Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Nuclear Bundles on Strike


Article

Nope, they're not making these things anymore (for a while). That reminds me of my association with these things, of which I wrote in Water Laser.

When the first bundles were spit out of the brand-new Darlington, I was well-connected with the fuel people, and they would talk to me. They showed me amazing pictures of how badly these things were smashed. I concluded that this was no simple vibration, but a non-linear water-hammer, much like my pressure-balance shower (sometimes it makes the house rattle!).

As I have mentioned before, these things have an amazing non-linear response to water flow. This has never been scientifically investigated, and remains one of the horrible things to await us with the new candu design. As usual, I got thrown out of this whole investigation, when it became apparent that there was a cheap and dirty solution. Of course, the vibration continues at a lower level, and shakes the whole plant.

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