Book recommendations

Please tell us that the Russians re-designed their rectors and scrapped further imbecilic experiments like that from ever taking place again.

What happened in Japan? Did the back up generators fail becasue they were put in a low place not thinking about it ever getting flooded. Did they have meltdown becasue of lack of cooling?

 

There are still 8 RBMK-II reactors in operation across the former Soviet Union. They have had the fuel channels and control rod system re-designed.

Fukushima came down to almost 1 simple issue. The reactor was undamaged by the earthquake and reactors shutdown as designed. The following tsunami destroyed all of the electronics that controlled the continued cooling of the core and spent fuel. Worse yet, Fukushima Daichi was designed to have their cooling pumps and control electronics moved up the hill above what would have been the cresting height of the tidal wave, but for cost reasons, it was never done.

In short, just like using graphite tips on Russian control rods as opposed to platinum like in the west, COST trumped safety and led to a gargantuan disaster.

 

Would you say our nuke plants are the safest... or do we have some old dangerously designed nuke plants still in operation?

 

In a nutshell, yes, western reactors are designed (not necessarily operated) to be as safe as possible while using uranium fuel. That said, I still do not live within 50 miles of one of them.

 

What's the deal with Thorium nuke plants? Are they feasible?

 

Probably the point I remind everyone I am not an expert on nuclear power. I studied the effects of radiation on metal components. However, I worked around a whole bunch of really smart people while at Oak Ridge National Lab (thank you UF connections!!).

As I recall, we are unable to make pure Thorium as a fuel for reactors. It needs to convert to Uranium-233, and so most fuel sources would be mixed mode pure Thorium and U-233.

 

I started the audiobook of this on your recommendation. So far very interesting.

 

If it turns out that you find it compelling, Higginbotham's new book Challenger: The True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space is Amazon's 2024 Book of the Year so far.

 

Cross link to prior book recs thread, in case anyone else was wondering if this was the same or different:

Books recommended on GC | Swamp Gas Forums

fwiw.

 

Currently reading (just started) John Le Carre's last work, published posthumously in 2021:

Silverview




Silverview by John le Carré review – the last complete masterwork?

John le Carré’s Last Completed Spy Novel Crowns a Career Attuned to Moral Ambivalence (Published 2021)

Silverview

So far so good. It appears he still had 'it' when he check it.

I'll follow up with proper review when I finish (assuming I remember...lol!).

 

Just read the new Tom Clancy book, Act of Defiance. It’s kind of a generational sequel to one of my favorite books ever, The Hunt for Red October (30 years later). The new book was entertaining nostalgia.

 

Thank you, since that is one of the few threads that I’ve started.

For some reason, post number two has disappeared from that thread, or at least I can’t see it. Perhaps that person put me on ignore.

 

When Red October first came out, my wife was driving in the car and listened to a talkshow on the radio discussing the book. She immediately drove to a bookstore and bought me a copy.

One of my roommates from UF became a submarine captain. I asked him once how accurate was that book. He said some parts were very accurate and some were very far off. He would not, however, tell me which was which.

 

Lol! That would be Tampon gator. Take it as a compliment. He ignores ANY AND EVERYONE who fails to sing in perfect snowglobe harmony.

Re the first paragraph--perhaps a merger is in order...

 

I don’t know how to merge things. Is that something mods do?

 

Interesting post phat.
I dialed in on this: In the last part of the book, Alberta talked about Christian leaders who are moving away from politics and especially from supporting Trump. Hopefully they will get back to the primary mission of the church, and that is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I can only comment with my personal opinion but Evangelical Christians have crossed over to secular politics and in an extreme way. Where do you think the money and the votes are coming from? Not just billionaires and racists. No, the lions share of Trumpers and the money supporting him come from the religous community.
Especially the Catholics and Evangelicals. The hypocrisy of it all blows my mind. I used to debate conservatives all the time and their self rightous "The constitution this and the constitution that, now where are those people?, ain't none of em in sight, as we hear the - RIP- of the constitution in maga hands as they throw the original in the fire. SMDH

 

I finished In my time of dying. Indeed it is stunningly well written, and I think it’s also fascinating. I didn’t know any of that stuff about Junger’s family. And I think it’s as good of a treatment of the topic of an afterlife as you can get. One more book of his that I would recommend highly.