Re:Water is bursting from another abandoned West Texas oil w...
by gambiting on Thursday June 13, 2024 @10:52AM
(#40670442)
>>This should be viewed as "corrupted regulators" rather than "magically strong materials".
Or you know, the fact that some of these reactors have been operating for close to 50 years and are fine is proof that it is actually indeed fine.
I don't know - would love to hear an expert argue either way.
Re:Water is bursting from another abandoned West Texas oil w...
by Dylan16807 on Thursday June 13, 2024 @03:42PM
(#40673742)
The thing to ask is whether it's part of the (current) design and fully reviewed by engineers. The original design isn't gospel. What matters is updating the analysis.
This should be viewed as "corrupted regulators" rather than "magically strong materials".
In 1986, the Challenger blew up. We learned that although originally good safety standards had existed, over time a series of small exceptions had been made, each one on the theory that "hey it never blew up yet, a small change won't matter".
Reactor licensing works like that. Sure, the reactor vessel is cracking which was never expected to happen. Sure, the graphite bricks are cracking which was never expected to happen. The important thing is, it never blew up yet, and that means it's perfectly safe to ignore the problems.
At some future point there will be a Problem and it will be dutifully explained that a series of small deviations from safe practices became normalized, blah-blah, and everyone will nod and take the lesson to heart, until it happens the next time.