WEBVTT - How a Nuclear Meltdown Works 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.600 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know? 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.400 From House Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.440 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.560 Charles W. Chuck Bryant, And that makes this Stuff you 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.120 Should Know kind of a special edition. Really, we don't 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:30.000 usually like hop on news stories. Yeah, you can't ignore 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:32.640 this up and I guess probably releasing something like a 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.120 full week after it happens is not hopping on. But 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.879 still now it's people have concerns and there's a lot 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.559 of information flying around. Everyone's trying to explain this thing 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:45.960 and the simplest terms, and since that's what we do 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.680 for a living, we figured we should do it. Yes, 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:50.400 so that's what we're doing that. They were going to 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:55.040 talk about um nuclear meltdowns and how it pertains to 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.680 the crisis in Japan. Right, Yeah, and it's a lot 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.040 more basic and simple than I thought. I was intimidated 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.040 going into this, and then I was like, oh, well 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.800 that's not too hard to understand. Yeah, it is nuclear science, 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:10.240 but it's kind of approachable nuclear science degree. So Chuck, um, 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:15.080 let's talk about catastrophe modeling. It's a type of risk 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.040 modeling that insurance companies love. It's how they figure out 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.920 why your insurance should be less than say, somebody else 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.840 of the same age, weight, height, the kind of thing 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:30.399 who lives in California. Right, UM, my former self. Yeah. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:35.600 So you can actually, um take a catastrophe model, right 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:39.280 and plug in every variable you can think of, and 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:44.520 what you'll spit out is UM basically a a curve, 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:50.440 a graph of probability of an accident happening, and then say, 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:54.440 like the the level of damage that will happen. Okay, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:56.240 So if you do this over like say a ten 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:01.280 thousand year catalog, you can figure out how off and say, uh, 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.280 nine point oh earthquake is going to hit Japan, And 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.160 you can figure that out by choosing a probability. Let's 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.240 say there's four percent probability of a nine point oh happening. 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:15.400 You can find that that pops up maybe forty times 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.160 over a ten thousand year scale. And what you have 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.480 then is that that's a one and two D and 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.600 fifty year probability. That's where they get the predictor yeah, exactly, 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.799 and that's why UM power plants are that's how they're 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.280 built to withstand something like a once in a two 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.320 fifty year quake, saying it could happen in this area, 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:37.520 so we need to account for it. Right. And it's 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:42.000 based on the dynamics, the geophysical dynamics of an earthquake 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.799 of a nine point oh magnitude right. Because you've got 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.600 all that plugged in the model, you figure out how much, 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.400 how bad it's going to be, how often it's gonna happen, 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.720 and then you build accordingly. And these the plants on 0:02:53.840 --> 0:03:00.280 the north coast of Japan, the TEPCO's Tokyo Electric Power Company, right, uh, 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.200 their Daichi and Daini plants UM number one and number 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.760 two plants in Fukushima UM were built to a stand 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.240 a two fifty year quake, which is exactly what they 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.480 got on March eleven. Yeah, they were, and they withstood it. 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.560 They did. Everything went fine, they shut down the reactors, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.200 which is what's supposed to happen to its sweet But 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.919 the problem was it was stood an earthquake, a huge earthquake, 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.000 possibly the most massive earthquake that's ever hit Japan, but 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.320 it didn't withstand the tsunami. It's this model, whatever the 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.520 model it was built for did not predict the tsunami. 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.840 It didn't take it into account, and that's why we 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.800 have this this crisis right now. Right so we should 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.800 probably also mention that the the focus right now is 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:48.360 on um, you know, this nuclear potential nuclear meltdown. But um, 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.080 I mean the tsunami is up to like I think 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.640 fifteen thousand dead and missing now just from the tsunami alone. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.880 Are they calculating the tsunami different from the earthquake as 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.400 far as that goes, I would not me. Okay, so 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.040 possibly because I read seven thousand, but that might just 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.320 be maybe there's different numbers that could know. I think 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:11.680 that's just dead. This is like dead and missing. So yeah, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.560 but now you've gotten an earthquake that just knocked down 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:16.719 a bunch of stuff, you have a tsunami that took 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.479 out entire towns, and then you have this this nuclear 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.280 crisis that's unfolding, and um, you know this is going 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.000 to release in a few days. So we'll have to 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.120 make do with the information that we have, right Yeah, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.240 unless something like really really big happens between today, which 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.800 is Thursday and Tuesday, we might have to come back 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.080 in and like doctor it up a bit, right, This 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.320 is what we're going with for now. Yes, So Chuck, 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.400 let's talk a little bit about how, uh if you 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.600 walk around a nuclear power plant, where are you going 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.599 to find what's going on there? Well, it's pretty easy, actually, Um. 