Rod Bundle Heat Transfer at Penn State

Our great NRC Commissioners flit all over the globe while they conveniently overlook where all of our dough goes.

Here is a set of documents that were generated by Penn State at our expense and the clerks of NRC staff prefer that the public remains unaware of this. I've gone after the Chairman NRC who sent my request to the PDR. The PDR went after NRR who responded that the docs were under review and they had no idea when the review would be completed.

So, I went after the docs via FOIA and have been told that for about $800 in fees payable right now, the NRC would work on getting the docs. Well, I appealed that and was turned down, but I now have 30 days to appeal that denial. So the delays continue.

Of course, I am infuriated. I told the Chairman (way back on October 8, 2009) "You must have your staff immediately release the documents that I have requested. Place these in NRC's public document system with accessibility via ADAMS and do it now." Well, I'm still waiting for him to do it now. He was at INPO a few days ago, November 5, 2009, and told that fine body as part of 1800 words, "So if there are two things I ask of you on the topic of new reactors, it is to give us high quality and complete applications, and have faith in the process we have established to review them."

Maybe I should suggest to the Chairman that he send INPO the following set of docs so they can assist their funding members in producing high quality output. However, NRR will likely never get around to using these reports and that will be OK with the lobbyists.

REBEKA was complex, Leyse's J-LOOP taught more.

Below is a great design. The power is too low (no fun). During 1973 Blogger Leyse was at W having a great time (below). Now the real fun was with blowdown from full power, likely about 18 kW/foot, but do not ask me to prove it. Anyway DNB came fast, as you can see! This was at Forest Hills. The "experts" up the street wanted several seconds. Too bad!


OK, today is November 8, 2009,and here is more J-Loop stuff. I left W during 1974, however, W feasted via EPRI on the J-Loop system that I left behind. I have the following EPRI report, EPRI NP-1793, April 1981, Full Scale Controlled Transient Heat Transfer Tests - Facility Description, Here is the cover:

And below is the axial power distribution of the heater rods. I scanned this figure from NP-1793, however, I had to redo scales and captions because the original was too light. This likely is the power distribution that I used in the 1973 plot that appears above. Click on it to enlarge.
Now, I would really like to have the test data from that EPRI funded work, but I do not have the reports that are referenced in NP-1793, these are EPRI Final Report NP-1810, Volumes 1 and 2 and EPRI Final Report NP-1792. I'm trying to get copies.

Cheap Juice?

So, who needs more electricity? Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2009. However, we must mandate wind in order to save the business, also in Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2009. More later. Click to enlarge.

Supercritical Heat Transfer, the piston effect

I'll insert the figure later.

Figure 3. Thermalisation in microgravity of a supercritical fluid (SF 6 ) after a heat pulse. T1, T2 and T3 are measuring thermistors. The thermalisation by the piston effect is fast and complete, whereas the peak temperature due to heat conduction is reached much later. (Courtesy of D. Beysens, CEA, Saclay, France)

NRC rigs its "ground testing" MORE LATER

Shifting Sands For Boeing's Dreamliner

Boeing has scrubbed its schedule for the production of its all-composite 787 Dreamliner as it works to reinforce the aircraft's wing section while customers have scrubbed orders for about 72 of the jets this year, including 15 dropped by Qantas last week. Still the order book for the untested, unfinished aircraft stands at roughly 850 for a list price total of more than $151 billion. The aircraft's first flight has seen four delays that have so far put the jet two years behind schedule, and the cascade of reactions to that reality include Boeing's bartering with carriers who still hold orders for the aircraft. Among those, All Nippon Airways has actually added five more of the jetliners to its orders, which may give a glimpse into the complicated contracts that manufacturers create with their clients. Media reports say some customers are seeking compensation for the delays as Boeing's delays disrupt their strategic operating plans amid volatile oil costs and a depressed economy. On the upside, Boeing has the opportunity to avoid penalties with remaining customers as they gain some flexibility in delivery schedules among fewer buyers. On the downside, the jet hasn't flown yet and after extensive computer modeling, ground tests have detected structural flaws that require structural changes.

NRC stays fat via obfuscation of ECCS.

So, I've just copied this from NRC's ADAMS. More featherbedding and obfuscation by our well-fed feds.

n a May 13, 2008, memorandum from R. W. Borchardt entitled, “Updated Schedule for Rulemaking—Emergency Core Cooling System Acceptance Criteria” (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML081260311), the staff informed the Commission of the status of the 10 CFR 50.46(b) rulemaking activities and outlined a rulemaking approach that included a decision point about the adequacy of the technical basis (WITS No. 200800238). Based on comments received from public stakeholders and internal discussions, the staff identified further research to enhance the existing technical basis. The staff outlined these additional research activities as well as a revised rulemaking plan and schedule in a December 19, 2008, memorandum entitled, “Status of Rulemaking on Emergency Core Cooling System Acceptance Criteria” (ADAMS Accession No. ML083440156 [?] ).

The technical basis supporting a revision to the 10 CFR 50.46(b) ECCS acceptance criteria is complete, and the rulemaking is progressing in accordance with the schedule outlined in the memorandum dated December 19, 2008. The staff completed the additional research activities outlined in that memorandum on schedule (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML090690711 and ML090700193). These items supplement the technical basis, which can be found in the following two documents: (1) NRC Research Information Letter 0801, “Technical Basis for Revision of Embrittlement Criteria in 10 CFR 50.46,” dated May 30, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML081350225); and (2) M. Billone, Y. Yan, T. Burtseva, and R. Daum, “Cladding Embrittlement during Postulated Loss-of-Coolant Accidents,” NUREG/CR-6967 (ANL-07/04), July 2008 (ADAMS Accession No. ML082130389). Staff members from the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation and the Office of New Reactors are working with the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) to develop an acceptable regulatory framework for the comprehensive laboratory testing requirements developed by RES. Once completed, the staff will issue these testing procedures for public comment as part of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking scheduled for publication in August 2009. This memorandum satisfies the requirements of WITS No. 200800238.
cc: SECY

CRUD 1982 and 2006

Of course, crud has been around prior to 1982 and it will be around a long time after 2006. This snapshot is revealing. Click to enlarge. I may elaborate later.

The Westinghouse presentation to the ACRS refers to, "boron induced power shift." When this phenomenon was first experienced it was referred to as "Axial Offset Anomaly" (AOA).