Reactor containments

[Marlin]

We take containments for granted as part of a nuclear plants contruction, but this was not always the case. Name a plant where the containment was not in the original design.

[Fermi2]

Actually there are 5 or 6 plants that were originally designed without containments. When they realized they had to put the plants near cities they had to codify something to allow it, thus 10CFR100. The Containment was the method chosen by the industry as the best way to comply with 10CFR100.

Mike

[HydroDave63]

We take containments for granted as part of a nuclear plants contruction, but this was not always the case. Name a plant where the containment was not in the original design.

Beside Chicago Pile 1, and SL-1, or do you mean commercial power plants?

[Marlin]

Commercial (US of course)

[Marlin]

Another good question would be which Power Plant containments appear in movies. The answer to one of the sites in the first question is the the same as the one in the second (just different domes).

[SloGlo]

Another good question would be which Power Plant containments appear in movies. The answer to one of the sites in the first question is the the same as the one in the second (just different domes).

iffen ya gots a dome, ain't ya gots a containment? 

[ageoldtech]

The movie abyss was filmed inside the partially completed Cherokee nuclear station containment near Gaffney SC.   

[Marlin]

Hints seem to be in order so here goes...

1) Three unit site

2) Leslie Nielson

[jakester]

Palo Verde- 3 units. Leslie Nielsen? I don't remember anything relating to him. More clues perhaps??

[Marlin]

Driving Soulth on I-5 the suggestive outline of SONGS unit 2&3 come into view during a related conversation.

[jakester]

Oh yeah! Naked Gun. I had forgotten that scene!

[Marlin]

We take containments for granted as part of a nuclear plants contruction, but this was not always the case. Name a plant where the containment was not in the original design.

SONGS unit one and Naked gun.

[SloGlo]

asa sidebar note, although the containment shown was a sound stage, the control room in "china syndrome" was trojan npp.

[BuddyThePug]

SONGS unit one and Naked gun.

Your answer is incorrect. SONGS 1 was orginally built with the same famous white semi-spherical steel containment as D1G prototype, and several other reactors of the early 1960s.

There was, however, a commercial power nuclear reactor built with no pressure rated containment, west of the Rockies. Built before SONGS1. That's all the hint before Labor Day.

[Already Gone]

I'm just going to wild guess Humboldt Bay.

[Marlin]

Your answer is incorrect. SONGS 1 was orginally built with the same famous white semi-spherical steel containment as D1G prototype, and several other reactors of the early 1960s.

There was, however, a commercial power nuclear reactor built with no pressure rated containment, west of the Rockies. Built before SONGS1. That's all the hint before Labor Day.

Yes it was built with it but I think you will find that it was not in the original design.

[HydroDave63]

Yes it was built with it but I think you will find that it was not in the original design.

And where would we *find* that? It was built with one, and commercial plants built almost a decade earlier, like Shippingport, were designed and built with a containment. What causes you to think SONGS1 was originally designed with NO containment?

[Marlin]

And where would we *find* that? It was built with one, and commercial plants built almost a decade earlier, like Shippingport, were designed and built with a containment. What causes you to think SONGS1 was originally designed with NO containment?

   Sorry, probably a bad question, I got this in the early 80's while working there from a reliable source. I declined to post other trivia questions because I could not find current information I should have done the same here. I would have liked to pose questions or post info on the S1W prototype building/containment but there is no source I could find. 
  Shippingport may be a bad comparisson as it was done in conjunction with the Navy as the first commercial power plant, and we know how conservative the Navy is with thier safety systems. I am curious about the date that containments were first required by the AEC/NRC I couldn't find that one either.
   I promise to be more carefull with future posts.

[Already Gone]

Sorry trivia bufs but Shippingport was never a commercial power plant.  It did put power on the grid, but it did not have a license for commercial operation.  The first commercial power plant was Dresden 1, although Indian Point 1 claims this title also.
Dresden 1 is the one in the ball, as was Big Rock Point and some other old small units were.

[Marlin]

I've always heard Dresden is the first commercially owned and operated plant but Shippingport was the first commercial plant. Licenses are for regulation not commerce, they did sell the power.

[BuddyThePug]

The real answer is (at least one of the correct answers) the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, found at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory

Cool article !

[Marlin]

It looks like the term "first" may have to be qualified. The number of plants I worked at when on the road that claimed to be the best in the nation may be a good example.

Here is a link that says Russia produced the first power from a reactor for consumption but since they were communist was it commerce?

http://eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/superla.html

Here is link that says the first usable electricity was produced at Idaho's EBR-1 reactor but it just lit four light bulbs.

http://web.em.doe.gov/timeline/dec1951.html

In the sense that Santa Susana was privately owed I guess it was commercial. It sure leaves a lot of room for future trivia. 

[Rather Hunt Than Tech]

Shippingport did not have a containment in the way that you usually think of a containment.  The reactor and steam generators were in steal chambers underground.  Dresdin was the first commercial reactor fully funded by the utility.  I do consider Shippingport to be the first commercial Nuclear Power Plant.  At Shippingport the operating budget for the primary side was paid for by the Navy.  The three cores that were run there were experimental designs.  The first two being PWR's and the third a LWBR (Light Water Breeder Reactor).  It was built and run to the very conservative Navy standards.  The NRC had no sayso there.  The operating budget for the secondary side / turbine was paid for by Duquesne Light and operated by Duquesne Light employee's.  A Navy Officer was there to serve as a NRC resident inspector would serve at other plants.  I was there during the last months of commercial operation and until all the fuel had been shipped to the Naval Reactors Expended Core Facility in Idaho.

[Fermi2]

Of course the NRC had no say so there, there WAS no NRC at the time. It was the AEC and of course they had a say so there. Rickover was the AEC Representative there. All plants, including military ones were under the regulations of the AEC. If you get a chance read the hearings on military reactors and Shippingport that the Joint Committee Of Atomic Energy, the organization which oversaw the AEC and military reactor development, conducted. Watching Rickover just play these congressmen and senators is FASCINATING.

[Rather Hunt Than Tech]

In 1957 the NRC did not exist.  In Oct. 82 when the final shutdown at Shippingport occured the NRC did exist.  My point was that the NRC never had any oversight there.

[tr]

Just to clarify the SONGS 1 issue.  The containment was a steel ball containment.  Eventually, someone figured out that the steel ball didn't really provide a whole lot of shielding, so the post accident shine doses were very high.  Then then added the concrete shield building around the steel ball. 

Here is a pretty cool picture of the containment being erected.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/powering/images/64143.jpg

The following set of photos, taken during decommissioning, shows the shield building with the roof removed, and then with the shield building walls partially removed.  You can also see the covers over the holes in containment where the vessel and SGs were lifted out.

http://eyeball-series.org/san-onofre/san-onofre-npp.htm

Decommissioning has now gotten to the point where the entire turbine structure is gone, almost all of the shield building wall is gone, and the steel ball is removed to ground level (or below).

[Mike McFarlin]

Neat picture. Not much for shielding.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

I enjoyed this statement: "At the north, a third reactor appears to be under construction, with the reactor dome partly completed and a turbine structure perpendicular lacking a turbine." 

Great pictures!

[HydroDave63]

Center of the Rx vessel is exactly 1 mile from President Nixon's former Avenida del Presidente house. Unit 1's footprint will eventually be filled in with white sand to restore to "greenfield" status. On a clear day, we could see out north to Dana Point, south to Carlsbad, and all the sunbathers....