Customer Reviews

We Almost Lost Detroit

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fuller deals very well with the complexities and the failures of the US's first commercial liqiud metal fast breeder reactor. In particular, he is very careful to contrast this advanced but inherently more dangerous design with the common light water reactors nearly everywhere else in the US and abroad. This book IS dated - post 3 Mile Island many reactors in the US had their entire controls systems updated to avoid operator errors and inefficiencies - but the failure of design and operation processes that occured (such as non-documented design changes that didn't make the "final" plans and eventually resulted in the accident!) are still with us today. A good book, and fairly even in treatment, despite a highly cautionary tone.

By the way, Nuclear Plants can explode. Certainly not in a mushroom cloud . . . but when the fuel rods are extremely hot and they come into contact with the cooling liquid they are bathed in (usually water) a violent steam explosion occurs. As the book explained, this is probably what happened at the Idaho Falls facility when a steam explosion propelled a graphite rod out of the reactor and impaled a technician through the chest pinning him to the ceiling of the containment vessel overhead.

Neither did he nuclear fuel at Chernobyl explode, yet there were 56 direct deaths and an estimated 4,600 will die from cancer related deaths. A steam explosion there lifted the 2,000 ton lid off of the reactor.

As far as I can make out, one of the major problems with the Fermi 1 plant and Nuclear Energy in general is the huge ego's Nuclear Physicists and engineers have. They think they can take a monster as dangerous as a nuclear reaction and keep it perfectly safe. Throw politics into the stew and their is a recipe for disaster in EVERY nuclear plant every where in the world.

This book clearly illustrates the bone head decision to use molten sodium as the coolant in Fermi 1 and the inherent difficulties it presents. Anyone who has taken high school chemistry knows that elemental sodium is extremely unstable and can only be stored under special conditions. A quote from Wikipedia, "Extreme care is required in handling elemental/metallic sodium. Sodium is potentially explosive in water (depending on quantity) and is a corrosive substance, since it is rapidly converted to sodium hydroxide on contact with moisture. The powdered form may combust spontaneously in air or oxygen. Sodium must be stored either in an inert (oxygen and moisture free) atmosphere (such as nitrogen or argon), or under a liquid hydrocarbon such as mineral oil or kerosene." It is also extremely corrosive. I suppose that is why they decided to use zirconium to protect the container vessel.

The second bone-head decision as explained by this book was the independent decision made my the lead engineer without consulting or telling anyone. He had zirconium plates installed at the bottom of the containment tank. This was an after thought and was not documented in the engineering plans. One came loose from it's fastenings and blocked the circulation of the sodium coolant thus raising the temperature of several of the fuel rod sub-assemblies. Subsequently, it was determined that the reactor had undergone a partial meltdown.

The book describes the difficulties presented by the monumental miscalculation to use molten sodium in the container.This made examination of the interior of the container extremely difficult, and the improvisation of specialized tools were required. It took EIGHT months to drill a hole in the container wall, devise procedures to insert the improvised camera and take pictures of the inside of the vessel. Finally, they were astonished to find a undocumented zirconium plate blocking the cooling system.

Repairs were made and in May 1970, this reactor was again "ready for operation." However, a sodium explosion occurred delaying the start. Astonishingly, the decision was made to make repairs and once again attempt to start up. In October 1970 it finally reached a level of 200 megawatts. Operating at this extremely reduced rate, Fermi 1 was online for less than 2 years when someone with a brain denied renewal of its operating license.

Oops, I have to revise my number one greatest bone-head decision in this ludicrous technological monster . . . building Fermi 1 near a major city. Duh, hello. Anybody home?

Of major interest to me was the documentation this book provided regarding the extent that the government conspired with the nuclear industry in lying to the public about the safety of nuclear power. Several nuclear accidents are cited, the one at Idaho Falls resulting in 3 deaths and one in England. Americans were feed garbage about "nuclear energy being the safest energy there is" even while the industry knew of the extreme hazards of such a power source. They just thought they could make it work safe . . . a great way to make such an important decision, wouldn't you agree.

I did not detect any of the sensationalism or bias in this book that others mention. I found it recounted in cool and editorial style the events which occurred.

My feelings are expressed exactly in the words of Dr.Ian Malcolm in "Jurassic Park" when he said, "God help us. We are in the hands of engineers."

Granted the book is a bit sensational - then again I lived in Detroit at that time and you can bet I would have been hyper-ventilating had I known the China Syndrome was potentiating less than 60 miles away.

Here's the key point: if this was such an itty-bitty bang why was it NEVER mentioned until this book was published?

Rancho Seco, Celilo Village, the Hanford site, 3-mile Island, the USS Thresher -- all nuclear events that blew up in the press for days or weeks - yet NEVER CALLED FORTH A SINGLE MENTION OF FERMI #1.

