Updates
May 17, 2012: experts having trouble explaining problem with tubes at the San Onufre nuclear reactor.
That failure led to an unparalleled shutdown of one of California's two nuclear power plants and triggered more than three months of detective work by Southern California Edison officials and federal nuclear regulators that has yet to determine the problem's root cause or when San Onofre will reopen.
When the plant is running at full power, the rate of steam flow is causing the tubes to vibrate, much like a guitar string being plucked. Some tubes vibrated enough that they rubbed against each other, causing the tube walls to wear down much faster than expected.Call me naive, but something tells me a meltdown/radiation leak at San Onufre would cause a bit more concern than an oil spill. Just saying.
This is a potential danger because tube ruptures could release radiation and in extreme cases compromise the reactors' cooling system.
Original Post
Link here to the LA Times.One of California's two nuclear plans may remain off-line through the summer. Can you spell r-o-l-l-i-n-g-[space bar]-b-l-a-c-k-o-u-t-s?
While California legislators focused on wind energy from out-of-state, they dropped their focus on Barack Obama's "all-of-the-above" energy plan. Even the president now supports the pipeline. Just not all of it. But I digress.
Back to the San Onufre nuclear reactor story. Can't they just turn up the wind?
Ok, the gig is up. It's over. I'm blogging away in a Dunkin' Donuts just down the street from where I'm staying, and a flock of motorcycle cops just flew in. All decked out in shiny blue, black, white uniforms on even shinier blue, black, and white motorcycles with "Special Operations" laminated everywhere. Somewhere I crossed the line. They caught me ... my last post.....I'm going....
Oh, never mind....you have got to be kidding --- six more just drove up --- it's a donut --- now a black and white SUV -- something's going down --- I was going to say it's a donut break, and I guess it is. I will keep you posted if anything exciting happens.
Wow, two more motorcycle cops: this time STATE POLICE, and they just backed their cycles in against the curb/sidewalk. I may have to move.
This looks like something out of NYPD. Ok, so now there must be something like 24 city police (Special Operations) and state police inside Dunkin' Donuts. Wow, a state police cruiser -- a blue and white sedan -- just turned the corner. OK, I count 18 police inside right now, but don't know if I see them all.
Their on to you, Bruce...might as well fess up.Tubejig.SD
ReplyDeleteIt really is quite a site. One of the Asian special ops cop looked like one of my favorite characters on "The Closer." Which I have not watched in a long, long time.
Deleteit also appears that no thought in design or construction was given to the effects of Tsunami's. from Earth Quakes.. just look at the picture in the article.
ReplyDeleteAlso, everyone knows the degree of earthquake activity in southern California.
DeleteOn a more humorous note, from Wiki:
The July 12, 1982 edition of Time states, "The firm Bechtel was further embarrassed in 1977, when it installed a 420-ton nuclear-reactor vessel backwards" at San Onofre. --- details, details, details.
Wasn't the original mirror on the Hubble telescope put on backwards, also? My hunch is we got left-handed architects and engineers. And right-handed blue-collar workers. Or vice versa.
Get their badge numbers and turn them into Michelle Obama so she can school them on their unhealthy eating. Doing this in uniform with the danger that children may see it. Someone needs to answer for this.
ReplyDeleteFor the same reason I never begrudged US Marines for smoking cigarettes, I have no problems with motorcycle cops eating donuts. Their occupation is very, very risky, and the donuts won't significantly affect their estimated time on earth. But I do agree: perhaps best to do this off-duty, out of uniform.
ReplyDelete