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.200 And this is something that I didn't know because I 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:52.360 didn't know a whole lot about nuclear power at all 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.520 until this happened. And basically, what a nuclear power plant 0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.279 does is it creates one of the oldest model oles 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:05.919 for creating energy, which is steam powered UH turbines. And 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.000 how they do that they basically use nuclear fuel, which 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:14.120 these days is enriched uranium. The uranium atom split creates 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.000 a lot of heat. UH neutrons flying around also creates 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.559 is created by that process, and this heat boils water 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.200 in the case of these UH reactors, these are water 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.320 boiling reactors. And we'll talk about more the mark one 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.719 here in a minute, and it produces basically boils's water, 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.919 produces steam. That steam drives a turbine generates power about 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.960 a gigawatt of electricity at full power, which is a lot, right, 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.960 and um, that is a tremendous amount. And that full power, UM, 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.000 the heat that's being put out um Marshall who wrote 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.279 a really cool he's the founder of the site. Yes, 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.480 yes he does. He wrote a very um incredible article 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.159 in record time called how Japan's Nuclear Crisis works. But um, 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.360 he said that this puts out the heat. Um, that's 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.719 akin to about a billion watt bulb. That's that full power. 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.960 The thing is, obviously you don't always need your nuclear 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:11.320 reactors to be running at full power. So UM, what 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.480 you do is you modulate how much heat is being 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:18.440 put out by um using what are called control rods. Yeah, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.120 sort of like the throttle on your gas right, but 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:25.520 instead of Yeah, but the the control rod is basically 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.360 something like, UM, maybe a boron enriched length of metal 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:33.599 that is inserted into the fuel rod core, right, And 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.040 if you pull it out a little bit, then it 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.000 heats up. If you push it in a little bit 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.080 that it heats down. So and and by heat, I 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.760 guess I could say it powers up and it powers down, right, Yeah, 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.039 because it's attracting the neutrons. Then the neutrons are what 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.320 basically make the splitting of the atom happen. And that's 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.720 the problem there is it's self sustaining. So if you 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.920 didn't have these control rods, it becomes you know, it's 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.400 own living reaction. Well, it'll just it would just keep going, right, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.200 it will keep going as long as you can can, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:07.800 as long as you could keep it cool and just 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.520 be running at max power all the time. Right now, 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.160 when an earthquake hits, one of the fail safe designed 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.280 into any nuclear reactor is that the control rods are 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.800 going to get jammed in all the way, which is 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.720 called scramming. And when the um, when the reactor is scrammed, 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:26.480 all the control roads are shut down, all the sheil 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.200 roads are shut down because there's these control rods just 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.960 accepting all the neutrons. And like you said, the neutrons 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.360 are the active ingredient in nuclear fission because they're just 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.360 making all the atoms in the surrounding area unstable. Right. 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.760 But it's important to point out that even when they're 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.680 fully inserted and it's shut down, it's still creating keat 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:46.200 And here's the problem. Small amount of heat, but it's 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:50.000 enough heat if left unchecked, to potentially cause what's called 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.640 the meltdown. Right. So this heat that you're talking about 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.040 chuck is called decay heat. And I've read places where 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.080 it lasts a week. I've read that it lasts for 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.600 a year, and I think it acts really last for 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:02.680 a year. It takes a year for a fuel rod 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.440 to actually shut down, to to go to shut down state, 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:08.800 where like it doesn't need to be cooled any longer 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:13.240 with water, right, So when you scram something like they 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.360 did on March eleven, it's not just gonna cool down 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.240 right away. And that's the problem that we're dealing with 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.200 right now is this decay heat, which, like you said, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.560 is still it's it's a ridiculous amount of heat, and 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.720 it requires tons of cooling, right, which normally should be 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.720 fine because the Dachi plant with reactors went through four 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.040 I have cooling systems and lots of them, right. Yeah, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:36.600 it's a closed loop. So what happens is the water 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.760 boils and creates a lot of pressure. The pressure is 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:44.520 released the esteem uh and the steam actually gets cooled, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:48.120 condensed and reused like a closed loop air conditioning system, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.120 not a whole lot different, and the water is recirculated. 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.920 That water is recirculated back through the system with these 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.640 electric pumps, and those electric pumps are the key to 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:02.640 keep in everything cool and the problem, uh, well, well 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:04.480 we'll get to the problem. Um, they have a lot 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.920 of fail safes in place because you know, they don't 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:08.800 just plug the pump into the wall and say all right, 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:10.920 we're good to go, because that would be bad if 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:14.280 the power went down. Uh, there are backup electric pumps. