What happens if a nuclear power plant loses power?

this will happen>>> a little while after the back-up generators run out of juice

CME=EMP=ELE=

We have emergency diesels and enough fuel to keep them running until we can use natural circulation and a controlled cool down.

As long as the diesel is able to make it to the site everything is ok. If the diesel can't be brought to the generators you get Fukushima.

No worries. They have battery backups that will last up to eight hours. It's all good.

Why are we using nuclear fission to boil water anyways?? I mean we are such a back asswards bunch of retards, aren't we?..lol

Boiling water to run steam generators To produce electricity. Which rely on fossilized fueled backup generators to make sure the water pumps keep circulating water over the nuclear fuel that must be kept stable. Or else. I mean, really? We really went full retard on the whole electrical power concept. All the electricity that occurs naturally, and we cannot even harness enough of it to boil a pot of water.

People think nuclear plants must exist to produce electricity, when the only difference between coal power and nuclear power is the fuel used to boil water. They sold the idea of nuclear power plants to congress on the basis that they can boil water so efficiently that electricity would be so cheap, it would be almost free. I don't know about y'all, but mine ain't free by a long shot.

Damn I feel retarded.

Lemme go pump some more fossil fuel in my antiquated air/fuel combustion powered transport device so I can move from one rock hut to another and make some nano scaled machines that helps make my personal communicator more sophisticated than any communicator we sent to the moon.

Were fuked.

Very good.

where were the batteries at Fuku? It was the generator that got flooded.

those reactors produce plutonium and they wanted that

ALL diesel generators now have IC chips in their controller circuitry. So, none of the backup generators would work if an EMP from the sun hit...

Hmmmm, that could be a problem.

Could be real bad in a major emp , or x flare type event. Backups will only last so long after a major event.

Its not just the ones we think of for power we have to worry about. You have Army , Navy , research ones around too. You probaby couldnt find to many places safe in the US.

The fuel & waste has to be kept cool forever.

Um, not to sound retarded here, but if we received enough electromagnetic pulsation intensity to fry primary control circuitry, what makes y'all so confident backup circuitry cannot be affected?

Wait a minute..no, if control circuits burn out, backup power for those circuits (if operable) is useless anyways.

I know, im just retarded..go back to sleep, yall.

At Fukushima the diesel generators probably would run after salt water soalked them as long as their diesel fuel wasn't contaminated, but the salt water damaged the genrator controller circuitry. So, they were useless afterwards.

Same would result from an EMP.

Um, not to sound retarded here, but if we received electromagnetic pulsation intense enough to fry primary control circuitry, what makes y'all so confident backup circuitry cannot be affected?

Wait a minute..no, if control circuits burn out, backup power for those circuits (if operable) is useless anyways.

I know, im just retarded..go back to sleep, yall.

A miracle, hopefully...

When it comes to nuclear power plants you have to remember that they were designed and built by engineers and bureaucrats.

Engineers design their projects based on problems that they can understand, model and solve. Based on probability, they stop at a certain threshold beyond which there is little likelihood of having to deal with such occurences.

Bureaucrats further limit these designs to those that can be solved economically.

At no time is there any input from an artist, preferably a horror writer, who is willing to imagine the worst that can happen.

how can you not know op?
It switches to emergency backup diesel generators to keep the reactors stable and properly cooled. They normally have enough fuel to do this for a couple of weeks. But if no more fuel can be trucked in after this period, then meltdown begins.

What makes you so sure that they won't be fried by the EMP also?

I am not talking about the diesel engine or the generator. I am talking about the power control circuitry in every modern generator! It is built of integrated circuit chips that are vulnerable to EMPs.

Lol 8 hours...it takes a decade to cool nuclear fuel.

then the radioactive material is stored in abandoned salt mines. salt has the capacity to absorb radioactivity. after the final battle between rome and cathage, rome salted the soil so nothing would grow. a salt bomb so to speak.

Right...but most all...no, all nuclear power plants were built years ago, before electronic engine controls were implemented. Fuel, air, and compression at the right time and they will run.

The switchgear will probably be smoked and they will have to manually transfer to generator power.

After that, they have 30-45 days of fuel on site. This is from someone I know at the Bay City NPP.

But what about all the circuitry involved in actually pumping water to cool the rods?

the diesel generators kick in to keep the spent fuel from getting too hot due to lack of water circulation.

what about it?

op I think you are overstretching the destructive power of an emp.

during military testing most consumer vehicles withstood an emp blast. with very few needing any replacement parts and the majority still working after.

an emp is not like you might imagine.

Pumps are run with heavy gage wire, big contactors and, maybe a start capacitor. No circuitry to fry beyond the automated stuff. Manual all the way, though.

:safenuclearenerg: