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Chernobyl increase in neutron activity 1

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"but somehow, the opposite has happened."

Gotta love that one.

This story is even worse ...

$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$?


Is that 667 yet?

Wow, multiple $ signs do strange things.

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I work with people that were involved in the original clean up.

Some of them received quiet remarkable doses. And by the sounds of it the doses they know about are actually an under estimate. They have been to plenty of funerals over the years.

I can remember going to the student float thing in Aberdeen the night the fallout came over to Scotland. Both me and my sister had new jackets the next day because we were covered in particles. And we were also banned from drinking milk. Looking back and as not everyone's father was a Radiation Protection Adviser with the kit in the house to test for particles. Pretty much half of Aberdeen must have had contaminated clothing.

These days I fly over Chernobyl at least monthly if not weekly. And at night the full extent of the contaminated zone is visible due lack of lights. It really is quite large. Everyone forgets about the Belarus and Russia has sizable lumps contaminated as well. The actual site is very easy to spot its the only light in a colossal dark area.
 
you have to love the media.

independant newspaper. said:
It is not immediately obvious why the recent reactions have taken place but one possibility is that a costly new shelter placed over the chamber five years ago could be to blame.

The original concrete and steel structure – hastily erected in the fallout of a calamity the Soviet Union tried in vain to hush up – was known to leak and it is possible that the rainwater allowed in through gaps in the canopy actually helped to cool the chamber and suppress fission reactions.

Without sufficient water in the chamber, there may be nothing to slow down the ricocheting neutrons, which are emitted by decaying uranium or plutonium fuel, meaning the fission reactions could intensify.

The situation has been likened by Neil Hyatt of the University of Sheffield, an expert in nuclear waste disposal, to “embers in a barbecue pit”.

“It’s a reminder to us that it’s not a problem solved, it’s a problem stabilised,” he said, moving to downplay the severity of the problem as it stands but warning against any escalation.

“We’re talking about very low rates of fission, so it’s not like a fizzing nuclear reactor,” he said.

And there was me thinking water acted as a moderator and if you flooded it with water you would get it to fizz.
 
I'm no expert, but I think water is a moderator, but only when the water is in a fixed volume and contained around the radioactive substance. Water otherwise just acts as always, as the best solute and transport mechanism for anything you happen to spill on the ground.

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I take no responsibility for any damages or injuries of any kind that may result.
 
yes water is a moderator. Graphite is also a moderator.

Most of the graphite burned off. And this tuff got to the place it is by melting and turning into a lava type flow so flowed away form the graphite that wasn't consumed.

If you don't moderate it then you just have fast neutrons which although can cause a reaction are not very efficient at establishing a chain reaction.

They keeping the water from leaking in to stop things firing up was one of the reasons for the new cover.

 
Water is also a neutron absorber. It all depends on the configuration of fuel, moderator, and absorber. Assuming there is FCM, Corium, or whatever you call the melted fuel in the space they refer, then, like AH, I would assume there is no graphite. If so, then loss of water in the space might have either effect but would more likely reduce reactivity. Apparently, nobody knows what the space looks like though or what's really in there.

Brad Waybright

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
 
I think we can say rain water is light water.

Its only really the H which is involved and it having a change would effect the gamma as well.

You needs loads of water to have any meaning full absorption which would then have a gamma signature.....

This is going back 20 years so could be nonsense....

 
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