Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest

[American]

Link

March 15, 2011
Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two
of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from
their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that
the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the
Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating
accident.
Questions persisted for decades about the ability of
the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that
would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and
today that design is being put to the ultimate test in
Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima
Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday's
earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are
Mark 1s.
"The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in
doing the design of the containment, they did not
take into account the dynamic loads that could be
experienced with a loss of coolant," Bridenbaugh told
ABC News in an interview. "The impact loads the
containment would receive by this very rapid release
of energy could tear the containment apart and create
an uncontrolled release."

So there have been concerns about this reactor model for some time.

 

[Councilman]

The state of the art was antiquated compared to what can be designed today.

The new designs can operate without outside electric power, making them much safer than anything operating today.

If what they say is true about the new designs I have no problem with building as many as we need to meet current and future needs.

It seems there is a new power line about to be hooked up going to the Fukushima plants and if so it will end the drams unless one the containment vessels has been breached. I one has been it's going to be tough to fix.