Sounds like a cover-up to me - and the casual mention that 'a little bit of the core melted' is no small matter - if a little melts, a lot is not far behind and Bang! There goes Detroit!

Worth a read? Yeah. Worth paying attention to the neighborhood, too.

* I was one of the "brilliant Engineers from Detroit Edison" that designed the Fermi 1 Fast Breeder Power Reactor. I was a young Mechanical Engineer designing the core of the reactor in 1958 & 1959. I was working towards my Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Michigan. I grew up in Detroit.
* The Nuclear Physicist who rated this book 1* and said "this book is GARBAGE" and "nuclear reactors can not explode" and "Detroit was never in any danger" is DEAD WRONG! I lived through this nightmare - and for over four years after the meltdown - yes, there was a melt down - I didn't know whether my calculations had been the cause of the meltdown or not. Fortunately, for me, it wasn't my calculations, but another design flaw.
* I left nuclear engineering for a career in computer science - 27 years in IBM Research & Development. This seemed like a safer path - and it was.
* A little bit about fast breeder reactors: They exist because in the U-235 fission process, Plutonium (Pu, P-239) is produced (thus the "breeder" nomenclature - they "breed" Plutonium). Breeder reactors contain way more enriched U-235 than a bomb. P-239 is desirable because it makes better bombs, and is great non-breeder reactor fuel.
* Fast Breeder Reactors: Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Enrico 1 (Detroit).
* Fermi 1 had enough for more than 10 Hiroshima bombs ("Little Boy" 1945). Breeders operate in a continuous chain reaction - they can go super-critical and explode like a bomb. We almost had that happen at Fermi 1. Detroit, Windsor Canada, & surrounding areas were close to total devastation - much, much worse than Hiroshima. Mili-seconds before the possible nuclear explosion, the safety feature of scram rods kicked in. These are boron rods, which absorb neutrons. They were under very heavy spring pressure to drive them into the core of the reactor in case of any run-away problems. They released in the nick of time to ward off the potential nuclear explosion.
* Thanks to journalist John Fuller for doing the research and writing this book. He brought to light what had been a heavily guarded government secret (anyone out there that doubts the government keeps secrets from us? Read Wiki Leaks!). I only found out the details at that time by my contacts that were still working on Fermi 1.
* More details on Reactor operations:
* Uranium-235 (U-235) requires very expensive centrifuges to separate the U-235 (the fissile form) (only 0.72% of U) from the dominant U-238 (the non-fissile form). By fissile we mean that it can sustain a fission chain reaction. Separation of U-235 from U-238 is difficult because they are the same metal atom - only different in their molecular weight. This is what Iran is doing (centrifuges) to increase the % of U-235 to the eventual bomb requirements of 40% or so. Very crude, inefficient bombs can be made with 20% (but, require much more U to reach critical mass). Weapons grade is considered 85% U-235.
* Plutonium (Pu) is easy to separate from the other materials by chemical means (U & the other by-products) because it is a different atom. It is desirable for bombs because it only requires about 1/3 the weight of U-235 and is more controllable.
* Fermi 1 could use either U-235 (enriched U) or Pu as fuel.
* When a U-235 atom fissions - 2.54 neutrons are emitted. If at least one neutron from a U-235 fission strikes another nucleus and causes it to fission, then the chain reaction will continue. If the reaction will sustain itself, it is said to be critical, and the mass of U-235 required to produce the critical condition is said to be a critical mass. A critical chain reaction can be achieved at low concentrations of U-235 if the neutrons from fission are moderated to lower their speed, since the probability for fission with slow neutrons is greater.
* Fermi 1 contained critical mass - way more U-235 than required for a bomb (about 6 kg is sufficient for a bomb). It operated at a continuous (critical) chain reaction. For each fission, 1 neutron caused another U-235 to fission.
* Thus, Fermi 1 was operating on the threshold of a bomb at each moment of operation. We were fortunate not to wipe out Detroit & it's surrounds.
* Fermi 1 had a core of about 6' x 6', made up of stainless 6" x 6" x 6' vertical "cans", containing Zirconium clad U-235 rods (about 1/8"), with a Zirconium wire wound spirally around each rod, separating the rods. Liquid Sodium (about 1200°) was passed through these "cans" to remove the huge amount of heat generated.
* My engineering role was to calculate the rate of Sodium flow required to remove the heat from the U-235 rods. I also performed the stress strain analysis on the stainless steel "cans".
* Heat is generated using Einstein's E=Mc**2 - converting mass into energy. The fission of ONE atom of U-235 generates 202.5 MeV (Million electron Volts)
* Safety:
* Uranium-235 has a half-life of 700 million years. By half-life we mean that the radiation will be reduced by 1/2 in that amount of time. Have storage problems anyone for the spent rods? Should we send them into space at $1 mill/#?
* It's estimated that world wide there is 1,000 tons of Plutonium in existence. We produce about 20 tons each year. Nuclear arms control anyone?
* Fusion note (the opposite to fission) (the process of the Sun - combining small molecules (Hydrogen) to make larger ones) - Stephen Hawking says it will never happen - he knows a bit more about this than I - I'll defer to him.

