🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <334c38aa.84790119@news.mindspring.com>,
Bruce Glassford <bglassford@earthling.net> wrote:
>
>Carl - we should be afraid of dangerous situations, like Chernobyl -
>the station was constructed in such a way (as, IIRC are all Russian
>reactors) that if anything goes wrong the effects are released into
>the atmosphere immediately.  There are *much* better ways to build
>reactors (I'm particularly partial to the CANDU system since it seems
>the safest), and we should retain a level of apprehension that permits
>rational use of effective prevention measures.  A certain level of
>fear is healthy (one of my usual pitches to CIOs and other clients
>about disaster recovery - worry enough to take reasonable preventative
>measures, but not so much you're paralyzed).
>
>.... Bruce
>


Your comments on Russian reactor designs are an overgeneralization.

The RBMK designs, like Chornobyl, are the earliest Russian designs
and indeed do not have a modern containment structure like most
Western reactors.

The more recent VVER designs (pressurized water reactors) are much 
better. The VVER-1000 has a full steel lined containment similar
to Western reactors.  The older VVER-440 have what they call a
"confinement" which is not as robust but is still designed to retain
fission products.

Jeff Secker
-my own opinions--