heat as you would

61
00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:04,680
Speaker 1: for a coal fired power plant, right, exactly, you would

62
00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,800
Speaker 1: you would burn coal to generate heat in a coal plant? So, yeah,

63
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,880
Speaker 1: same thing, you're trying to use heat to generate electricity.

64
00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,320
Speaker 1: You use that to to generate steam. The steam turns

65
00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:18,080
Speaker 1: a turbine and a generator, which generates electricity. It's it's

66
00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:22,120
Speaker 1: the nuclear reaction that makes it so very different from

67
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,440
Speaker 1: the coal plants that. Yeah, And you might ask, well,

68
00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,719
Speaker 1: why would you want to use nuclear power in the

69
00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,320
Speaker 1: first place. Well, there's several reasons. One is that, unlike coal,

70
00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,440
Speaker 1: it doesn't produce uh, greenhouse gases. That's right, right, So

71
00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,200
Speaker 1: when you burn coal, you're going to generate greenhouse gases

72
00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,920
Speaker 1: and essentially carbon dioxide being chief among them, and uh

73
00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,600
Speaker 1: and that can contribute to lots of environmental problems. So

74
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,960
Speaker 1: in some ways, nuclear power, at least from a greenhouse

75
00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,760
Speaker 1: gas perspective, is greener than coal technology. Also, you don't

76
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,680
Speaker 1: need as much fuel to generate power as you would

77
00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,400
Speaker 1: with coal. It's it's actually an incredible skin you could

78
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,480
Speaker 1: be talking about, you know, a few pounds of uranium

79
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:07,839
Speaker 1: versus tons and tons and tons of coal. Yes, it

80
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,560
Speaker 1: wasn't that long ago that the uh, those of us

81
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,400
Speaker 1: in the United States were talking about the coal mine

82
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,400
Speaker 1: the coal miners who are trapped in West Virginia. UM.

83
00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:19,440
Speaker 1: And of course people start talking about the pros and

84
00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,480
Speaker 1: cons of coal. Now of course we're talking about the

85
00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,960
Speaker 1: pros and cons of of nuclear energy. UM. But yes,

86
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:30,720
Speaker 1: it requires far less uh um raw material to generate

87
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:33,960
Speaker 1: the nuclear reaction as it would for the coal fired

88
00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,120
Speaker 1: power plants. Now, so you're you're talking about material where

89
00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,080
Speaker 1: you don't need as much. You aren't genering greenhouse gases UM,

90
00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,480
Speaker 1: and you can create an intense amount of heat very

91
00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:51,200
Speaker 1: pretty simply in the grand scheme of things. But there

92
00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,599
Speaker 1: are a lot of concerns around nuclear power as well.

93
00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,440
Speaker 1: For one, I mean, we're talking about radioactive material, and

94
00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:01,240
Speaker 1: radioactive material that is harmful to human Yes, it's not

95
00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,560
Speaker 1: just you know, lots of things radiate energy, and not

96
00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,200
Speaker 1: all of that energy is harmful. Yes. Just the other

97
00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:12,280
Speaker 1: night I was watching, uh the CBS news report on

98
00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,239
Speaker 1: radio activity, and a lot of people in the United

99
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,080
Speaker 1: States have been concerned that, first of all, the governments

100
00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,560
Speaker 1: of Japan and the United States aren't being truthful with

101
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:26,159
Speaker 1: the amount of radiation being leaked in the atmosphere as

102
00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,760
Speaker 1: a result of the explosions that took place at the

103
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:34,359
Speaker 1: plant in Japan. UM. But they were One of the

104
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,480
Speaker 1: things that I think was interesting was they took a

105
00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:41,159
Speaker 1: Geiger counter around to several different They were basically walking

106
00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,040
Speaker 1: around New York City with a Geiger counter, and they

107
00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:45,800
Speaker 1: went to the middle of the park and turned it

108
00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,799
Speaker 1: on and it was picking up readings of radio activity.

109
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,080
Speaker 1: And they walked over to granite, a granite monument as

110
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,599
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, and UH and and took the

111
00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:57,560
Speaker 1: Geiger counter. A geiger counter, by the way, as a

112
00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:02,719
Speaker 1: device that measures radioactivity. You hear clicking sounds and it

113
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,000
Speaker 1: has a needle. One of the UH. I think of

114
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:07,720
Speaker 1: it as an old style, but really I guess it's not.

115
00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 1: With the needle and it shows you roughly how much

116
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 1: radioactivity is being gendered. And granted is naturally radioactive, and

117
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,280
Speaker 1: I didn't know that now. Of course, you can't take

118
00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,120
Speaker 1: just anything UM and throw it in a nuclear reactor

119
00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:23,720
Speaker 1: and have it react. You have to use a very

120
00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:28,560
Speaker 1: special UM type of material. Because to generate a nuclear

121
00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:33,800
Speaker 1: reaction UM, you're splitting an atom, use a stray neutron

122
00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:39,360
Speaker 1: to UH break apart the nucleus of another atom. And

123
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 1: and some some elements are more likely to be are

124
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:45,880
Speaker 1: are are easier to do that with than others. You

125
00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,760
Speaker 1: need something that's called fistle if you're using a effission

126
00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,480
Speaker 1: reaction as the one as these reactors do. Fusion power

127
00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,360
Speaker 1: right now is kind of beyond us as far as

128
00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,720
Speaker 1: it takes more energy to create a fusion reaction than

129
00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,200
Speaker 1: we get back, I'll of it. But there is a

130
00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,520
Speaker 1: lot of hope that in the future fusion will become

131
00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:10,000
Speaker 1: the the power source for nuclear facilities. The Sun generates

132
00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:14,880
Speaker 1: energy through fusion, not fission, so uh yeah, we haven't

133
00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,520
Speaker 1: we haven't gotten there yet, but there are a lot

134
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,480
Speaker 1: of very very smart people working on ways to create

135
00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,360
Speaker 1: fusion power plants, and it's quite a bit of research

136
00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,160
Speaker 1: on on these things from Britannica. I like to to

137
00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: use that, of course as one of my sources. Um

138
00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,160
Speaker 1: and uranium two thirty five, according to Britannica, is the

