A page of energy issues
Preamble
A work in progress. Some significant dates. Many more to be added.
The timeline
1954. The RBMK design is announced. Western nuclear engineers criticise it as irresponsibly unsafe.
1957. The first two PWR power stations go critical, SM-1 and Shippingport.
1958. The first BWR, SL-1, goes critical. The BWR, with no heat exchangers, is seen as particularly suitable for military installations.
1961. SL-1 blows up and kills three people in circumstances still not fully explained, the only fatalities yet at a US power reactor. No containment, it’s difficult to have effective containment without heat exchangers, but it’s in a remote area.
1979. Three Mile Island #2, a PWR, suffers a core meltdown. Nobody is hurt and the melt does not escape the pressure vessel, let alone the containment. Strong and partially successful moves to close down the whole nuclear industry. No mention by these campaigners that some nukes might be even worse.
1986. Chernobyl #4 explodes. It’s an RBMK and as with a BWR there is no heat exchanger, but there are far worse problems with the design than that, as was said back in 1954. Containment is incomplete and ineffective. Many people killed onsite and major release of radioactive material.
2011. Fukushima Daiichi suffers explosions in three of its four BWRs. Containment is ineffective.
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