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:19.160 There are backup Uh if if the power goes down, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.120 you can actually um, because I believe it's using its 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.880 own nuclear power to generate to operate these pumps. This 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.560 is an electricity generating nuclear power plants. It's running itself. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:30.839 But once the plant shuts down, which is what they did, 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.480 they say, okay, we can grab electricity from the grid, 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:36.599 but the grid shut down. Yes, that just shut the 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.440 grid down to pretty much right after the control rods 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.480 were scrammed into the into the reactors. So they have 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.920 another backup there, Like, all right, we got these diesel generators, 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.000 which are diesel generators are great, they do a great job. Uh. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.280 Tsunami comes in water on top of electrical or I'm sorry, 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.680 diesel generators makes them to not operate. Yeah, they were submerged. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.719 They weren't designed to operate and submerged. Now and then 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:02.800 they said, all right, we've got all these backups in place. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.360 The final backup we have is a battery system. Battery 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:08.640 system kicked in, it worked great, but the problem is 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.000 it only works for a little bit of you know, 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:12.560 like how many hours. I don't know if it's said 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.080 a few several hours, because the idea is that the 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.559 battery system is in dire emergency until you get the 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.360 grid back going, which shouldn't take that long. Um. Now. Also, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:27.040 transport transportation was knocked out. Supply routes are knocked out, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.400 there's no power. They try to get more diesel generators there, 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.800 but they just couldn't get them in time. Right. Um, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.079 So we have a nuclear power plant without power to 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.480 run these cooling systems. And these are boiled water reactors, 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.400 which means that the water, um you know, like you said, 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.360 chuck it, it gets its energy or it creates electricity 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.800 by boiling water. Now, these fuel rods are so hot, 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.720 even with this decay heat that the moment water hits them, 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.040 even boiling water, the boiled water is keeping them cool. 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.200 They're so hot they just have to remain underwater. Let's 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.040 just keep them underwater. That's the key. The problem is 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.960 is they create tons of steam, and that steam is 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.439 what is what runs the turbine, and then after it 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.360 access the turbine, like you said, it's condensed and then 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.280 reused as coolant. Right, But if the those pumps aren't working, 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:21.320 all it's doing is producing steam, boiling off water and 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.440 basically getting rid of the only coolant source they have. Yeah, 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.120 and if water gets hot enough, it actually something called 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.880 thermalisis takes place, and that's when it breaks down into 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:37.040 constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms or in this case um 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.640 hydrogen gas, which is really really explosive. And that's that's 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.880 actually a pretty normal byproduct of even like the proper 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.720 functioning of a boil water reactor plan. So they have 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:53.040 procedures in place to vent steam normally, but they burn 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.120 the hydrogen, often a slow control burn when they're venting 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.920 it to reduce radioactivity and to you know, keep explosions 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.760 from happening. Then you may be wondering why would they 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:10.920 design a system with that uses water to cool and 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.320 and nothing else. The point, the whole reason that somebody 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.040 ever designed the Mark one or boil water reactor is 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.360 that it's actually has a failsafe built in the fact 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.480 that it uses water as a coolant and what's called 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.800 a neutron modulator which keeps that thing from going like 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.520 out of control past, you know, just to sustain max power. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.800 Nuclear fission is whatever you're using as a new neutron 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.240 modulator or moderator. I'm sorry. So as long as the 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.040 neutron moderator there, you can have fission nuclear fission. But 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.839 if the if you can't get the control rods in 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:53.400 in time and the coolant goes away, the the fuel 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.960 actually won't be able to continue in a fission state 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.480 because the neutron mod moderator is not there. So you 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.360 don't have the cooling, but at least you don't have 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:07.080 a meltdown um from nuclear fission, which is really horrible. Right, 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:09.800 So that's why they have this boiled water reactor. But 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.440 the problem is this water served as a fail safe 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.760 and it's achilles heel and in this case, shosh the 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.480 hydrogen gas we were talking about, the normal reaction got 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.320 worse because the water boil away. These fuel tubes were 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.280 now exposed to air. They got really really hot and 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.160 started cracking. And the little uranium fuel pellets I think 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.319 they're the size of a Tootsie roll, right, Uh, they 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.600 overheated and and cracked and allowed water to get in there, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:38.640 and water is not supposed to be in there. And 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.760 that's where you had this massive hydrogen gas explosion. And 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.440 I think was it one of them, two of them, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.920 I think it was several different reactors had this explosion 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.600 within the reactor building itself. It wasn't like the whole 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.240 thing exploded, it was it was contained within the building, 0:13:55.679 --> 0:14:00.000 they hope, they think, really exactly. So we're still getting 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.440 news at this point because they there's a small number 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.160 of people, you know, on the ground, and they're not 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.240 all like on the phone with Anderson Cooper, right so 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.240 the information on the inside isn't that readily available right now. 