Should be showing this stuff in schools to educate our youth. It's not that scary, and we are going to need more nuclear power plants built. You are providing a valuable service. 😄
That would be cool if they showed this in schools. I have been thinking of doing some volunteer work at local schools to teach kids a little about radiation.
So, when I was in 8th grade, I actually had the privilege of touring the research reactor at Washington State University as part of a summer science camp program that I was participating in. Today I make my living as a mechanic for nuclear reactor support equipment.
Its really not. Im an engineer in the oil and wind industry (yes the oil industry loves wind power, and hates nuclear pwoer, wanna guess why?), and a nuclear power plant is not really more complicated than an offshore oil rig for instance... and less complicated than an offshore floating wind field... But governments and the oil industry likes to give the illusion that nuclear energy is so complicated and dangerous that we cannot build out nuclear power. Its a shame.... but hey it keeps me in good work!
@@allnamesaretakenb4 totally disagree with your "dangerous" nuclear plants. I worked at on for 10 years. More complicated and SAFE than you can imagine. You should visit one. . . . and the reason there are no more being built is because pussies and tree huggers have convinced the politicians they are not safe. When this generation or the next runs out of oil and natural gas, the nuke plants will continue on. Hopefully wind power will fill in the needs of the many but have seen pressure from groups saying they are killing birds. So what. Those idiots want to live like North Korea??? I say MOVE!
@@allnamesaretakenb4it’s got to be more complicated than oil oils simple you stick a tube in the earth and pump it out off shore is simple is the same just over the ocean nuclear is way more complicated I get wind is easier than nuclear
Dude you got some great access here. Respect to the Plant for allowing you in, this whole industry needs to take a lead from these guys on demystifying the industry if it's to dispel the fears
I worked on the idea of a video for over a month with their media guy on-site that had seen one of my previous videos. There was a bunch of back and forth to get the access I had along with a security check which took a week.
I'm proud to say I worked at San Onofre for 35 years. The software used on site was developed over the years by a team of programmers. I designed, wrote and maintained the most recent version of the software that was (is) used to track worker exposure using electronic dosimeters and TLDs. The software also is used to control access the the Radiation Control Area, track radioactive sources checked in and out for testing instrumentation, etc. If we must have nukes, I feel good about my work to make it safe for the workers.
And we really must have nukes if we want clean, dependable energy. I sure do hope the public will come around to being in favor of the new-generation nuclear power plants which, by design cannot run away and "melt down".
That's an incredible story. This year I career-changed from journalism into development, and your comment made me wonder: if you're at liberty to say, what kind of testing process would your code have gone through before it got put to work? As it provides a high-stakes function, I wonder if it's much different than regular code testing...
NICE MOVE getting in there and Kudos to the staff at the plant for so graciously showing you around like pros! This is invaluable education for the public. Nice to see capable and open tour of such a place run by people that you'd want there.
@@RadioactiveDrew I bet. These people seem like real pros. They're also really even handed and calm and smart....just the people I want working in a nuclear plant!
@Dave Smith It relieves the public to know that just a few solar panels on the site, once all the decommissioning is done, will replace the output of all those hazardous systems that old, ignorant people used to think had value.
I'm a retired nuke worker. I worked at TMI, Oyster Creek, Limerick and Peach Bottom. The last 20 years of my carer were spent on the fuel floor or fuel handling building depending on the location. I've performed fuel handling, HSM dry cask storage, reactor disassembly and reassembly. I found this video to be one of the best at explaining in simple terms how a spent fuel pool and dry cask storage work. Seeing the use of portal monitors and small article monitors brought back memories of not passing the monitors while trying to exit the plant. Great video. Keep them coming.
Thanks. Glad you liked it. I had a chance to talk with some of the workers at San Onofre and they all seemed to really like what I’m doing on the channel as well.
The detection device has strips instead of buttons because they want your arms straight and as close to you as possible. The strips allow for the differences in arm length/ height between workers.
In 1979/1980, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton Ca which is across the highway from the plant. I got a part time job with Wells Fargo as construction security on the plant. I would spend 8 hours walking every part of the plant looking for smoke, fire, running water. Belief me, that is a huge plant. It was also extremely educational. My patrol area was the containments, control, and the turbine/generator area. It’s sad to see it’s being decommissioned considering the huge effort I watched during its construction.
