71–80 of 97 posts
"Anti-rabbit defenses"?
Other highlights for me not mentioned in this article: a great video showing a high speed diesel train (not just the locomotive) crashing into a waste transport container; climbing around a whole fleet of tiny decontamination trucks with radiological protection gear for the drivers and manipulator arms for picking up material; and getting hands-on with the security system (not part of the tour; my dad made a friend) and broadcasting over the plant tannoy. No chance of any of that stuff happening for my kids, sadly.
I was happy to read this even if it is a repeat. A great write up that took me back.
To me one of the coolest things was the complexity of the (pre computerization) monitoring/control room and systems.
[1]http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/ [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_Reactor
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is many, many years old - maybe even 10 years old? Maybe someone can find the original date and put it in the title.
Archive.org's earliest snapshot of it [edit: at this URL - see below] is from January 6, 2010, but have a snapshot of the same content at a different URL from December 26, 2002. Their snapshots of the site itself go back to July 6, 2005, so I'm inclined to believe the article dates only back to 2010 or late 2009 at the earliest. Edit: and archive.org has an even earlier snapshot from December 26, 2002, under a differ…
My father and I went on an equally in-depth guided tour of Hinkley Point station back in the mid '80s when I was a boy. We too got to walk on the reactor lid, view the cooling ponds, and meander underneath miles of thrumming piping. It was utterly fascinating and one of the very best memories I have of my childhood. Hinkley Point is a PWR rather than an AGR, but what the author writes about that collision of space ag…
My father and I went on an equally in-depth guided tour of Hinkley Point station back in the mid '80s when I was a boy. We too got to walk on the reactor lid, view the cooling ponds, and meander underneath miles of thrumming piping. It was utterly fascinating and one of the very best memories I have of my childhood. Hinkley Point is a PWR rather than an AGR, but what the author writes about that collision of space ag…
Off-topic, but it's the first time I see somebody use "tannoy" in place of "PA" - really identifies you as a Brit :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannoy
Worth noting that the visitor centre for Torness recently re-opened, it looks like you need to make an appointment in advance (for security checks) but, having had a detailed tour of another AGR plant years ago, I suspect it may be worth visiting: http://www.edfenergy.com/about-us/energy-generation/nuclear-... Also, if you do visit Torness and you have an interest in science (which seems likely) then you might want t…
This was a "psst, wanna come visit where I work?" tour from one of the guys who built and ran the plant.
Either pre-9/11 or very shortly post-9/11 -- with the rise of the post-9/11 security state there's no way such a tour would happen today. Indeed, the friend in question said some time later that he didn't have that kind of access-all-areas pass any more.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. It just feels like these structures were built to last a lifetime and then some. Most of the stuff being built nowadays appears as though it already has a due date of "the not to distant future" to be torn down and replaced. At least here in the US, the architecture just feels like everything else around me - it's disposable.
For a lot of infrastructure, the ability to more accurately model and calculate the performance of structures has meant that they don't need to be overbuilt so much. The less you overbuild a structure, the less it weighs, and the less structure you need to build - a virtuous cycle. If you look at the last 400 years of bridge design you can see the transition from overbuilt compression structures to gossamer suspensio…
But you cannot ever convince me that our steel suspension bridges are going to last for centuries like our stone bridges from the 15th century and onwards.