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.120 So there were there were several explosions, Chuck, I think 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:19.600 it was like reactors one and three had explosions from 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.720 this hydrogen gas. They were venting it, they didn't burn 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.000 it off properly, and the hydrogen built up and up 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.680 and up and um. You remember, you know, you need 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:31.360 to keep these things wet. You have to keep them 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.800 underwater under any circumstances whatsoever. They have to be cool constantly. 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:40.400 They have to remain underwater. So without these backup generators, 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.240 without the battery power, generators without their normal electricity, without anything. 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.240 They finally decide we need to flood these things with seawater, 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.960 boron and enriched seawater. And it was a chemical reaction 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:58.480 between the sea water and the hydrogen that caused these explosions. Yeah, 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.520 which we should say this is very very very very important. 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:07.840 That was a conventional chemical explosion, right. It was not 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.320 a nuclear bomb, right, it's not. It's not possible for 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:15.320 a nuclear reactor to blow up like in a nuclear explosion. 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:19.240 It's not possible. The danger, like with chernobyl and anything 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.200 is is leaking radiation. It's not like a Hiroshima type 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:27.320 of event, right, So that happens. Um To to create 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.800 a nuclear bomb, what you have to do is take 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:35.400 um radioactive material in a subcritical state, which is like 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:38.840 what you might have in your front pocket right now. Shucks, right, 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.680 it's just plain old lump of uranium. Who cares, right, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.440 and you have to explode it so fast to create 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.239 a chain reaction that uses up all of that subcritical 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.080 material that it skips over the critical stage and goes 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:57.600 right into supercritical. The precision that that requires makes it 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.160 that there's probably like five people on the planet right now, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.800 they know how to build a nuclear bomb like that. 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.640 You can't just do that with fuel. The big threat 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.280 is the melting of the fuel, right, right, And so 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.200 they flooded it with seawater, to which ruins the reactors forever, 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.320 by the way, we should mention, but that's a better scenario. 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.000 And apparently these are forty year old reactors that were 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.080 not on its last legs as far as they're about 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.160 to break, but they were near the end of their 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:28.720 operating lifespans. Do you want to hear something horrible? Reaction 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:34.520 Number one went online on March, so it should have gone. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.960 It should have been decommissioned on March eleven. Really there 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.840 was actually a date there should have been. But apparently 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.920 TEPCO applied for and received a tenure extension on its 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:50.600 operating licenses for those interesting Yeah, so what what what 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.000 we have some information here? What does this all mean 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.040 to the world at large? Well, here's the big problem. 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.440 Like we said that the fuel isn't going to explode, 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:00.720 but it's going to melt, right, And said Chuck that 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:04.399 these little fuel pellets in the fuel rods are like 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.359 the size of a tutsie roll in about the shape, right, 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.600 if it melts. If this when this stuff hits air, 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.240 it begins to melt, and if it melts, it will 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.359 no longer be able to be cooled because it's going 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:20.960 to be a big, flat, dense glob of nuclear fuel 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.120 that's melting and collecting inside of this containment vessel. Right, 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:30.080 So the operative word is containment vessel. This extremely hot 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.840 nuclear fuel that's forming a pool can conceivably melt through 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:40.400 the containment vessel. And once that happens, if it when 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.920 it encounters the concrete barrier, this which is like the 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.760 fail safe of fail safe. This it's it should not 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.480 be able to melt through that, it's possible it could, 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:54.160 and if it does, then you have you have nuclear 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:59.199 fuel in the environment, and that's when it's it's beyond 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:03.560 catastrophe level. Yeah, And that's a containment vessel that's completely 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.040 functional and intact. And we don't know what kind of 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.879 damage these explosions of cause they might be compromised from 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.840 the inside to make containment even more difficult. Who knows 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.600 at this point. So the the explosions were kind of 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.400 um jarring, you could say, right, the explosions that reactors 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.520 one in three. Yes, there is a fire at UM 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.600 reactor four UM. But apparently one of the big problems 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.560 is a bunch of