The psychopaths called politicians in California are way beyond stupid. They are also trying to shut down Diablo Canyon but I did see that Newsome being the idiot he is wants to now get a life extension on the plant as the Kalifornia politicians will see what hell is when they start blacking out the public on hot days. Last summer the public heard DO NOT CHARGE electric cars during high electric demand but that was right after the idiots wanted to ban gasoline vehicles. Get an EV then find out the grid can't support millions of EVs then later the public will find out replacement batteries will make the cost so high you won't be able to keep the car.
@@bryanphillips6666 there are two types of people, those that can “ extrapolate true understanding from incomplete data “ and those that “…………..”🤷♂️ People that spend the time pointing out others obvious mistakes generally fall into the latter category 🤦 It certainly doesn’t show a superior intellect, it’s pretty much just annoying. The need to constantly point out others spelling/grammar mistakes is actually classified as a genuine “mental disorder “, just food for thought I guess 👍🏻
It blows my mind the great amount of science and engineering that goes into building these plants. To think that nuclear research has been going on before computers came along. Just incredible!
In a perfect world... SONGS would still be generating, and a huge desalination plant would also be onsite to create water and power from clean energy. Thanks for that cool tour and thanks to SCE for the in depth look. , and total access tour. Nice B-roll.
I work for a nuclear fuel manufacturer, Framatome in Richland WA. Throughout this video I saw the very same parts I make on a day to day basis, it is very cool to see parts I machine in the real world. These bundles as we call them are very safe and continually drop tested, crash tested, temperature tested, and everything in-between. Nuclear is 100% the future of humanity if people can stop being so ignorant. Keep up the good work Drew!
I never knew much about radiation until I went through an OSHA trainer course with a nuclear physicist. We all had to give presentations specific to our fields. He covered the foundations of how radiation works, how it's stopped/blocked, and it was really eye opening!
@Darkfarfetch In the past 8 years or so, I'd say California has gone from being one of the most beautiful States in the US of A, to one of the absolute worst. Well, not exactly in the past 8 years. More so after 2016. Definitely during the times of the worlds deadliest virus that can be stopped with a piece of cloth over your mouth and nose. Those in positions of power just seem to really want California to become the number 1 shithole. With everything they're doing, I really don't see why anyone would ever want to visit there anymore. Shame really.
We live in a radioactive world. We consume so many foods that contain radioactive elements, that our own bodies give off radiation. Granite counter tops give off radiation. Smoke detectors (which contain Americium 241) give off radiation. Air crews receive far more radiation than most nuclear power plant workers curtesy of cosmic radiation (less shielding at altitude).
In 2001/2002, I worked with the DOE and NRC to do a cyber risk assessment. This was one of the plants we selected. Nice to see it again after 20 years.
My 2 years in the industry with hundreds of hours in the reactor building and around a lot of the hot stuff is less than 150mrem. I had to operate a valve that was 3000mrem/hr on contact. Got 2mrem in the 30 seconds to get to and turn the valve. It isn't that bad at all, if you fly a lot you pick up a lot more radiation than I do running around a nuclear plant.
Outstanding video! I was stationed there as a Navy Corpsman withe the Marines, and our ambulances covered the plant. I always wondered what went on in there - but never knew, because we were never called there in my 2 years there. They are just that careful and safe there.
Great video. Been in the nuclear industry for 28 years in total. Started out mining the fuel and I am now a Power Plant operator at the world's largest Uranium Refinery. We need this great source of Clean Energy in order to energize our world.
this video is so underrated , the guy with 3,5k subs just gave us content as good as some ppl with millions . you really deserve more subs and views ! he and his team just gave us a full length documentary for free! edit: wow the sub just flying it , its honestly deserved !
'he guy with 3,5k subs just gave us content as good as some ppl with millions' what amazes me is the way you confuse quality with popularity. have you never heard of ed sheeran, daytime tv, fascism, adele, or macdonalds? all very popular and all utterly dreadful.
@@RadioactiveDrew why do we have nuke reactors,. answer,,for the military, no other reason..salt reactors were banned back in the 50,s as they didnt produce weapons grade material..
This may well be the most informative video I've ever seen on nuclear power. I'm so glad you left in the procedures needed to enter the restricted areas, it shows how insanely safety focused NPPs are in practice, despite what most people may think.
