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-   -   Nuclear reactions are smoldering again at Chernobyl (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=250534)

mapuc 09-20-21 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird (Post 2769558)
Sounds as if this christmas a cooking book is on order...!?

:har::har:

Markus

Ostfriese 09-20-21 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3catcircus (Post 2769295)
Likely not. Any fission would likely be short-lived, resulting in the critical mass/geometry melting or shifting, becoming subcritical again.

You need to remember that the core has flowed all over the basement as molten corium, so any portions that could fission again are much further away from having enough mass in the right geometry.

I doubt that there's any chance to achieve critical mass due to shifts/melting and a self-sustained chain reaction as a consequence of this. It would require quite pure amounts of fissible material melting/shifting together, and after 35 years of decaying there shouldn't be much material that can be considered "pure" left - and that's before considering that the corium is a wild mixture of fuel rods, remains of the control rods, concrete, steel, zirconium, sand and soil, among other things.


The article mentions "irradiated uranium", which is pretty strange and suggests that the writer doesn't know enough about the topic. Uranium is always radioactive, it doesn't have any stable isotopes, and it cannot be irradiated.



There could be a variety of reasons for the increased neutron count, starting with recently opened leaks/cracks, which would allow water or steam to pass through and carry radioactive material into the range of the sensors.

mapuc 09-20-21 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ostfriese (Post 2769566)

The article mentions "irradiated uranium", which is pretty strange and suggests that the writer doesn't know enough about the topic. Uranium is always radioactive, it doesn't have any stable isotopes, and it cannot be irradiated.

I do not have much knowledge about Uranium and nuclear power. It was through a Danish article I found the English version and I just copied the title of this article.
We have been discussing Chernobyl before, which was the reason behind my idea of posting it here.

Markus


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