spent fuel that's no longer being 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:35.680 cooled at reactor too. And while when this fuel melts, 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.600 it can catch on fire. So vapor is bad enough, 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.320 but if it catches fire, smoke is what's really going 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:50.119 to get you. It will create and carry further UM 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:55.200 radioactive particles that UM has a much longer half life 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:57.760 than the stuff that's going to come out in the vapor. Right, 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.760 that's the threat. That's a big threat threat. Uh. So 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.560 we mentioned that it was the Mark one boiling water 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:09.120 reactor that that was over there. Um G E made 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.080 these General Electric in the nineteen sixties. They went online 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.600 and I think seventy one you said yes, which is 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.879 a long time ago. Uh. The United States has twenty 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:23.560 three of these reactors right now at sixteen locations, including 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.399 UH Oyster Creek in New Jersey, Dresden near Chicago, Monicello 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.480 near Minneapolis. No reason to freak out right now, UH, 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.200 because well, here's the deal. These these Mark one boilers 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:40.760 are UH are under scrutiny right now. The New York 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.840 Times ran a piece about these. Apparently in nineteen seventy two, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:48.480 right after they built these things, that identified weaknesses and said, hey, 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.480 we should discontinue this because, uh, there's some safety risks. 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:57.199 One of the safety risks was a smaller containment design, 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.119 which they said in nineteen seventy two might be more 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:04.040 susceptible to explosion and rupture from a build up of hydrogen. 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:09.280 So that it seems to be what happened here in Japan. Uh. 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.520 Obviously g is not on the hook or anything they 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.600 you know, once you take control of your nuclear power 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.159 plant as a nation, it's yours, and it's not like 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.879 you can call up GE and say, hey, Jerk's you 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.879 know what about all this? So Japan was responsible for, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:28.760 you know, caring upkeep of their own thing. Uh. And 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.360 apparently the mark ones in the United States have undergone 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.760 a lot of modifications over the years, one of which 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.040 is a change to the Tourists, which is a water 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:42.800 filled vessel that encircles the primary containment vessels. So there's 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.560 all these things in place, uh in the seventies and 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:47.880 eighties that the US put in place at our mark 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.840 ones that they say will prevent something like this. I 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:53.959 don't know what was going on in Japan. If they 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:57.160 were modified at all over the years, I'm sure that'll 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.840 all come out. Well. Apparently at some point starting to 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.960 apparently some UM, at least one G engineer for the 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.360 Mark one resigned UM because he thought the Mark one 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.160 was so flawed and apparently G wasn't doing anything about it. 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.800 This was in the early seventies. But UM, some G 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:16.520 whistle blowers UM blue Well blew the whistle on the 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:22.040 Fukushima plant UM because apparently they falsified records before UM 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:27.600 they they used dishonest practices in UM monitoring their own 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:31.400 radioactive output, and there was a lack of safety culture 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:35.360 basically by by the company's own admission. This is interesting 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:37.399 to see what Ramifications is going to have a nuclear 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.000 power because there was a pretty good track record for 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.680 a couple of decades and a lot of people it's 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:45.960 starting to come around again. Well yeah, and saying this 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:49.399 is actually a green uh fuel producing technology because it 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.280 doesn't produce carbon and we got a good track record 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:55.959 and it's pretty safe now and these things are like 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:00.240 super safe. They can withstand all these different things. What 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.879 they couldn't withstand was a combination in Japan's case of 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.399 these things like earthquakes and tsunamis Well, Chuck, it had 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.480 a good twenty year run where it was starting to 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:15.120 like gain tracks again. Nuclear power was um because it 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.720 was trying to emerge from the shadow of Three Mile Island. Right, 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:22.400 the the partial fuel melt which is the correct term 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.440 meltdown is not actually used in the industry, we should say, yeah, 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:30.040 but partial fuel melt in in Pennsylvania, that's right. And 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:31.960 that was, like you said, Three Mile Island, which is 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:37.120 categorized as a level five disaster, which had had local consequences. 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:39.919 It was like the fuel melted and pulled, but it 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:43.080 didn't um, It didn't escape the containment vessel, but some 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.520 radio active material was released into the surrounding area. But 0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:51.080 it scared the tar out of everybody. Well, China syndrome 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.800 didn't help much. Yeah, that that's true too. Um. And 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.080 so this uh disaster in Japan right now is categorized. 0:22:57.320 --> 0:22:59.080 I've seen it as a six, I've seen it as 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.840 a five, ending on who you ask, but either way 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:05.480 it's it's not a good situation obviously. So um, what 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.680 we do know is that as it stands right now, 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.159 at least, it's not a Chernobyl and Chernobyl was a 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.240 level seven, which is as bad as it can get. 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.320