16:48 I worked there at SONGS several times over the years. I ran cranes at the unit 1 decommissioning project as well as unit 2 & 3 refuel outages. It’s a damn shame this place is being shutdown. A lot of great people worked here and were ALWAYS professional.
In the 60’s when this site was under construction I surfed about a half mile south of the construction. We had to hike out & down an 80’ cliff to our surf spot we called Mile Zero. (We called it Mile Zero as there was a speedometer check sign posted at the trail head there on CA I-5). Whenever we drifted any closer than around 200 yds from the pier they had built out into the ocean about 150 yds alarms would sound and armed guards would come out and run us out. So many times we tried to find out what they were building but we never got a reply. Nuclear was a word used to reference a war back then. BTW, it was a great surf spot.
Very refreshing to see this. I live near the area and it seems to be popular to fear monger about it around here. Loved seeing how knowledgeable the staff is. Great video, excited to share it.
I agree with that 💯 %. We need to keep educating the benefits of nuclear energy And dispelling the fear of it! If people understood how safe the systems of today can be it would change perceptions!
@@jarheadlife your a re tard.. go visit chernobl.. go buy 1000 tons of waste, & keep it in your house.. only reason we have nuke reactors, is the military,, how fkn old are you, 12.??. d head.. you can not get rid of waste,,its here forever. its like those fk wits with ev cars, ''oh,, there clean energy'',, fkn total bs, brainwashed re tards like you.. in the 50,s we had free energy, clean, it was banned...do some fkn research..
@@jarheadlife It's a great technology but humans have proven we are not responsible enough as a species to be using it. I'm not even against it. Just recognize the shortcomings. Do Chernobyl or Fukushima with any kind of recurrence (as things sit, their spacing isn't adequate)... Things start to go way wrong. As a technology it's a potentially very useful thing, and to the extent we've utilized it, it has been. But while the events are few and far between, they don't need to be frequent and numerous... The aftermath keeps calculating for a while. I'd like to see fusion conquered for energy production... At least the worst that can happen there is localized contamination from neutron activation. Not *nearly* the threat.
@@MadScientist267 Yes and airplanes can crash, dams collapse (and a damn that collapses makes fare more victims than Chernobyl), a worker fitting solar panels on a roof can fall off and get killed, so what? Everything can go wrong, we just have to balance the risk and benefits. A nuclear power plant (a modern one, not Chernobyl or Fukushima) poses very little risk, instead fossil fuel kills hundreds of people EVERY DAY and we accept it as something safe, but it's not! Nuclear waste it's LESS dangerous than the kind of waste that you get by burning fossil fuels, since nuclear waste is simple to store and shield, and it doesn't harm the environment, while fossil fuel waste combustion products do harm the environment and humans, since it causes cancer and other diseases, and we can't simply capture them and store them away, it would be impossible!
@@alerighi It's a question of scale. When any of the "normal" things you mentioned happens, they have a localized effect at worst... This isn't to downplay "severity", but to point out that the entire area around isn't immediately and for all intents and purposes to any living creature, permanently compromised. Yes there are adaptations, but by and large, the area is voided, indefinitely, with a hint of definite... In something like a dam break, you can immediately rebuild. Fast as you can make it happen, it can happen. You gotta walk away with nuclear. You can't walk away but so many times. And given the idea these are not way off remotely located constructs where it's you and the fences... In a moment's notice with the right proximity, you can render an entire city uninhabitable. Forever, to you. That's the key. Storage? Pfft. I agree that's *waaaay* overbaked. This plant is no exception. Holding it's own waste forever more with no plans to change the idea.
Cherenkov Radiation is cool. That blue glow in water is really neat to look at and to read on the phenomenon. Cherenkov won a Nobel Prize for his work on associated with charged subatomic particles moving at velocities greater than the phase velocity of light in 1958. Oh what fun this tour is! What a delight ❤️
Agreed! I've had the chance to see it in person twice (in a spent fuel pool during a tour, many years ago) and it's stunningly beautiful. Videos of it just don't convey the colour.
That Blue glow might look cool. But believe me. you wouldn't want to go in it. have any splashed on you or your tools or clothes. its nasty Cesium 137. its a by product of the reaction of the Rods in the reactor. and they poison the water with this stuff. probably make a good soup though
There might be some Cs-137 in there but most of it is activated metals from exposure to neutrons. So it would be cobalt-60 and maybe some other isotopes coming from metal corrosion.
