It’s complete nonsense. Maybe in that universe nuclear physics works different, but it’s still nonsense.
If a reactor was going to experience a meltdown event it would happen fairly soon after operators lost control. The cooling system and fail safes will need to fail and the fuel experiences a runaway nuclear reaction and gets so hot it melts. It will get hot enough to melt almost anything underneath. Chernobyl is a good example of what would happen. The stuff got everywhere, mixed with all sorts of material and solidified after not too long. 30 years after the accident the stuff is still extremely radioactive but it’s stuck in place.
Left by themselves there is nothing particular dangerous about nuclear fuel. Left inside an normally running active reactor the fuel will get used up fairly quickly. Fuel needs a neutron source to undergo a reaction and those aren’t something that will naturally occur to cause a problem.
Spent fuel wont do much by itself. It is dangerous though because it is radioactive not because it can be used in nuclear reactions. You need an explosion to spread around the nasties from the rod to have them pose a significant risk (aka a dirty bomb)
A nuclear meltdown on it’s own wont cause an explosion. A secondary effect from the loss of control of the reactor though can cause an explosion, such as a steam explosion in the case of Chernobyl or a hydrogen explosion at Fukushima.
It would be quite the coincidence for multiple reactors to experience some sort of explosion after 100 years of being left alone. All the fuel would be spent and cold. There would be no active processes that would cause an explosion.
@thejennawynn you should know this stuff right? I don’t think i have gotten anything terrible wrong here. Have i?
What’s the premise? I’d have to know what they’re talking about. Most of the stuff you said is pretty accurate, except that assuming they’re using US tech, Chernobyl’s not a good example. That one was built in a much different way than the ones in the US are. It’s really fucking hard to get a post-Three Mile Island US made nuclear reactor to have a meltdown. There are ridiculous amounts of fail-safes and stupidity checks.
Reading between the lines here, it sounds like there’s an explosion/meltdown of a core that’s been unused for 100 years? No. Highly HIGHLY unlikely. Old bombs that hadn’t exploded somehow triggered? Maybe. Old reactors? No. The whole point of nuclear reactors is that they don’t explode. If this is season 4, I am even more adamant about not watching because nuclear power fear-mongering and shouting that “the core is critical” while running away are two things I absolutely cannot stand. If anyone wants to let me in on what the actual premise of the plot is, I can be a little more specific.
A.L.I.E.: “If you pull that… you will be killing everyone. See for yourself. The nuclear power plants that were destroyed by the bombs have begun to melt down. My drones detected the first of them four months ago. There are more than a dozen at-risk plants around the world, seven currently burning. Global radiation levels are already rising. By my calculations, in less than six months, ninety-six percent of the Earth’s surface will be uninhabitable… even for those born in space, so, you see, the City of Light is the only thing that can save you.”
Like, what?
Ok, wait what? They say that their blanket nuclear war didn’t make the earth uninhabitable but a dozen nuclear power plants DESIGNED TO PREVENT MELTDOWN AND CONTAIN MELTDOWN IF IT DOES HAPPEN will somehow kill 96% of the Earth? What?
Ok… so they say the plants destroyed by bombs. Sure. Ok, Jan. Never mind that most of these plants have been built specifically to withstand bombs and even terror-planes. Sure. We’ll pretend that these nuclear weapons (which generally explode above the ground to maximize nuclear material dispersion (to irradiate as much as possible) were actually bunker busters (designed to burrow deep through concrete barriers THEN explode to kill the people/equipment hiding inside. If you’re capable of busting into the buildings and containment to get to the reactor itself (which is pretty fucking impressive considering how small a reactor is compared to the facility it’s stored in) then you’d also disperse the actual reactor.
Reactors work on something called critical mass. That means the shape and size of the reactor required for it to sustain a reaction. Reactors are very intricately designed with reflectors and fuel dispersion and everything else just to make sure that there is enough fuel to sustain a reaction so it will make power. If you blow up the reactor, the fuel gets scattered and is no longer in a tight enough “ball” to go critical. The end. If the containment facility is still intact? Meltdown is averted or contained. The end.
Global radiation levels (that were spiked because of GLOBAL BLANKETING OF WEAPONS DESIGNED TO SPREAD RADIATION) are rising because of a few plants in supposed meltdown? No. Maybe local radiation levels, but considering the fact that animals were mutated and Mt. Weather folks couldn’t go outside, I’d say those reactors melting down is no worse than the background radiation from the bombs that only exploded 100 years ago.
Somehow these plants were destroyed 100 years ago, the radiation was detected four months ago, there are only a dozen in meltdown, only seven “burning” whatever the fuck that means (Chernobyl burned, but they used a different and highly unstable design that nobody uses), and somehow in six months it’s all going to be death? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I’m thinking ALIE is just trying to scare them all because there’s no way this makes sense.
This is great, this is going on the list.
I had a student who called the science in this show shit and it makes me wonder if they have ANY scientific advisors at all. If you’re going to do science fiction, best know some science, eh?
“Don’t worry. My spirit will choose much more wisely than that.” [ 2×10 // 3×16 ]
I think Clarke’s nod in the last gif is the most honest (and humble) acknowledgement of Lexa’s caring, devotion and conviction of Clarke as a leader, and the love that bound them.
The Doctor Is Out 