139
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:37,280
Speaker 1: only naturally occurring fistle material that's in a ready state

140
00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,760
Speaker 1: to be to be split apart this way. Um, there

141
00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,760
Speaker 1: are other, uh different kinds of materials. We're we're talking

142
00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,480
Speaker 1: about the nucleides um. Somebody probably correct my pronunciation. I

143
00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,720
Speaker 1: think that's right, but those some of them basically as

144
00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,839
Speaker 1: long as the atoms are in an excited state. Uh,

145
00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,960
Speaker 1: they can be um. When they're hit with a slow

146
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,079
Speaker 1: moving neutron, you can you can break them apart. Uranium

147
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,640
Speaker 1: two thirty five to thirty three, plutonium two thirty nine

148
00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:10,240
Speaker 1: and two forty one um Plutonium two thirty nine. You

149
00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,280
Speaker 1: actually create with your uranium two thirty eight and then

150
00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:18,559
Speaker 1: you bombard it with neutrons. Yeah, materials that are fertile,

151
00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,600
Speaker 1: uh can be that if you are different kinds of

152
00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:25,040
Speaker 1: materials that if you add an extra neutron, you can

153
00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,760
Speaker 1: they can become fiztle. Uh. Those are thorium two thirty two,

154
00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:33,040
Speaker 1: uranium two thirty eight, and plutonium two forty um. So

155
00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,719
Speaker 1: these are very complex atoms and heavy atoms and very

156
00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,920
Speaker 1: heavy atoms and um. There are are the kinds of

157
00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,360
Speaker 1: materials required to be used in a in a core

158
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,600
Speaker 1: of a nuclear reactor, and uranium two thirty five will

159
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,000
Speaker 1: break apart naturally decays over time. But but that's not

160
00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,720
Speaker 1: the You know, you want to have a controlled and

161
00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,840
Speaker 1: a controlled reaction in order to be able to generate power,

162
00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:58,320
Speaker 1: and you want to be able to do it at

163
00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:00,880
Speaker 1: a good time scale. Because we're uh, we don't have

164
00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,319
Speaker 1: thousands of years to generate electricity. So with the uranium

165
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,480
Speaker 1: two thirty five, you actually would bombard it with neutrons

166
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,800
Speaker 1: in order to uh to speed up that reaction. Now,

167
00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:13,960
Speaker 1: what that will do is that the the atom splits apart,

168
00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: it generates a lot of energy in the form of

169
00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 1: heat and radiation. The radiation comes in the forms of

170
00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:26,000
Speaker 1: gamma radiation, beta radiation, and alpha radiation. Uh So, gamma

171
00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,360
Speaker 1: radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation UM. In fact,

172
00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:35,000
Speaker 1: there are two major kinds of radiation. Electromagnetic radiation, which

173
00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,520
Speaker 1: is some form of light. Uh it's it's photon radiation UM.

174
00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,360
Speaker 1: That may not be visible light, but it is. It

175
00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,079
Speaker 1: falls under the photon radiation. Then you have particulate radiation,

176
00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,720
Speaker 1: which is when you're talking about an unstable uh atom

177
00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,880
Speaker 1: particle shoots off essentially from the the atom. And uh

178
00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,920
Speaker 1: So with alpha radiation uh uh or well, I'll start

179
00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:07,959
Speaker 1: with beta radiation. With beta radiation, you've got electrons being released. Right,

180
00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,800
Speaker 1: alpha radiation, it's protons and neutrons being released. Now, protons

181
00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,880
Speaker 1: and neutrons are much much much larger in comparison to electrons,

182
00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,720
Speaker 1: and they move slower than electrons do. So alpha radiation,

183
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:24,720
Speaker 1: you get the protons and neutron splitting off. That's a

184
00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:30,040
Speaker 1: particulate radiation that moves slowly. It can actually depending upon you,

185
00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,679
Speaker 1: know how how you're being exposed to it. Your skin

186
00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:37,360
Speaker 1: can sometimes block alpha radiation just because your skin is

187
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,360
Speaker 1: thick enough where it's the particles are not moving at

188
00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,440
Speaker 1: a speed sufficient to be able to penetrate the skin. Um.

189
00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,400
Speaker 1: The beta radiation is different because those electrons are very

190
00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,480
Speaker 1: tiny and they're moving really really fast and uh, and

191
00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,840
Speaker 1: this is the sort of radiation that the sort of

192
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,600
Speaker 1: particular radiation that can actually cause pretty nasty deep tissue

193
00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:00,720
Speaker 1: damage if it hit to you. And then of course

194
00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:05,680
Speaker 1: gamma radiation is really really high energy electro magnetic radiation,

195
00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,360
Speaker 1: and that stuff is serious business. Uh. You know, gamma

196
00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:14,440
Speaker 1: radiation can cause lots of problems in both immediate acute

197
00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,280
Speaker 1: problems and chronic problems over time. So why would you

198
00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:20,600
Speaker 1: want to use this, Well, it's because it gives off

199
00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,280
Speaker 1: this this amount of energy, this this kind of intense energy.

200
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,920
Speaker 1: It's really good at converting water into steam. So if

201
00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,360
Speaker 1: you can control this reaction, uh and generate the right

202
00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:34,160
Speaker 1: amount of heat, you're going to generate a lot of

203
00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,160
Speaker 1: steam that's going to move through the system and eventually

204
00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,199
Speaker 1: turn the turbine which is going to uh provide the

205
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,400
Speaker 1: power to the generator, and then you you create power

206
00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:49,079
Speaker 1: for the power grid. And some countries rely very heavily

207
00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:53,440
Speaker 1: on nuclear power to create to to supplement their power grid.

208
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,839
Speaker 1: Countries like like France, it's nearly seventy of their power

209
00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,280
Speaker 1: that comes from nuclear power. In the United States, it's

210
00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:05,199
Speaker 1: more like it's funny because there are two, um, two

211
00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:07,520
Speaker 1: different things to consider that you might not consider with

212
00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:11,560
Speaker 1: some of the other forms of electricity generation. Here UM

213
00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:16,680
Speaker 1: atomic reactions are deal with probability UM and they deal

214
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 1: with chain reactions. UM. I remember watching in one of

215
00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,440
Speaker 1: my science classes a long long time ago an experiment

216
00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:26,560
Speaker 1: that they did where they had set up we're not

217
00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:31,160
Speaker 1: an experiment, but an an illustration. They had a plexiglass

218
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:37,240
Speaker 1: or clear plastic box and across the floor of it,

219
00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,600
Speaker 1: the entire floor was covered with mouse traps set mouse traps.

