Timeline for Is it plausible for self-destruct button to trigger a countdown?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 27, 2017 at 0:15 | comment | added | Perkins | @CarlKevinson The explosion of the Chernobyl reactor was not caused by turning the coolant flow off, it was caused by them stupidly turning it back on again when they realised it was getting too hot. There comes a point where reintroducing coolant will only avert a meltdown at the cost of a large steam explosion spraying radioactive material everywhere. | |
| Sep 26, 2017 at 15:43 | comment | added | Harper - Reinstate Monica | @ShadoCat Fukushima is inapplicable here, and the mechanism of destruction was very different. Please do not simply namedrop stuff like this based on a sliver of stale pop knowledge, at least spend 2 minutes over on Wikipedia refreshing your recall. | |
| Sep 26, 2017 at 12:30 | comment | added | Paul Becotte | Fukishima had problems with leaking radiation- big difference between what happened there and a massive explosion that would destroy a starship | |
| Sep 25, 2017 at 20:20 | comment | added | Carl Kevinson | "Disabling the cooling should not trigger a meltdown or explosion on any kind of reactor." Certain types of reactors (like the RBMK at Chernobyl) will explode if they lose coolant for too long. Modern designs will melt down relatively safely. While both will probably take longer than 10 seconds, and there are other active or passive safeties in place, cooling is critical for fission reactors to continue being reactors. | |
| Sep 25, 2017 at 20:11 | comment | added | Mołot | @ShadoCat it was much longer than 10s, and no one expected loss of power to auxiliary generators — it was, after all, a stationary plant. And they underestimated wave height by 3m in area where everyone believed 10m is overestimation. Thus, author is right that no engineer would design such a thing. Fukushima guys designed plant that runs separate generators when main cooling power fails. Rest is just a tragic mistake caused by lack of knowledge, justified by data from previous years. | |
| Sep 25, 2017 at 19:27 | comment | added | ShadoCat | You might want to talk to Japan about that. Loss of power to the damper rods and the cooling is what caused that reactor problem. | |
| Sep 25, 2017 at 17:54 | comment | added | Vylix | The coolant system is obviously not the only system affected when the sequence is started, however I like that first part very much. | |
| Sep 25, 2017 at 17:22 | history | answered | Gary Walker | CC BY-SA 3.0 |