mvs@meccts.UUCP (Michael V. Stein) (07/16/86)
In article <858@whuts.UUCP> orb@whuts.UUCP (SEVENER) writes: >This is not true. There are 8 nuclear plants operated by the Dept. >of Energy in order to make nuclear materials for nuclear weapons which >have no containment domes. These plants also are graphite core >reactors exactly like the one at Chernobyl. 1. I know of only two US graphite plants. There is the one at Fort St.Vain in Colorado. (It is thorium fueled, helium cooled and graphite moderated. I am not even sure this is used for plutonium production.) The other one is at Hanford. Where are the other six? 2. Neither of these plants is very similar to Chernobyl. The Fort St. Vain plant has 9 to 14 ft pressurized concrete vessel and by using helium I get the impression that some scientists think this might even be safer then PWR. (Anyone know much about this?) The Hanford plant is different then Chernobyl in a number of ways. The Hanford facility has concrete surrounding the core. It uses mettalic uranium which is better able to conduct heat. It has a secondary set of pipes for ECS and on fuel failure the reactor will automatically shut down. Chernobyl had none of these features from what I can tell. (Indeed Chernobyl wasn't even shut down during refueling.) Chernobyl also generated 18 times more power then the reactor at Hanford. 3. Of course this whole debate is somewhat irrellavent. The point of debate is the safety of commercial nuclear power - not weapons making. -- Michael V. Stein Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation - Technical Services UUCP ihnp4!dicome!meccts!mvs