220
00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,680
Speaker 1: Each mouse trap had two ping pong balls on top

221
00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:49,080
Speaker 1: of it and everything was still. So this is the

222
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,920
Speaker 1: normal state of the atoms that's supposed to represent the

223
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:55,280
Speaker 1: normal state of the atoms inside the fuel. UM. And

224
00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,120
Speaker 1: then there was a small hole at the top of

225
00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,079
Speaker 1: the box, and the person said, Okay, this is what

226
00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,360
Speaker 1: happens when you add the neutron. The stray neutron is

227
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:07,720
Speaker 1: another ping pong ball in this illustration, and the person

228
00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,440
Speaker 1: dropped the ping pong ball into into the box, and

229
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,040
Speaker 1: of course it hit one of the mouse traps, setting

230
00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:19,040
Speaker 1: it off. The other two ping pong balls representing neutrons again, uh,

231
00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,040
Speaker 1: jumped up from the mouse trap in different directions, and

232
00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:24,720
Speaker 1: each of those set off more mouse traps, and each

233
00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 1: of those set off more mouse traps. Exponential growth. Yes. Now,

234
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:32,920
Speaker 1: of course in the nuclear fuel uh, you know, in

235
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,120
Speaker 1: that particular illustration ended and very quickly within a matter

236
00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,480
Speaker 1: of you know, probably two or three seconds, because they

237
00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,040
Speaker 1: were you know, forty mouse traps or something like that.

238
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,480
Speaker 1: In nuclear fuel, this continues on UM, but they have

239
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,880
Speaker 1: to control that. They have to look at the probability

240
00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:51,520
Speaker 1: that a neutron will continue, that there will still be

241
00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:57,560
Speaker 1: stray neutrons able to generate more heat energy release UM.

242
00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:02,280
Speaker 1: So when they want to what they call a slightly

243
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:07,000
Speaker 1: super critical uh level of reaction, because there's that means

244
00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:09,840
Speaker 1: that there is more more than one fission per neutron

245
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:11,960
Speaker 1: so you're you're you don't want it to be a

246
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,600
Speaker 1: little bit. You don't want to be underneath that. When

247
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,840
Speaker 1: it gets subcritical, that's when there are a few there

248
00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,400
Speaker 1: are fewer neutrons available to make the nuclear reactions, which

249
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,600
Speaker 1: means that you would actually have to pour more power

250
00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,720
Speaker 1: into the system to to shoot more neutrons into it

251
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,680
Speaker 1: in order to generate power. And of course, you know,

252
00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:32,000
Speaker 1: the whole goal here is to make it as efficient

253
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,440
Speaker 1: as possible when you're generating electricity. Otherwise you're actually consuming

254
00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:40,800
Speaker 1: far more power than you are able to convert into electricity. Yes,

255
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,320
Speaker 1: when it's one spare neutron to a reaction, that's or

256
00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:48,880
Speaker 1: to a nucleus of another atom, that's critical. That literally,

257
00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,680
Speaker 1: that is what they call critical, and that's the reactive

258
00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,200
Speaker 1: state of the the reactor core um. From what I understand,

259
00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,160
Speaker 1: they do want it to be slightly super critical, but

260
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:03,560
Speaker 1: only lightly, and so controlling the reaction is very important,

261
00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,600
Speaker 1: and it's done in a number of different ways. Sure,

262
00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,080
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about the way the fuel

263
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,120
Speaker 1: is put together and then we can talk about how

264
00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,400
Speaker 1: that control happens. Yeah, I think that that would be

265
00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,560
Speaker 1: excellent because that is a big part of how they

266
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:20,840
Speaker 1: control the reaction. Yeah, so, so the uranium is enriched

267
00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:25,320
Speaker 1: with uranium two thirty five right now for a nuclear facility,

268
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,320
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, we should might maybe explain what

269
00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,800
Speaker 1: that means, because uranium two thirty five is naturally reactive,

270
00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,920
Speaker 1: but there's only so much of you two thirty five

271
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,560
Speaker 1: found in a chunk of uranium. So enriched uranium is

272
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,640
Speaker 1: basically they've added more uranium two thirty five to the

273
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:48,160
Speaker 1: uranium overall to make it, to make it more reactive

274
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,680
Speaker 1: so they can use it as nuclear fuel. And so

275
00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:55,480
Speaker 1: for UH, you have to for for fuel for a

276
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,960
Speaker 1: nuclear power plant, you need to have added enough you

277
00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,000
Speaker 1: two thirty five, So it's got two to you two

278
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,959
Speaker 1: thirty five and the overall fuel now you two thirty

279
00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,159
Speaker 1: five is the same element that you're going to find

280
00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:14,080
Speaker 1: in UH in nuclear weapons. But nuclear weapons require a

281
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:19,200
Speaker 1: much higher percentage of you two thirty five to thirty

282
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,600
Speaker 1: five within the uranium in order for it to be

283
00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,960
Speaker 1: weapons grade. So that's a pretty easy way to tell

284
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,040
Speaker 1: if someone's making weapons grade uranium is you measure how

285
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,280
Speaker 1: how the percentage of you to to thirty five in

286
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,040
Speaker 1: the fuel itself. If you've been following the news and

287
00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:39,800
Speaker 1: you've seen pieces on where some countries are concerned about

288
00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:44,200
Speaker 1: Iran enriching uranium. This is why you can enrich uranium

289
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,800
Speaker 1: for a nuclear power program, or it can also be

290
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,800
Speaker 1: used in weapons. Right, So if you're enriching beyond that

291
00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 1: two to three percent, then that's a good indicator that

292
00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:57,760
Speaker 1: you're looking at something more uh dangerous than the nuclear

293
00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:02,800
Speaker 1: power plant. So the what the bits of uranium are

294
00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,840
Speaker 1: actually formed into what what is called pellets, and they're

295
00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,639
Speaker 1: about an inch long. They're about the diameter of a dime.

