In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Fri, 23 Nov 2012 18:04:18 -0500: Hi,
Fission reactors have control rods that allow the power output to be varied. I found one reference to a factor of 1E7 for the dynamic range, though I doubt this is common. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9aGhhrMU-IkC&pg=PA495&lpg=PA495&dq=%22fission+reactor%22+%22dynamic+range%22&source=bl&ots=dWUV1cGxw7&sig=E8IdNUPJ-EM5cdhCns1mbCKpxZo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LjuwUPuHGfCYiAfs0IGoAw&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22fission%20reactor%22%20%22dynamic%20range%22&f=false ><[email protected]> wrote: > > >> ...all of this makes me wonder if it might be safer NOT to scram the >> reactor. >> That way it can continue to provide power itself to power it's own >> auxiliary >> equipment. >> > >It would blow up in no time. The aux equipment takes a couple of megawatts >I think; the reactor produces 3000 MW thermal. > >Under normal circumstances, and in every previous reactor accident as far >as I know, the aux generators have been intact and they worked fine. They >were never the source of the problem. After the 2007 earthquake, one of the >Diesel aux generators at Kashiwazaki burned up, but there was plenty of >extra capacity and that would not have been a problem even in a long term >emergency cut off from the grid. > >- Jed Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
