pretty amazing but eerie at the same time

It immediately made me wonder how they actually started a nuclear reactor:

https://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2020/08/12/solving-the-wonderful-mystery-of-a-nuclear-start-up

I “think” those are two different reactors. The first is the TRIGA reactor being used in pulse mode. The second might be a more conventional type.

A video where you might actually learn something from the comments too!

Including “The colours from the reactors are similar to Godzilla’s atomic breath.”

Including “The colours from the reactors are similar to Godzilla’s atomic breath.”

Who knew text books hiding in plane site as comics!

It immediately made me wonder how they actually started a nuclear reactor:

Interesting read – I just assumed if you had enough enriched Uranium in one space it would kick off on it’s own.

Including “The colours from the reactors are similar to Godzilla’s atomic breath.”

must have been reading “The Kaiju Preservation Society”

I just assumed if you had enough enriched Uranium in one space it would kick off on it’s own

It will. There have been a number of unplanned criticality accidents.

Once the reactor is running, there are neutrons from the original fuel, plus neutrons from the atoms that have been created during operation. If you start up the reactor using just the fuel, once the second generation kicks in there will be more than required. The control rods may mop them up, but that’s using up the safety margin – better to kick it off with a neutron source and pull it out once it’s running.

The link above that mentions needing to have enough fuel to sustain a reaction reminds me of a website that I found long ago that gave instructions on how to make a nuclear bomb. It was very tongue-in-cheek and discussed the need to separate the nuclear fuel using a centrifuge fashioned out of a bucket on the end of a rope, and then storing the collected fuel in separate corners of the room “to avoid a critical mass”!
Not sure if that webpage is still out there somewhere but I suspect it’s been taken down by someone with a sense of humour deficit. 😑

It will. There have been a number of unplanned criticality accidents.

The one I recall reading about was at Los Alamos where a lecturer let two halves seperated by a knife come together by accident. IIRC everyone in the room got a fatal dose.

yes, the demon core: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin

Flippin-eck! From the Demon Core wiki page (linked from the Slotin page)

The experimenter needed to maintain a slight separation between the reflector halves in order to stay below criticality. The standard protocol was to use shims between the halves, as allowing them to close completely could result in the instantaneous formation of a critical mass and a lethal power excursion.

Under Slotin’s own unapproved protocol, the shims were not used and the only thing preventing the closure was the blade of a standard flat-tipped screwdriver manipulated in Slotin’s other hand. Slotin, who was given to bravado, became the local expert, performing the test on almost a dozen occasions, often in his trademark blue jeans and cowboy boots, in front of a roomful of observers. Enrico Fermi reportedly told Slotin and others they would be “dead within a year” if they continued performing the test in that manner.[12] Scientists referred to this flirting with the possibility of a nuclear chain reaction as “tickling the dragon’s tail”, based on a remark by physicist Richard Feynman, who compared the experiments to “tickling the tail of a sleeping dragon”.[13][14]

On the day of the accident, Slotin’s screwdriver slipped outward a fraction of an inch while he was lowering the top reflector, allowing the reflector to fall into place around the core. Instantly, there was a flash of blue light and a wave of heat across Slotin’s skin; the core had become supercritical, releasing an intense burst of neutron radiation estimated to have lasted about a half second.[6] Slotin quickly twisted his wrist, flipping the top shell to the floor. The heating of the core and shells stopped the criticality within seconds of its initiation,[15] while Slotin’s reaction prevented a recurrence and ended the accident. The position of Slotin’s body over the apparatus also shielded the others from much of the neutron radiation, but he received a lethal dose of 1,000 rad (10 Gy) neutron and 114 rad (1.14 Gy) gamma radiation in under a second and died nine days later from acute radiation poisoning.

sounds like the opening scenes of half life

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(video_game)

So those noises in the video are most likely machinery for running the reactor. I’ve never worked with PWR’s but the “bubble” is indicative of a pump starting (pretty important for keeping it cool). The whirring noises are probably the control rod motors. Or not, if they’re research reactors then they’re beyond my knowledge. Pretty cool to see it flash up though.

If you want an in depth explanation of how a PWR works then How to Drive a Nuclear Reactor by Colin Tucker is probably worth a look.

Worth noting that it is a research reactor and not a commercial one. You won’t see or hear anything like that with a conventional commercial reactor.

Having peeked into an operating nuclear reactor (small research type) I can tell you that it is completely silent. The noises in the video must be from ancillary equipment used to support the reactor. The blue effect from the Cherenkov radiation is very much real though. And yes, I did cup my b0llocks to give them a bit more shielding.

If you want an in depth explanation of how a PWR works then How to Drive a Nuclear Reactor by Colin Tucker is probably worth a look.

Mirror, signal, critical mass…

apologies didn’t know they were silent.

still awe inspiring and terrifying in equal measure to watch.

That demon core has claimed a few victims I believe.

What you can see in the last scene is the effects of the gamma rays on the camera. Those little pin pricks of static are the gamma radiation affecting the imaging sensor. That stuff fries ordinary cameras (and other electronics) very quickly, there is a whole industry around designing rad hardened / tolerant equipment.

Yep, the sound made me think of the start of Half-Life too! 😀

The one I recall reading about was at Los Alamos

SL-1 accident

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1

The early cores / reactors very much highlighted just how useless people are at being safe and how much we need automated kit to do the repetitive work that makes sure various stuff is in the right state.

Blowing up a reactor (power excursion) for S & G: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIhafVX_6I

“Natures Own” reactor (sort of) in Oklo, Gabon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

Blue sky thinking
https://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia/nuclear-disaster-kyshtym-1957-and-politics-cold-war

Record breaking

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-contaminated-lake-(radioactivity)

A freak accident

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/freak-radioactive-refueling-accident-killed-russian-submarine-92821

Or just a matter of time?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200901-the-radioactive-risk-of-sunken-nuclear-soviet-submarines

I think I should have known it’d emit light, but somehow it still surprised me

(also, I love the sheer weirdness of the Mayak/Kyshtym disaster coverup- not the soviet one, that’s perfectly rational for them, but the american one. The CIA suppressed information about the disaster and later even worked to undermine the soviet reports of it once it went public, because they were worried about the effect it could have on the US nuclear industry. Which of course left the US nuclear program to carry on in its own carefree way then learn its own hard lessons)

I thought this was a new business opportunity looking for first round funding…

Puts cheque book back in the draw.