ril's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sequential Loss of Flow Sequential Loss of Flow Nuclear power plants are amazingly robust. Contrary to what the anti�s would have the public believe, it is exceptionally difficult to cause significant, lasting damage to a nuclear power plant such that it actually has the potential to harm anyone off site. The reality is that the laws of physics are such that the process wants to shut itself down safely. I won�t bore you with the details here but this is largely why, even though nuclear power has been around for more than 60 years, and there are numerous reference sources that clearly explain the principles of making bombs, only a handful of countries have actually been able to do so. You can make a mess easily enough� but making a bang is damn hard work because Mother Nature fights you at every turn. The anti�s have it backwards� a major failure (even multiple simultaneous failures) isn�t likely to cause harm to anyone (though the plant itself will be so much toast)� besides the physics, there are redundant, diverse safety systems designed to help Nature safely shut down the plant� Nope� What we who do this sort of thing for a living worry about the most is not a large-scale failure� it�s the prolonged series of relatively small malfunctions, over an extended period of time, and without the opportunity for repair, that give us the most grief. *** sidebar *** However, the probability of such a sequence of events is so small (because it takes quite a few of them, without any human intervention), that there is probably a greater chance that the moon would run into the Earth first� but that�s not the point� *** end sidebar*** My point is that I�ve decided that humans are a lot like this too. Most of us can (and do) pick ourselves back up when we�ve been knocked down by life�s catastrophic blows� so long as we were standing reasonably close to upright when the blow hits, we seem to have an amazing ability to withstand the worst disasters imaginable� it�s the continual beating over a long period of time that destroys us� removes our will to fight� and can sometimes make us want to quit getting back up� What is it that makes us feel that way? What part of our self gets so badly damaged from those sorts of relatively small injuries that it can threaten our very soul� I was watching some show on television about prisoners of war. One consistent point made by virtually every one of the survivors was that they felt like they had to make it out alive because they had some task they felt like they still needed to accomplish in their lives� I wonder what my task is� At this point I am still holding onto the belief (hope ?) that I have something left to do in my life� though I have to tell you that, at this very moment, I can�t tell you what it is� - 2003-05-31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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