As another reviewer notes, there was almost NO public attention paid to the incident at Fermi 1. Yes, Mr Fuller takes somewhat of a 'cautionary tone' - but it is hardly 'shrill' or 'anti-corporation', mostly just very informative.

I grew up 40 miles from Monroe and was a child when this occurred. Our farm was downwind of the site, and for over a decade the University of Michigan maintained a 'clinic' in our town to 'monitor childhood development' as part of an 'on-going study'. My folks never knew why they were asked to participate until I sent them a copy of this book. How would that make YOU feel as a parent???

As another reviewer touched on, the fast breeder high pressure sodium plants have been 'upgraded' and most all other/new plants are an entirely different type of reactor altogether. I'm afraid folks missed Mr Fuller's real point - people are people and we ALL make mistakes at one time or another, and ANY mistake with nuclear material is simply ONE too many. Nuclear generated power currently represents less than 20% of energy consumed in the US - is that REALLY worth turning Detroit or Corpus Christi into Chernobyl?

This book should be read by everyone, now that the disaster is Japan is fully developed. It won't save us but it will at least show how technological hubris and the profit motive join forces to condemn the planet to a living, glowing hell.

I'll leave the discussions of the radioactivity and melt downs to other reviewers.

Suffice it to say that the private insurance companies refused to insure nuclear power plants when they got a clue as to how dangerous they could be, the government agreed to cover a tiny percentage of the possible damages ($5000 or less per death is apparently all your child's life is worth to the government) and as the 'government' it was really YOU who were covering the potential monetary risk.

Oh, and you also who were taking the radioactive and the meltdown risk.

And you who were paying the utility bills.

So, in a situation uncannily like 'bailing out the banks', the public took on all the risk and paid for everything three times over; the utility companies who knowingly and with malice aforethought lied about the risks to everyone, got what little profits there were in building and operating the plants, with no where near enough set aside for proper decommissioning, not there there is such a thing. That was all going to be figured out later.

One wonders if the nuclear engineers at GE and all the rest were told up front, 'well, if the public has to insure these things in case of a catastrophic event, they should at least get the electricity for free' if the construction would have even so much as commenced? No? I thought not. It's all about the money, not about 'providing for the power needs of a growing populace.' If that were the case, solar, wind and geothermal would have been more properly researched and financed long ago.

For history's sake, please note what happened when we had a bonafide nuclear engineer in the office of the Presidency; Jimmy Carter put on a sweater, turned down the heat, and put solar panels on the White House. His idiot successor, Raygun, took them down 'for repairs' and never replaced them. Why do we hound the intelligent out of public service and honor the nitwits?

Here's an addendum for the 'G. Greenmans' of the world, the reviewer who said this is garbage and nuclear plants are safe: [...]

When I first read this book in the 1970's I felt it was something everyone should know. Now, with the latest disaster in Japan and our recent interest in nuclear power, I am convinced EVERYONE should have access to the information in this book. And let us not forget there is always a choice between fusion and fission power....Let us choose wisely.

I really don't understand why so many people gave this a low rating, don't they care about ceasing to exist? Don't they care if all future generations are degraded genetically because we keep allowing our big bloated corporations to rule us, to control us, to make life and death decisions about us without telling us the truth about what they are doing to our environment, our food and our water? This book is a good expose of how corporations (although it's not written specifically to slam corporations) will screw things up if allowed to decide how to earn money no matter what the risks to others. One other reviewer mentioned how no one heard of this until this book came out, good point, it apparently was covered up quite well, until this writer investigated and exposed the story. This should be required reading for all science majors & all business majors!

As someone that can see the steam towers of Fermi 2 from my driveway, I was very interested in this book. Although it is very outdated and quite biased, it did turn me on to some reactor accidents I hadn't heard of and gave me a little more history of the area I live in. The accident at Fermi 1 was actually pretty small and the plant still runs (actually visited it 5 years ago). A good place to start if you are interested in this kind of thing and the book sells pretty cheap so it is worth the small amount of money.

I read this book years ago when it first came out since I lived in suburban Detroit.
I am now a nuclear physicist and know that this book is GARBAGE. We came NO WHERE
near losing Detroit. A previous reviewer is just plain wrong to say that if a
little bit melts the rest is not far behind, and there goes Detroit. Nuclear reactors
can NOT explode; and Fermi 1 contained ALL radioactivity. Detroit was NEVER in any
danger.