- #1
Passiday
- 12
- 0
Hello,
I am far from nuclear plant engineering, so I might be asking irrelevant question... But I was wondering, why the Fukushima power plant reactor cooling system was designed to be dependent on external power? That sounds like planning for failure to me, especially in the environment where they regularly would shut the plan down in case of earthquakes. I mean, there are engine types that run on heat, like Stirling engine - couldn't these be used to power the pumps that move the cooling water around? All that is needed here is stable supply of cool gas and source of heat. The cool gas could be air, or if there is a risk of contamination, then perhaps a dedicated gas, and the source of heat is the coolant itself. Then the cooling system would work while there is the hot water in the system, what is exactly what's required.
Perhaps I am proposing naïve solution to a complex engineering problem, just wanted to hear some comment from more experienced people.
I am far from nuclear plant engineering, so I might be asking irrelevant question... But I was wondering, why the Fukushima power plant reactor cooling system was designed to be dependent on external power? That sounds like planning for failure to me, especially in the environment where they regularly would shut the plan down in case of earthquakes. I mean, there are engine types that run on heat, like Stirling engine - couldn't these be used to power the pumps that move the cooling water around? All that is needed here is stable supply of cool gas and source of heat. The cool gas could be air, or if there is a risk of contamination, then perhaps a dedicated gas, and the source of heat is the coolant itself. Then the cooling system would work while there is the hot water in the system, what is exactly what's required.
Perhaps I am proposing naïve solution to a complex engineering problem, just wanted to hear some comment from more experienced people.