296
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:12,360
Speaker 1: So you can think it's kind of like a cylinder

297
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,360
Speaker 1: right now. These pellets are stacked together to form rods.

298
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,760
Speaker 1: Yes they are. They are contained within a metal rod, yes, yes,

299
00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:23,359
Speaker 1: so yeah, you can think of like a there's like

300
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,880
Speaker 1: a sheath, a metal sheath, and these uranium pellets are

301
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,399
Speaker 1: stacked within that sheath. Now, these rods are then grouped

302
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:35,080
Speaker 1: together into a collection called a bundle. And if if

303
00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:37,080
Speaker 1: that's all it was, if that's all you had and

304
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,639
Speaker 1: then you started introducing neutrons into it, you would have

305
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,720
Speaker 1: no way to to modify to moderate that at all.

306
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,280
Speaker 1: It would just the reaction would would increase and increase

307
00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:48,960
Speaker 1: until either you would spent all the fuel or you

308
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,359
Speaker 1: had had a melt down. And meltdown essentially is when

309
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,560
Speaker 1: the fuel itself gets so hot that it melts um.

310
00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,720
Speaker 1: So in order to control this, they have control rods.

311
00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,480
Speaker 1: And control rods are made of material that are that

312
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,560
Speaker 1: absorbs neutrons, because as we were talking about, you know

313
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:10,960
Speaker 1: these neutrons that that fly off and hit uranium two five,

314
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,200
Speaker 1: that's what initializes this reaction. So if you have material

315
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,960
Speaker 1: that absorbs neutrons, it's like taking you know, you're you're

316
00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,879
Speaker 1: you're putting the brakes on things, and the control rods

317
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,320
Speaker 1: tend to be you can you can insert them either

318
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,480
Speaker 1: all the way down where they are going to control

319
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 1: the reaction as much as possible, keeping in mind that

320
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,080
Speaker 1: there's still some decay heat that's going on here. It's

321
00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,520
Speaker 1: not like it's not like you immediately switch it off.

322
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,119
Speaker 1: It's just slowing it down to the point where you

323
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,840
Speaker 1: call it a nuclear shut down, but there's still heat.

324
00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:46,600
Speaker 1: Or you can raise them all the way up and

325
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,800
Speaker 1: then just let the UH reaction go to full full blast.

326
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:56,200
Speaker 1: Cadmium and boron are two elements that are very good

327
00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,560
Speaker 1: at absorbing stray neutrons, and you may have heard about

328
00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:04,120
Speaker 1: born being introduced into the Japanese facility along with sea water.

329
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,480
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in a minute too, um, but

330
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,400
Speaker 1: those are those are also uh, those are useful because

331
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:14,760
Speaker 1: they're basically fighting over who gets the stray neutrons and

332
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,960
Speaker 1: that just slows everything down and helps right keep it

333
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 1: under control. Now, inside this nuclear reactor, you also have

334
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,639
Speaker 1: to have coolant because and actually the coolant is what

335
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,159
Speaker 1: heats up to go and then usually you have a

336
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,240
Speaker 1: you have a coolant that then runs through another system

337
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:34,399
Speaker 1: that will heat up water and the water becomes steam

338
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,680
Speaker 1: and that's what drives the turbine. Some nuclear power plants,

339
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,000
Speaker 1: and these are the ones that are kind of particularly dangerous,

340
00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,359
Speaker 1: have the coolant system also driving the turbine, which means

341
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:50,240
Speaker 1: that you have radioactive material pushing that turbine because the

342
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 1: coolant that encounters the actual rods is going to pick

343
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 1: up radioactive material itself, will become radioactive. It's gonna have

344
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:02,879
Speaker 1: radioacti particles running through that cooling system. So most of

345
00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,520
Speaker 1: these cooling systems are are self contained and they do

346
00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:11,120
Speaker 1: not cross over into the water system that drives the turbine.

347
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,239
Speaker 1: They just they just you can think of it as

348
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,680
Speaker 1: it runs up against the water system, and the heat

349
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,840
Speaker 1: from the cooling system is what generates the steam in

350
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,880
Speaker 1: the water system. Um. So, but you have to have that.

351
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,680
Speaker 1: If you don't have that again, the uh, the core

352
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,760
Speaker 1: can reach a temperature that's so high that the uranium

353
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,840
Speaker 1: begins to melt. And there there's a lot of scary

354
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 1: guesswork as to what would happen if you had a

355
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,400
Speaker 1: true meltdown, like a full on meltdown to the point

356
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: where we're not really sure if the material would get

357
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,000
Speaker 1: so hot, like the reaction would continue to a point

358
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,679
Speaker 1: where it would just burn right through the reactor. Um

359
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,199
Speaker 1: that's a theoretical possibility, although we haven't actually seen that

360
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,920
Speaker 1: happen in real life yet, Thank goodness us that's true. Well,

361
00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:05,960
Speaker 1: the the movie The China Syndrome is about that, and

362
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 1: I think most scientists would probably tell you that that's

363
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,639
Speaker 1: a bit hysterical for what might actually happen. Uh. The

364
00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:20,639
Speaker 1: the premise being that the core melts down, the fuel

365
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 1: is melting, and it melts all the way through the

366
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 1: center of the Earth again, from the United States to China,

367
00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,119
Speaker 1: all the way through the the Earth that might be

368
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 1: a little I think that's probably I mean, I'm not

369
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,919
Speaker 1: a scientist obviously, but I think that's a little extreme.