@@andrewcowling5804 It's also no longer "blue" when it's removed from the radiation source. The bulk water itself remains largely unchanged by this process.
It's only there for a relatively short time. I remember the first time we put spent fuel in the pool, I went to look at it a few days later and was disappointed that there was no "glow". I did get to see it later on riding on the refuel bridge. It is indeed "cool".
That is fascinating getting to see inside, I remember all the times we've driven past it seeing it from the freeway. Where I live the university here used to have a miniature nuclear reactor (they removed it in the early 2000's), and when I was in high school we took a field trip to see it once and we all got to stand around the pool as they pulled the control rod out causing it to emit that blue glow.
I had a tour of the Bruce Nuclear Plant back in the late 60's (Engineering class from U of M), and brought my home made Geiger counter. The spent fuel storage pool had a lower count than the ambient that I had at the university. So, yes, the shielding was good.
@@RadioactiveDrewit is, until it's not. Like what happened at Fukushima. Those pools can evaporate very quickly if circulation is lost, and what happens then? The radiation can create steam, which is water broken into its baser elements by the gamma particle cracking, hydrogen an oxygen. All that is left of the fire triangle is the spark, that caused Fukushima to explode 1 fuel pool right after the next. It was admittedly, a bad design flaw from the getgo. Thanks due to the admittedly ignorant President Nixon, it's the PWR's we are stuck with. Maybe we actually need to go back to the drawing board and rethink Dr Weinbergs reactor designs. Much like he did, when he designed and built the MSRE at ORNL. It was a much better reactor design, as it ran with a molten core fluid (no need to worry about "accidental" meltdowns, with it RUNNING in a continuous molten salt core). All that was left, was figuring out the chemical processing and fuel recovery plant. Which Kirk Sorrenson has done a lot of that, but he's not a chemical engineer. Maybe someday, we will live to see Dr Weinbergs dream come to fruition.
Thank you so much. My mom used to work in nuclear energy safety valves. I got to visit SONGS back when it was active. That was probably 25 years ago. It’s so cool to see how they are safely dry storing the spent fuel rods. Awesome video. Thank you for the time and education 👍
My older brother had worked at nuclear and coal plants in for years now. I remember him telling me so much from his training in the nuclear plants I love seeing this stuff, reminds me of those simpler times
I was an operator at San Onofre, neat to see it again. So sad they prematurely decommissioned it. I remember co-workers who needed overtime that purposely wore clothes that would set off the detectors, they had to sit around awhile to gas off! 😂
Where does one find clothes that "purposely set off detectors"? Those are the EXACT kind of people that I would NOT want to be working at my nuclear plant..😒
I’ve just stumbled upon your channel and I really enjoy the way you structure your videos with a combination of on site fact giving and story telling as well as the voiced over narration. Its very educational and interesting, keep up the great work, your enthusiasm is contagious.
This is an absolutely excellent video. Perfect example of learning from experts who work in the nuclear industry, day in, day out, as opposed to speculators and fear mongers.
Loved this video. When I was growing up in SoCal my family would travel past San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant at least 4 to 6 times a year to visit friends. I remember watching it being built. Years later, when my kids were growing up, on our way to visit my parents who now lived in Vista, we would take them to the tide pools that were near the power plant. I've always wanted to go inside and visit the plant. This is, I guess, the closest I'll get to see it inside. Thank you.
In '71 or '72 we went on a tour there as field trip for school. "Atomic Energy" was considered to be the future of power generation at the time and this plant was one of the first few nuclear power plants to be commercially viable. Of course, we didn't get the kind of access that you enjoyed here, but it was very exciting and interesting just the same. Later, in my teens, we would go and surf by it. I stepped on my first sea urchin there. They were especially abundant there as the water was warmed by the discharge from the plant. Great surf spot too!
I hope we will go back in times when we had trust in progress and science. It's a shame that installations like this, that can produce clean energy are closed down and replaced by burning fossil fuels!
From an SRO at Arkansas Nuclear One. I was amused by the wire (mobile) assemblies mounted on the vent hoods over the vertical dry cask storage assemblies. I surmise they are installed to keep the gulls from setting there. Knowing how gulls will congregate on a warm surface to roost for the night, that would have been heaven for them.
Had the opportunity to work and camp at SONGS when Unit 1 was being decommissioned. Whole crews of intermittent workers for Units 2 and 3 were rotated in and out. Quite an amazing place cut into the coastline. Many diligent staff like what we saw here. During decommissioning every square foot, or less is taken into the D&D process.
