The2011 meltdownof the Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant , trigger by an earthquake and tsunami , has create anongoing environmental and public wellness crisis . atomic experts say that the greatest radiation - releasing hurt to the industrial plant may have been because of the explosion of built - up hydrogen as the plant overheated . Now , MIT researchers have developeda new finish for nuclear fuel rodsthey say prevents precisely that explosive situation .
https://gizmodo.com/its-official-the-fukushima-disaster-was-totally-avoida-5951343
atomic power plant use rods filled with uranium to heat water supply , make steam that drive electric generator . Without enough water to draw rut from the rods , the nuclear reactor overheats , leading to a nuclear meltdown . And it turns out , as those rods are overheating , their zirconium metal coating reacts with hot steam to create explosive cloud of H that , once ignite , can induce massive radiation release .
That ’s why researchers at MIT are look into silicon carbide ( SiC ) , a ceramic - case coating , as a successor for Zr alloy as a coating for nuclear rods . Intwopaperspublished in the diary Nuclear Technology , the MIT researcher explain that SiC show 100 to 1,000 times less corroding at meltdown temperatures , with none of the exit of strength that zirconium alloy exhibits . And under normal operating conditions , SiC cladding is more durable than zirconium alloy , which could mean long service of process life for fuel pole and less nuclear wasteland to dispose .
Unfortunately , SiC is still a long way from implementation . While zirconium alloy thermionic vacuum tube can be closed off by welding the ends , researchers do n’t yet have a way of life to bond end caps onto SiC tubes , and the way the ceramic material fractures under stress is still being studied . But with theafter - gist of Fukushima becoming increasingly patent , it ’s dependable to say that researchers have a passel of impulse to solve these technical limitation . [ MIT ]
icon via AP
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