370
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,960
Speaker 1: I would definitely call that the worst case scenario. Yeah,

371
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,040
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know that it could actually go

372
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,399
Speaker 1: that far. But yes, that that is an exaggeration of

373
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 1: what Jonathan's talking about, the idea that it would melt

374
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:54,320
Speaker 1: through the reactor. So the the problems that we could

375
00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:58,200
Speaker 1: conceivably face with a nuclear power plant would involve something

376
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: going wrong with the ability to insert or remove the

377
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 1: control rods, really to insert them, because because if they're

378
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:07,200
Speaker 1: stuck there, all you really have is a dead nuclear

379
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,320
Speaker 1: power plan. And yes, that is terrible and that it's

380
00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,880
Speaker 1: gonna cost billions of dollars to fix, but it doesn't

381
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:17,439
Speaker 1: pose an immediate threat to the surrounding area. UM. You

382
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 1: also have the problem with if if the water system,

383
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 1: if the cooling system is UH in any way compromised,

384
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,679
Speaker 1: then you have the chance of the nuclear reactor overheating,

385
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,680
Speaker 1: which unfortunately we have seen happen before, and that can

386
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:35,360
Speaker 1: cause UH massive problems down the line. Now, what happened

387
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:41,960
Speaker 1: with Japan is that the earthquake actually did not UH

388
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 1: did not damage the reactors to the point where they

389
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 1: were inoperable. In fact, what happened was that the control

390
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,639
Speaker 1: rods descended, as they should have in that instance to

391
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:56,400
Speaker 1: control that reaction. But again there's decay heat. It's not

392
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 1: like it can shut it off immediately. It's just that

393
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: the reaction is no longer continuing, right, but still generating heat. Right. UM.

394
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:10,240
Speaker 1: Another thing to consider with regard to the Japanese reactor

395
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: is that, uh, there were containment devices set up. When

396
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,360
Speaker 1: you build a nuclear power plant like this, this light

397
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 1: water plant, UM, it is ideal to build a containment

398
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: area around the reactor course. UM. This is usually made

399
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 1: with concrete, UH, very thick concrete in the case of

400
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 1: the Japanese plant, UM, which for has has so far

401
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: as of the time we're talking right now, prevented a

402
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 1: major release of radiation. UM. The problem comes from what

403
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 1: happens with spent nuclear fuel, which to this point we

404
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned. At some point, when the fuel becomes subcritical

405
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: and it cannot continue producing a nuclear reaction sufficient enough

406
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 1: to continue the the electrical output of the plant, UM,

407
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 1: they're going to want the people running the plan are

408
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,439
Speaker 1: going to run and replace it with fresh fuel. This

409
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 1: can take weeks. Usually they do maintenance on the plant

410
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 1: at the same time, because it's a good time the

411
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: plant shut down. So what they'll do is they'll remove

412
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: the bundle of rods and replace it with new rods

413
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 1: of with fresh fuel. But what do you do with

414
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,360
Speaker 1: the old rods. That's the tricky part because the old

415
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: rods are very hot and they are very very radioactive. Yeah,

416
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 1: it's just like it like Chris was saying, it's kind

417
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 1: of like, you know, it's just that they're not generating

418
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 1: the amount of energy necessary to run the plant, but

419
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,560
Speaker 1: they're still generating tons of like of energy and not

420
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 1: really tons. Don't write me and um, the they are

421
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:54,200
Speaker 1: very much dangerous to people and here's eventually they will

422
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:58,440
Speaker 1: be inert. But but eventually I'm talking like ten thousand years. Yes,

423
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 1: we can't wait around that long. And because they're generating

424
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: so much heat and so much radioactivity, they tend to

425
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: corrode pretty much any container you put them in. This

426
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:12,159
Speaker 1: is one of the aside from the potential for an accident. Uh,

427
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,920
Speaker 1: this is one of the things that can that makes

428
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,280
Speaker 1: nuclear power so controversial, is that this is the flip

429
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 1: side of the green coin. Yes, Storing the nuclear fuel,

430
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,280
Speaker 1: the spent nuclear fuel is very, very difficult. Uh. Nobody

431
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 1: wants nuclear fuel in their backyard. Um, and there's not

432
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 1: even there's not a good answer for that. Storing it

433
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 1: in caves is one solution. The question is whether or

434
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,320
Speaker 1: not people will go in there. Um. You know, a

435
00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:47,600
Speaker 1: thousand years down the road is still very radioactive. Um.

436
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 1: You could say, well, why don't we shoot it off

437
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 1: into space. Well, that's fine, except there's the potential for

438
00:26:54,480 --> 00:27:00,199
Speaker 1: an accident. Rockets are not foolproof, and if you have

439
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: an accident with the rocket, there's the potential that radioactive

440
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 1: waste could be scattered across the roth's atmosphere in that again,

441
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: is something that no one wants to happen. So one

442
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,199
Speaker 1: of the first things they do when they remove the

443
00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: fuel from what I understand from the reactor core, is

444
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,199
Speaker 1: they put it in a containment pool. Water, as it

445
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 1: turns out, is a natural shield against radioactivity. Uh. Not

446
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: only is it cooling the very very hot rods with

447
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: the nuclear fuel inside, but it also is shield doing

448
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: some shielding against radioactivity. Well in the Japanese plant, when

449
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 1: the power was shut off, ironically enough, Uh, the water

450
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 1: began to evaporate. It was boiling off. And that's the

451
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 1: problem is that there when there's no more water surrounding

452
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,679
Speaker 1: the spent fuel. It wasn't the reactor cores, it was

453
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,200
Speaker 1: this the spent fuel. Uh, and the reaction is allowed

454
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 1: to continue that generates hydrogen when the hydrogen is explosive. Yeah,

455
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: it's It's a process called thermolysis. It's when heat turns

456
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: water into hydrogen and oxygen breaks up the molecules into

457
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: their into their component atoms, and you can you can

458
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:16,160
Speaker 1: do the same thing with electricity, that's electrolysis. So it's

459
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,480
Speaker 1: the same sort of thing. It's just you pour enough

460
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,200
Speaker 1: energy into a molecule and you can break those molecular bonds.

461
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,639
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. Hydrogen built up. But before

462
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: we get to the hydrogen problem, I should also mention

463
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,639
Speaker 1: there were a lot of fail safe procedures in place

464
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 1: at the Japanese plant. It's none of the Japanese were

465
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,159
Speaker 1: not doing due diligence with safety. It's just that was

466
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: the perfect set of terrible situations for this to happen.

467
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 1: And it and it from what I understand, not to

468
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: interrupt him, um, from what I understand, the plant was

469
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 1: intended to survive and eight plus UH point Richter scale earthquake. Yeah,

470
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: it was the tsunami that really hit them. Because here's

471
00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: what happens. They lost power from the power grid, well

472
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: the power plant had and they need power to pump

473
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: water through the system in where to keep it cool.

