The China Syndrome

[tentoze]

The Moderators prefer that posts remain on topic, which is a MOVIE, not the pros & cons of nuclear power generation, nor the technical merits of diverse design techologies for same.

[soundmotor]

Originally Posted by markthefixer

THAT was the Planet of the apes........... we were talking about Soylent Green.....

Really, no foolin'? I was certain there were chariots, pyramids, Yul Brynner, and perhaps albino mutants in the Heston flick attributed to that quote......

Originally Posted by vinyldavid

Just saw it and loved it....

Most of the rest of my class thought it was BORING......

The ones who were bored, was there discussion afterwards and they related why they felt that way?

[vinyldavid]

Originally Posted by soundmotor

The ones who were bored, was there discussion afterwards and they related why they felt that way?

Ummm.....the ones that liked it discussed the errors in it (generator looked fake, but they had a REAL nagra...).....

Everyone did not like it because they thought it had no message and the topic was boring....

ya gotta remember it's TEENAGERS here... How many teenagers that you know would find a dated movie about nuclear reactors that had almost no violence or sex interesting?

[70salesguy]

Originally Posted by tentoze

The Moderators prefer that posts remain on topic, which is a MOVIE, not the pros & cons of nuclear power generation, nor the technical merits of diverse design techologies for same.

I will take your suggestion as a good idea and will post no further in this post concerning the issue. My point was simply that most people in the US equate our Commercial Nuclear Power Plants with the Chernobyl units, and I believe that Mudpuppy176 will agree that the general public is grossly under-educated about the radical difference between the two.

Again here we see a good example of how most AKers can disagree without being disagreeable. Thank you Mudpuppy176 for a good discussion.

With best regards, 70salesguy

[merrylander]

One of the reasons why the French and Canadians have been so successful with nuclear power is the common design each uses. This makes for evolution of the design and controlled changes. They also get cheaper over time. Despite the name "Ontario Hydro" with the addition of the Bruce Penninsula plant they probably produce more power with nuclear than hydro.

[soundmotor]

Originally Posted by vinyldavid

Ummm.....the ones that liked it discussed the errors in it (generator looked fake, but they had a REAL nagra...).....

Everyone did not like it because they thought it had no message and the topic was boring....

ya gotta remember it's TEENAGERS here... How many teenagers that you know would find a dated movie about nuclear reactors that had almost no violence or sex interesting?

I may just have to watch it again. I saw it on release, my senior year in HS, and the reason I haven't watched it since was that my impression was that it was preachy. I don't recall being bored though. Oh, and IBTL!

[tentoze]

Comanche Peak Station in TX was still under construction when the movie was released (it was under construction FOREVER, for that matter). The Control Room was redesigned to remove a large panoramic viewing window similar to the one in that movie where people could look down on the room from outside. How do I know this? I as-built the redesigned structure that replaced it.

[reggaenaut]

Originally Posted by tentoze

Comanche Peak Station in TX was still under construction when the movie was released (it was under construction FOREVER, for that matter). The Control Room was redesigned to remove a large panoramic viewing window similar to the one in that movie where people could look down on the room from outside. How do I know this? I as-built the redesigned structure that replaced it.

Wow so many Akers were associated with Mr. Nuclear!

[arrow 68]

Originally Posted by vinyldavid

Ummm.....the ones that liked it discussed the errors in it (generator looked fake, but they had a REAL nagra...).....

Everyone did not like it because they thought it had no message and the topic was boring....

ya gotta remember it's TEENAGERS here... How many teenagers that you know would find a dated movie about nuclear reactors that had almost no violence or sex interesting?

I highly recommend "Three Day's Of The Condor", and "Network". Also check out Redford's, "The Candidate". All should be seen in every high school.
Okay, I know, I am off topic.

[70salesguy]

I don't recall if it has been mentioned, but Fail Safe would be highly recommended viewing from me.

[macfreak]

Originally Posted by tentoze

The Moderators prefer that posts remain on topic, which is a MOVIE, not the pros & cons of nuclear power generation, nor the technical merits of diverse design techologies for same.

Yeah, but the movie, its plot, the dialog, the actors' personal views that shaped their characterizations of the roles they played --the whole movie package --was advocacy for a certain view of the nuclear energy industry at that time. It is impossible to intelligently discuss China Syndrome without commenting on its view of the technology that formed the basis for the movie's message.

[70salesguy]

I would imagine that most movies that deal with very technical subjects have the same shortcomings that are most easily spotted by people who are in that field.

"Hollywood" and "reality" are often different things.

[tentoze]

Originally Posted by macfreak

Yeah, but the movie, its plot, the dialog, the actors' personal views that shaped their characterizations of the roles they played --the whole movie package --was advocacy for a certain view of the nuclear energy industry at that time. It is impossible to intelligently discuss China Syndrome without commenting on its view of the technology that formed the basis for the movie's message.

Then the further suggestion is to go discuss something else.

[markthefixer]

Well, back to the movie....

I saw it in the theater when it originally came out, and I was less nuclear educated than I am now (or I would have been snickering a LOT more), and while everybody seemed agahst at the ending, my take was that while the greedy bean counters had pushed the equipment beyond any reasonable limits, the engineers that designed it and the hardhats that had put it together had won out since the mistreated equipment had done what was needed, and it was now time to roast the bean counters on a slowly rotating spit over a low fire.

For a REALLY scary real-life account of a reactor accident in 1961, google sl-1 idaho. It was over in milliseconds....

And as for the initial China syndrome premise, there are always solutions, and to understand how narrow a range of conditions are necessary to get it to happen and STAY happening (melt, not vaporize and disperse) gets me : almost as steamed as their little horror story....

[BajaGringo]

I received my initial reactor training at Bettis Labs - Naval Reactors in Idaho, not far from the SL1 site. We were given a tour of the facility and as I recall, it happened during reactor maintenance, not operations. For reasons not known (or I can't remember) they pulled a rod (they were not motorized) and took the reactor super-critical.

As I recall, one of the maintenance workers was impaled by the rod itself...