Worked in the Zion, IL., Commonwealth Edison facility as a contractor for years and this brings back memories. Passed the San Onofre plant many time going up and down the freeway as my brother lives in Orange County, CA. Didn't know they were decommissioning it.
Man I've been out of nuclear for 2 months now (NMP/JAF - took a corporate job with the parent company) and watching this stuff makes me miss the hell out of working in the plant. Nuclear is a crazy place (we made power, not logic) but it was still the coolest place to work with the best co-workers you can ask for.
Worked at a plant during construction as a pipefitter and later went back and worked security so I have been inside just about everyplace before it was hot. Odd when you go back and look at the places people can no longer go and think I use to sit 20 feet from where the core is and eat lunch. And yet odd to walk right up to a fuel rod after it comes off the truck and it is safe until it gets used
The Uranium in an unused fuel rod isn't very radioactive, BUT, get several tons of those rods together close enough, and you wouldn't want to be anywhere near it. Yep, it's pretty amazing stuff.
Awesome video. I grew up in San Onofre base housing from 1989 till 1994. I lived lived behind the complex on the other side of I5. But surfed close to the plant.
The downside of plants having to increase security so much is that the visibility and education the community goes way down and that causes suspicion. When I was a kid we used to get tours of the local nuclear plants and they were both amazing in technology and impeccable from a cleanliness/maintenance perspective.
This was very interesting. We have a plant being decommissioned in Plymouth Massachusetts called pilgrim, the public is fighting them from dumping the cooling pond water into Cape Cod Bay.. The whole thing freaks me out. But this video in particular seemed like they were doing things properly. Thank you as always Drew Great video.
radia tion and contamina tion controlis very high tech there's a lot of man-hours that go into track inc contamina and trending such title ten code of federal regulation part 20 " standards for radiation protection" ifederal is the federal law that covers what radiation protection tech nicians do, any violation of the standard is a violation of federal law, which is why tech nicians are always in the plant when work is being per formed as radiation protection tech nicians we watch the work being per formed to ensure the workers are following their work in structionswe tell them where to stand as they work. it's all about limiting radiation exposure limiting radiation exposure is why we maintainstrick contamination con trols we dont' want any one taking radioactivematerial home lose surface con tamina tion cann get out of control real quickif workers are sloppy as tech we watch how the work is per formed if it's highly contaminated work we have the workers change gloves oftenthethrow out he gloves, rad protection is atough joband gets real tough if the worok in structions are not followedif a worker stands in the wrong place and picks up more exposure than was anticipated, then questions get askedit used to be if a worker got 100 cpm,counts per minute on a hand held frisker then the worker would get grilled as to what he did he would be expected to retrace mentally and maybe find he wasn't allowed to go back to work guys who routinely get contaminated will get extra"help by being bird dogged by radiation protection, if his work habits are sloppy we don't want to have to continually in vestigate radioligal issues, it's our job to protect he public from the hazards of ionizing radiation when it comes right down to it we protect the gene pool, a lot of technicians don't really know what our job comes downt o that toevery bit of design in the plant,, the design of the fuel, the safety systems the containment structure the, reactor vessel head, operator training all are part of keeping the public safe, it all works as a synergistic, whole verything that has to do withe nuclear fuel cycle falls under 10 cfr 20 and that includes mining and fuel manufacture it's interesting job radiation protection you really cannot afford to relax or let your guard down, If i ever get back to work, I'm going to seek permission to video under vessel work which is interesting and physically demanding under vessel work in a boiling water reacto consists of removing the con trol rod drive mechanisms while water coming directly from the reactor vessel pours on to the worker they're dressed in plastic suits to which air is supplied years ago i was covering under vessel when the workers air supply ran outI was told over the head set I was wearing send him out, but his manager didn't know hjat was happening,, they sent him back in he didn't yet realize he wasn't getting air we call the particular suit he was wearing a bubble hood they have a large volume and the way they're put on allows for minima air leakage his bubble hood hadnt't yet deflated its ' hard to explain the process in order to get to under vessel in this particular plant you have to crawl down a temporary track, so the worker crawled backout, when he finally got out he was officially out of air we cut people out of those particularsuits using surgical scissors so as to not stab the worker with pointed scissors, any way as soon as he was cut out he passed out this is what makes radiation protection trickyevery thig has got wo work ever ybody has to be aware of what's happenin g, I have had one guy die on a crew I was covering; he had a heart condition it was known sadly he was cleared to go back to work in oneof the most stressfull jobs nuclearpower has to offer, that was my worst day in nuclear power, there's nothing that can make you feel more helpless having that happen. I went back to my trailer wishing my wife was with me, I really needed a hug, that was years ago and it still chokes me up the gut had a fifteen year old son., it should have never happened.