474
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,959
Speaker 1: So the pumps run on electricity. So they switched to

475
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: their diesel generators. But then the tsunami hit and the

476
00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: diesel generators were not above the tsunami levels, so they

477
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 1: were flooded and could no longer work. They also had

478
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 1: battery power, but the battery power was only meant to

479
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 1: last you know, I think it like a day, because

480
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: the idea was that, well, we won't be without power

481
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 1: for longer than that. But they could not get supplemental

482
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: power in place to uh to cover the gap between

483
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: the battery power and when they could get some other

484
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,800
Speaker 1: form online. And so the water stopped pumping and the

485
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 1: temperature kept building and the hydrogen built up. Um and

486
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 1: hydrogen is incredibly flammable. It's explosive, and there was the

487
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 1: hydrogen collected at the top of the facility. UH. Something

488
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,720
Speaker 1: set it off and there was that's what that big

489
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: explosion was when we first you know, and there's been

490
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: a uh, there's been other ones since then, but that

491
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: initial explosion, people were worried that the reactor had exploded.

492
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 1: That's not what happened. It was the pocket of hydrogen

493
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 1: that it exploded. And as uh, if you've been through

494
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,080
Speaker 1: a certain level of science, of course we have some

495
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 1: younger listeners. The three things that you need for fire

496
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: are you know, heat, a source of fuel, and air,

497
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 1: and you would certainly have that with very hot fuel rods,

498
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 1: air in the in the area, and then you know

499
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 1: the source of hydrogen. So um, it was a very

500
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 1: dangerous situation. Now uh people have said, uh, you know,

501
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 1: this is going to be another Chernobyl. But Chernobyl was

502
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 1: a different situation. They did not have any containment in place,

503
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 1: or what they did have some containment that it was

504
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: not designed to prevent the kind of release that that occurred.

505
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,640
Speaker 1: Chernobyl was interesting. So when we're talking containment, like Chris

506
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 1: was saying, you're talking about a very thick concrete liner,

507
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 1: usually there's a steel a steel like you can call

508
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 1: it like a furnace, I guess, but it's a steel

509
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,320
Speaker 1: container that is lined with concrete, and then you have

510
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: a big concrete building around that, so you've got two

511
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 1: barriers of concrete and a barrier of steel in order

512
00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 1: to contain the nuclear reactions. Chernobyl only had the basic container,

513
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: did not have a secondary container, so if there were

514
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,840
Speaker 1: a failure, then there you have much more chance of

515
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:38,480
Speaker 1: nuclear fallout. And in fact, the Chernobyl incident happened ironically

516
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: during a procedure where they were trying to test out

517
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: a safety feature because what Chernobyl was going to have

518
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 1: was having some similar issues to the japan facility and

519
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 1: that Chernobyl um they were worried about what would happen

520
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: if power were lost, If they lost power from the

521
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,920
Speaker 1: power grid and they can no longer pump water through

522
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 1: their system, so they uh they had these diesel backups,

523
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: but the diesel backups would would not really kick in

524
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 1: until about a minute after the initial power loss, and

525
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,000
Speaker 1: that minute is a long time for these nuclear reactions

526
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,280
Speaker 1: to go unchecked, right with no water cooling them down.

527
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:16,920
Speaker 1: So one of the things that we're looking at doing

528
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: was using the turbine as it slowed down to generate

529
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 1: enough electricity to keep the pumps running for that one minute.

530
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:29,239
Speaker 1: Before the diesel backups could kick in, and they were

531
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: running a test and it was like the perfect set again,

532
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 1: a perfect set of situations going wrong for that test

533
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: to fail. There was a power spike, and then while

534
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 1: they were trying to react to the initial power spike,

535
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: there was a second power spike, and that's when you

536
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 1: had another explosion and release of steam and nuclear steam,

537
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 1: and then there was the terrible fallout that happened in

538
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:57,520
Speaker 1: a huge radius around your noble Belarus in particular was

539
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,720
Speaker 1: hit really really hard by that radio and it was UH.

540
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 1: And there there are levels of nuclear disaster. We give

541
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 1: them a numeric UH assignment for how bad it is,

542
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,120
Speaker 1: and it goes from one to seven. Chernobyl was a

543
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: seven three mile island which happened in the United States

544
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine. That was a five, and the Japan

545
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: incident right now is is listed as six. Of course,

546
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: that can change over time and things get worse. Um

547
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: hopefully it will not so, but yeah, because Chernobyl was

548
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 1: was not as protective as it needed to be. That's

549
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,560
Speaker 1: why the it was ended up being a seven. Like

550
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,400
Speaker 1: if it had had the right protections in place, it

551
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,640
Speaker 1: may still have been a terrible, terrible accident, but it

552
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: may not have been as bad as it turned out

553
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 1: to be. Three Mile Island was interesting and that uh,

554
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: it was a combination of user error and mechanical failure.

555
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:56,880
Speaker 1: There was a valve that was open, and then the

556
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: power to the valve was shut off, which normally would

557
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: mean the valve would close. The valve would only open

558
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 1: when powered. There's a mechanical failure. The valve did not close,

559
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:12,200
Speaker 1: and because um the indicator on the console said that

560
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,439
Speaker 1: there was no longer power going to that valve, all

561
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 1: the operators assumed that the valve was closed, but their

562
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,959
Speaker 1: readings were showing that the pressure and temperature were off,

563
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 1: like the pressure and temperature of the core should not

564
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:26,800
Speaker 1: have been what it was. Well, the reason why there

565
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 1: was a problem was because the water was boiling off

566
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 1: and there was this open valve and so there was

567
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,480
Speaker 1: an open you know, the pressure was not building the

568
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 1: right way. But it took hours for them to figure

569
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 1: out what the problem was. Actually, there was a shift change,

570
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:40,920
Speaker 1: and it was when someone from the new shift was

571
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:42,759
Speaker 1: looking at the problem that they figured it out. And

572
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:47,879
Speaker 1: then by then the scare had really hit. Unfortunately, Three

573
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 1: Mile Island wasn't as bad as it could have been.

