The Demon Hot Atom -- Last Resort

Last Resort: Maybe, hopefully, possibly, woulda-shoulda-coulda, better luck next time, sorry, sucker!

The main backup system for a nuclear power plant is called the Emergency Core Cooling System, or ECCS. As a final backup system, the ECCS has several areas of concern.

One concern is that no ECCS for a U.S. reactor has ever been thoroughly tested, or tested at full size (they test models, or computer models instead), or "put to the test" in a real life-or-death situation.

Another area of concern is that a number of whistleblowers have testified to Congress that various ECCSs are inadequate.

Another is that accidents such as what nearly happened at Davis Besse could render the ECCS useless just when it's needed most.

Yet another area of concern, assuming the design of the ECCS is adequate, is this: What if it doesn't work as designed? At Monticello Nuclear Power Plant, for example, 32 "shipping bolts" (used to secure parts during transport from the manufacturer to the plant) were left on eight "bellows", rendering the primary containment vessel (a critical component of the ECCS) unavailable! This problem passed startup inspections, as well as relicensing inspections after 20 years, and 10 more years after that! (It's fixed now.)

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Below are schematics for the two types of commercial nuclear power plants in America -- Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs).

The above image is from: The Menace of Atomic Energy, by Ralph Nader and John Abbots, page 102, W. W. Norton, NY, 1977 (colorization by this author).

The above image is from: The Silent Bomb: A Guide to the Nuclear Energy Controversy, Edited by Peter Faulkner, page 293,Vintage Books, NY, July, 1977 (colorization by this author).

The above image is from: The Silent Bomb: A Guide to the Nuclear Energy Controversy, Edited by Peter Faulkner, page 87,Vintage Books, NY, July, 1977 (colorization by this author).

The above image is from: The Silent Bomb: A Guide to the Nuclear Energy Controversy, Edited by Peter Faulkner, page 294,Vintage Books, NY, July, 1977 (colorization by this author).

The above image is from: The Silent Bomb: A Guide to the Nuclear Energy Controversy, Edited by Peter Faulkner, page 295,Vintage Books, NY, July, 1977 (colorization by this author).