Pluthermal?

[just Warren]

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20091105p2a00m0na014000c.html

Japan's first 'pluthermal' reactor fired up in Saga


GENKAI, Saga -- Japan's first "pluthermal" plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel reactor began operating at the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Saga Prefecture on Thursday.

The 1.18 million kilowatt No. 3 reactor at the plant operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co. will start generating electricity on Nov. 9. The reactor is expected to reach criticality, sustaining a nuclear reaction, as early as Thursday evening. Commercial operation will begin on Dec. 2, following a trial run.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. officials said the removal of rods that are used to control fission began at 11 a.m. After the reactor starts producing electricity, its output will be stepped up in stages, and the state of the equipment will be examined.

Genkai Nuclear Power Plant was shut down for inspections on Aug. 30, and the loading of MOX fuel was carried out between Oct. 15 and 18.

"Pluthermal" generation, a term derived from the words "plutonium" and "thermal," involves burning MOX fuel in light-water reactors. Of the 193 fuel assemblies in the Genkai reactor, 16 use MOX fuel.

A Cabinet meeting in 1997 consented that there was a need to quickly start operating pluthermal reactors. However, irregularities were found in inspection data for MOX fuel used in Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama Nuclear Power Plant. It was later discovered that Tokyo Electric Power Co. had concealed nuclear power plant trouble. As a result, Kyushu Electric Power Co. became the first power company in Japan to start operating a pluthermal reactor.




Well, its just a matter of time before some giant angry creature devastates the Japanese countryside due to insatiable hunger.


In other news, Rosie O'Donnell is said to be considering a return visit to the Land of the Rising Sun.

[jackdanson]

Well, its just a matter of time before some giant angry creature devastates the Japanese countryside due to insatiable hunger.


In other news, Rosie O'Donnell is said to be considering a return visit to the Land of the Rising Sun.

That's an unfair comparison, what did Godzilla ever do to you?

[AJ Dual]

Almost dissapointing.

I kind of liked the Plutonium stockpiles Japan was sitting on for "peaceful purposes". It was a part of the defense picture in the region against China and North Korea.

Now they actually are using it for "peaceful purposes" it seems.

The implication always was that everyone assumed the Japanese could very quickly produce an atomic arsenal if the world situation forced their hand to go outside their consitutional bounds, or simply amend them, on military force and doctrine.

[Gewehr98]

Depends on the flavor of Plutonium, AJ.  Pu-238, 239, 240, 241, 242?

Enriched to Reactor Grade, Fuel Grade, or given the extra boost to Weapons Grade? 

Mixed Oxide reactors throw all sorts of extra variables into the equation, too.

[AJ Dual]

Very true. However the thought that Japan would just stop a plasma TV production line for a lunch break and switch over to making licensed copies of the W88 for an afternoon was kind of a quid-pro-quo in the geopolitical landscape over there. 

[CNYCacher]

The 1.18 million kilowatt No. 3 reactor . . .

1.18 gigawatts?

[RoadKingLarry]

In other news, Rosie O'Donnell is said to be considering a return visit to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Broadzilla?
The Creeping Terror?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

"Pluthermal" generation, a term derived from the words "plutonium" and "thermal," involves burning MOX fuel in light-water reactors. Of the 193 fuel assemblies in the Genkai reactor, 16 use MOX fuel.

Do they literally burn the nuclear fuel?  As in combustion?  Or is "burn" just a euphemism for the usual fission reaction?

[AJ Dual]

Do they literally burn the nuclear fuel?  As in combustion?  Or is "burn" just a euphemism for the usual fission reaction?

Yep, just a euphemism for fission.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Well that's disappointing.

[AJ Dual]

Cheyrnobyl was the "burning design" reactor. Fantastic output.. for a little while at least. 

[Gewehr98]

All sorts of output, and it's still going - all over the Ukrainian countryside.

We picked up Chernobyl's plume off the West Coast within a few hours. 

The fire was so hot the radioactive plume hit the jet stream and wrapped the globe. 

We were damned busy sampling, tracking, and advising commercial air traffic to divert around the plume.   

[RocketMan]

On a somewhat related note, the Obama administration has decided to completely close the Yucca Mountain waste storage facility in Nevada.   That pretty much tanks any minor chance there may have been for the the nuclear industry to recover in this country.

Story here at Fox News.

[Gewehr98]

Yeah, that sucks bigtime, and really puts a nail in the nuclear energy option's coffin. 

Not good.  The environmental extremists want us off petroleum and coal, and look what happened at Yucca Mountain...

[RaspberrySurprise]

Maybe they can use it to store all the nasty by products from making all the solar panels we'll need. But then again most hippies don't acknowledge that those exist anyways.

[Scout26]

All sorts of output, and it's still going - all over the Ukrainian countryside.

We picked up Chernobyl's plume off the West Coast within a few hours. 

The fire was so hot the radioactive plume hit the jet stream and wrapped the globe. 

We were damned busy sampling, tracking, and advising commercial air traffic to divert around the plume.   

I was Baumholder, Germany when that happened.  We went to a "heightened alert status" because the radiation detectors in Swedish, German, and French Nuke plants were going off, and no one knew what was happening....  No meat or fresh milk at the commissary for the next 2 months.

[Perd Hapley]

I have nothing useful to add.  Just looking for an excuse to insert a joke about the pluperfect tense.  Let me know if you spot one.