574
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: There was no There was only I think there's a

575
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,560
Speaker 1: partial melt down, which was scary, but it could have

576
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: been so much worse if someone had not picked up

577
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:02,280
Speaker 1: on that mistake. Now as far as Japan goes, Uh,

578
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,720
Speaker 1: we talked about the boron uh and the seawater. Well,

579
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:08,920
Speaker 1: dumping seawater into the reactor is pretty much a last

580
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: step because the seawater is going to ruin that reactor.

581
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 1: You're not gonna be able to use it again. Um.

582
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,960
Speaker 1: And the boron is there to help absorb those neutrons,

583
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 1: like Chris was saying. Yes. Another another one of the

584
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:25,560
Speaker 1: problems that they were mentioning on the news yesterday as

585
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 1: that the day we're recording this is that Um there

586
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,319
Speaker 1: they are currently this. This will show you probably when

587
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:35,080
Speaker 1: we're recording this. Uh. They were talking about the pumps

588
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: that are in place. They wanted to be able to

589
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: restart them. They've had trouble doing that and they're going

590
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 1: to have more trouble doing that now. Uh. They're hoping

591
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,320
Speaker 1: to again as at the time we're recording, to restore

592
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: electricity to the plant so that they can go ahead

593
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,560
Speaker 1: and shut the pumps back on. But for the reactors

594
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,960
Speaker 1: UH in which they have introduced seawater, this is an

595
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:00,440
Speaker 1: issue because the seawater also clogs those pumps, so it

596
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,440
Speaker 1: is going to be even more difficult for them to

597
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:09,600
Speaker 1: contain the situations in those damaged reactors UH today than

598
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 1: it would have been a few days ago when the

599
00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:14,640
Speaker 1: problem was first getting out of hand. Yeah, the issue

600
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: was just that if they did not introduce the seawater,

601
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 1: there was there was an increased danger of a meltdown because,

602
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 1: like we said, this temperature just keeps on going. It's

603
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: not even with the control rods in place, which the

604
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 1: system did do UM, it does not eliminate that heat.

605
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:33,879
Speaker 1: You have to be able to circulate the coolant through

606
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 1: there in order to to maintain the temperature. And UM,

607
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: because there was no way to circulate the coolant, they

608
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 1: had a choice either they introduced the seawater and boron

609
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 1: into the reactor core, or they take a chance on

610
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:49,279
Speaker 1: a meltdown. And and clearly the second option is not

611
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 1: one that anyone wants to take. That that is not

612
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,160
Speaker 1: an option, right. So there's a lot of concern actually

613
00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:01,839
Speaker 1: that this this UH will really set Japan back quite

614
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 1: a bit because they are very reliant on nuclear power

615
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,600
Speaker 1: and that um losing this facility, which it's quite possible

616
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,839
Speaker 1: that they will lose at least, uh more than half

617
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:16,359
Speaker 1: of the reactors in this facility, that it will really

618
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 1: impact their ability to create electricity. And the quake in

619
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:25,200
Speaker 1: general has really um, I mean, it seems it seems

620
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: weird to say this because there are so many more

621
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 1: important tragedies that are connected to the quake, But the

622
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:38,359
Speaker 1: quake itself could actually set back everything from electronics to computers,

623
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 1: just because so much of it is manufactured in Japan

624
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,320
Speaker 1: and those manufacturing facilities were damaged in in the quake.

625
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:49,439
Speaker 1: That that's true. Um, Even places that weren't directly hit

626
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 1: by the tsunami are still suffering problems. Um. And from

627
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:59,480
Speaker 1: what I understand, the majority of flash memory used in

628
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: all kinds of electronic devices cell phones, smartphones, tablets, MP

629
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 1: three players, and all kinds of other things, the majority

630
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:10,200
Speaker 1: of it comes from Japan. Uh So this is likely

631
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,160
Speaker 1: to u to cause problems in the supply chain and

632
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 1: disrupt um electronics manufacturers the world over. And of course,

633
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,120
Speaker 1: you know, those those people who who weren't directly hit

634
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: probably would like to get back to work. But this

635
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:26,239
Speaker 1: is going to be difficult for them to be able

636
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 1: to move on and and do things that they want

637
00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 1: to do again. You know, even even people who weren't

638
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:35,360
Speaker 1: directly affected by uh, you know, losing their homes and

639
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:39,160
Speaker 1: losing friends and loved ones. Um, you know, this is

640
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 1: this is difficult for for them as well. It's a

641
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:45,080
Speaker 1: major catastrophe. It's all. It's I was gonna say it's

642
00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 1: almost unimaginable to me, but no, I think I have

643
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,600
Speaker 1: to say it's unimaginable. I I cannot comprehend the level

644
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,440
Speaker 1: of catastrophe this is. I mean, I see the pictures,

645
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 1: and I see the video, and I hear the testimonials

646
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 1: and it's all heartbreaking. But it's just there's I can't

647
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 1: grasp it. It's beyond my ability. Um, and guys, I

648
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 1: want to say this before we before we start wrapping up.

649
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,919
Speaker 1: We have some amazing articles on how stuff works dot Com,

650
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:18,240
Speaker 1: about nuclear reactors, about radiation, and about the Japanese crisis.

651
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:23,279
Speaker 1: There's how nuclear power works, how Japan's nuclear crisis works,

652
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 1: how radiation works. These articles are fantastic. I read through

653
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:29,759
Speaker 1: all of them in prep for this UH, this podcast

654
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: and the writing on these are amazing. I mean, you

655
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: get the Marshall brain and Robert Lamb and uh and

656
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:42,160
Speaker 1: and Deborah Ront's all did fantastic jobs. And my hat

657
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 1: is off to them because they took a very complex,

658
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,240
Speaker 1: dense subject and they broke it down in a really

659
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 1: understandable way. So if you want to learn more, I

660
00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:54,920
Speaker 1: highly recommend you check them out. Yeah. There there are

661
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 1: so many other types of uh nuclear energy to the

662
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,279
Speaker 1: haven't touched on and talk anything about, uh some of

663
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: the other new technologies that people are trying out now, um,

664
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,439
Speaker 1: one of them being the pebble bed reactor that they're

