The China Syndrome (1979)

While visiting the Ventana nuclear power plant, television news reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) witnesses the plant going through an emergency shutdown (SCRAM). Shift Supervisor Godell (Jack Lemmon) notices an unusual vibration; then he finds that a gauge is misreading and that the coolant is dangerously low. The crew manages to bring the reactor under control.
Wells's maverick cameraman (Michael Douglas) surreptitiously films the incident, despite being requested to turn his camera off for security purposes.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• countdown

[olrikisback]

@jerico641

Vitrification is basically a process where the wastes are transformed into glass. To be more precise, fission products and minor actinides atoms are confined within a glass matrix (they are not surrounded by glass, they are part of the glass structure). This process is very technical (a lot of research has been developed to achieve it), but vitrified wastes are very stable. They resist very well to alteration or self irradiation.

[jerico641]

@olrikisback

I see; what does "vitrified" mean exactly?

[olrikisback]

@jerico641

There are ways of disposing of nuclear wastes. You can look at the processes used in countries with a closed fuel cycle, such as France. Nuclear wastes are recycled : the remaining uranium and plutonium are used again in the power plants, the metal part are compressed and put in special containers, and the fission product and minor actinides (the most radioactive wastes) are vitrified.

[jerico641]

@JonatanGronoset

I realize that, but I can't see how we can divorce the waste products from the technology itself. I've read that some companies actually excavate shallow ditches, then line them and fill them with water, then place the hot fuel rods in there. If the water evaporates for any reason, the rods will expel dangerous contaminants to the immediate area and beyond. That seems remarkably dangerous, not to mention toxic to the water table.

[JonatanGronoset]

@jerico641 I didn't say nuclear waste was safe, I said the technology is safe, as long as humans don't tamper with it. Difference.

[jerico641]

@JonatanGronoset

Well, I wouldn't want radioactive waste in my backyard either; it seems to me that if nuclear power were truly safe, where we put the waste wouldn't matter. And if it's not safe, maybe we should reconsider nuclear power until we can find an answer to this.

[JonatanGronoset]

@jerico641 Not In My Back Yard, the biggest opposers of anything.

[jerico641]

@JonatanGronoset

What, pray tell, is a NIMBY (I assume that's an acronym)?

[JonatanGronoset]

@jerico641 We shove it up the NIMBYs asses, it'll be safe there. :D

[jerico641]

@JonatanGronoset

What about the toxic waste that's generated by a nuclear power plant (spent fuel rods, etc.)? To my knowledge, there is no safe way to dispose of it.