665
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: starting to roll out in China, which, from what I understand,

666
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:16,640
Speaker 1: maybe to some degree safer there's less chance of something

667
00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 1: like a meltdown occurring because it uses a different method

668
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 1: of nuclear reaction, and that might be maybe we can

669
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,760
Speaker 1: look at that again when when this uh these issues

670
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 1: aren't so fresh and we can uh uh you know,

671
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 1: look at some of those. And I'm also interested in personally,

672
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,880
Speaker 1: and something that I read about and wired um a

673
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:36,600
Speaker 1: couple of years ago now or maybe about a year

674
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,239
Speaker 1: and a half ago, thorium using thorium, which is not

675
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,440
Speaker 1: nearly as radioactive as uranium. Of course it will carry

676
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:47,960
Speaker 1: for some people, probably for a lot of people, the

677
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 1: stigma of being labeled nuclear energy. But from what I understand,

678
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:53,640
Speaker 1: you can hold the piece of thorium in your hand

679
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:58,080
Speaker 1: and you should not suffer any ill effects because it's

680
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,520
Speaker 1: not the same kind of it's not as radioactive as

681
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,319
Speaker 1: as uranium or plutonium, and can be used on a

682
00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:09,000
Speaker 1: smaller scale with uh, you know, the possibility. Like I said,

683
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 1: I'm only reading this, but it doesn't look like there's

684
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:14,440
Speaker 1: nearly the possibility of uh, the kind of disaster that

685
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 1: we're talking about here. So there might be other kinds

686
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,240
Speaker 1: of technologies that will use in the future that can

687
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:21,640
Speaker 1: still harness the power of the atom without being so

688
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:25,400
Speaker 1: dangerous in the event of an act of you know,

689
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 1: a nature event like this. And I imagine that this,

690
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:34,480
Speaker 1: this disaster will definitely make countries around the world rethink

691
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: their their approach to nuclear power. Well, that's already that's

692
00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:42,720
Speaker 1: already happening in the United States. President Obama has ordered

693
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 1: um a look at all the nuclear reactors currently in

694
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,239
Speaker 1: service to to just as a check up to see

695
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:52,160
Speaker 1: how they're doing. Germany, I think has taken all of

696
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 1: theirs offline, um with the idea that they will evaluate

697
00:41:56,120 --> 00:42:00,800
Speaker 1: their safety. There were bills in many countries or laws

698
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:04,680
Speaker 1: already passed to extend the life of aging nuclear reactors

699
00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,439
Speaker 1: that from one understand, are being rescinded one by one

700
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: as people are rethinking the possibility that older reactors and

701
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:15,200
Speaker 1: this the reactor in Japan was older too. Yeah. Um so,

702
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:18,200
Speaker 1: I mean there you know, as as we complain about

703
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,600
Speaker 1: very often, technology changes very quickly and it's hard for

704
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:22,719
Speaker 1: us to keep track of It's also changing in the

705
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:25,960
Speaker 1: nuclear industry as well, and there are new safe safety

706
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 1: measures that might be implemented in a in a new

707
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 1: reactor that wouldn't have been implemented in the nineties, seventies

708
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 1: and eighties. It's just the question of will it be

709
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:38,359
Speaker 1: politically feasible to implement nuclear power, because uh, it's one

710
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:42,320
Speaker 1: thing to to tell people that safety measures have improved

711
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,000
Speaker 1: and that, uh that we've learned lessons from these events

712
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:49,320
Speaker 1: that we can, um we can implement in the future.

713
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:54,480
Speaker 1: But there's it's such an emotional issue and uh it

714
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 1: has it does have problems. I mean, the nuclear waste

715
00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:01,759
Speaker 1: is still a very very big and uh, there's not

716
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,240
Speaker 1: an easy solution to that, and as long as those

717
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 1: still exist, I think we're going to see increased resistance

718
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:12,919
Speaker 1: to implementation of nuclear power, which I mean that's gonna

719
00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:15,400
Speaker 1: be very frustrating for some people, although you have to

720
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: admit that, um that the we've seen examples of things

721
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:23,320
Speaker 1: going wrong, and sometimes it's because people did not react

722
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:27,040
Speaker 1: the right way, and sometimes it's just that the perfect

723
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,920
Speaker 1: set of circumstances hit in order for something to go

724
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:34,840
Speaker 1: terribly wrong. And you know, there there is the argument

725
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,879
Speaker 1: you could make that the likelihood of that happening is low,

726
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:43,960
Speaker 1: but there's also the argument of any likelihood is too much, right.

727
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,279
Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to see where the future of

728
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:49,959
Speaker 1: nuclear power goes. It'll be interesting for me to see

729
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:54,120
Speaker 1: if the the projects that are trying to make breakthroughs

730
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 1: infusion power suffer as a result, because that is another

731
00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 1: form of nuclear energy, and uh, it's a frame form

732
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:02,719
Speaker 1: of nuclear energy. It's not the same as vision at all.

733
00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:05,880
Speaker 1: But it could very well be that just because it

734
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:09,640
Speaker 1: has that association, that these programs could start to lose funding.

735
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:13,480
Speaker 1: So we'll have to keep our eyes open see what happens. Uh.

736
00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: Our thoughts go out to everyone in Japan. And all

737
00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:20,560
Speaker 1: those who are affected by this disaster. And it's absolutely

738
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:24,799
Speaker 1: a tragic event. And uh and we really feel for

739
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 1: you guys. Um, if you guys want to talk to

740
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 1: us about nuclear power, if you have your own thoughts

741
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,080
Speaker 1: you would like to share, please do so. You can

742
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:36,560
Speaker 1: contact us on Twitter and Facebook. That handle is tech

743
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,760
Speaker 1: Stuff hs W, or you can write us an email.

744
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:43,399
Speaker 1: That email addresses tech stuff at how stuff works dot com.

745
00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 1: Chris and I will talk to you again really soon.

746
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,120
Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics. Is

747
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:52,399
Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com. To learn more about

748
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,279
Speaker 1: the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the upper

749
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 1: right corner of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone

750
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:06,879
Speaker 1: app has a ride Delmode It today on iTunes, brought

751
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 1: to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready.

752
00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:10,680
Speaker 1: Are you