I worked to build Units 2 & 3 as well as shutdowns on the original Unit 1, IMO, it's criminal shame to destroy Units 2 &3. Especially as California utilities buy power from the dirt-burning (coal) power plants in the Four Corners area.
There are four reasons water is such a great radiation shield. One water is dense about 1g/ml. Two, Water has pretty good thermal capacity. Three, Water is a liquid, which has the advantage of molecules moving quite freely when imparted with excess energy. This allows very even distribution of this energy (as opposed to a solid molecular lattice). Finally water has a pretty high ratio of space taken up by protons and neutrons; which give it a very high chance of interacting with, deflecting, or being hit by a neutron.
You don't have a clue lol The reason water makes such a great radiation shield is because it's mostly hydrogen. The rest of everything you mentioned is irrelevant to the idea.
Dude. Your video is like a full course level on intro to a nuclear facility job training type video. This video would be worth millions of a company hired you and you made it for free. Thank you. Super cool video.
Nuclear power is one of the safest sources of power generation both for people and environmental and it needs to be taken care of properly to be safe which for the most part is not a problem
So interesting to see inside a plant like this. I have always been a pro nuclear power person so I find these videos fascinating. I live in the UK, about 20 miles away from Hinkley Point Nuclear power station. Hinkley Point B - a gas cooled reactor started producing power back in 1976. It was shut down for the final time in August this year. But it is by far not the end of the line for nuclear power production at Hinkley because two new reactors are being built. When online they should provide power for over half a century to come. I think each of the two plants are going to produce 1.6mw in electrical power. Such a shame that poorly designed plants have in the past given nuclear such a bad name. And when you consider the current fuel situation, it's a shame we don't have many more nuclear power stations in our country. I think with well over half a century of knowledge behind us, mankind is more than capable of building nuclear plants that will operate safely throughout their life time.
Hinkley Point C won't be anything like A and B though, A were homegrown Magnox units and B were homegrown AGR units, both of these designs used CO2 as coolant making them safer than water-cooled reactors, C on the other hand is going to be just another water-cooled reactor built by the French and owned by the Chinese. We can thank the Tories for that, between 1979 and 1997 if it wasn't nailed down the Tories sold it off and in 1994 it was the turn of British Nuclear to go the same way as the rest of our industries did under Thatcher and Major.
The problem is only in part the poorly designed plants. Also not only the bad maintenance (France, looking at you, too) and corporate greed. The ugly thing is that all the safety calculations from the height of the nuclear era turned out to be wrong - and they tried their very best to be conservative and cautious. But they expected like one major accident in 300 years with a massive amounts of active plants, and reality ran through that error budget within 50 years. The question that needs to be addressed is none other than how we're supposed to run 250 more years accident-free *knowing* that those safety calculations were underestimating the risks of operation. How to factor in the extra issues of plants being run beyond their calculated lifetime? They underestimated risks and for 20 years corps have reacted to that by ignoring how long those same people planned the plants to run. We know how to build safer plants (actually they overrun their construction times and budgets even more and get more complex), but instead of dealing with the risk - maybe even just accepting it - we are unable to get the discussion there and instead discuss how safe accident-free plants are and how safe the spent fuel is if you put it under concrete that lasts like 1/100 halftime. That ignorance is where the technology becomes infeasible. You need direct consequences for managers and engineers involved malicious shortcuts. You need a well educated public that can handle the fact that a worst case disaster changes the countryside but all non-disaster is what pays their standard of living. If we're just too stupid for that, it's much better to just stop 🛑 overconsuming.
@100SteveB While in the 1970s things might have looked very different, what with the oil cartel creating an oil crisis, and gouvernments wanting that sweet plutonium to pursue their cold war goals... You simply cannot justify nuclear today on an economic basis. Never mind risk, or environmental impact (although those do somewhat factor into the cost of financing such operations). The simplest and most undeniable metric is the strike price: * Hinkley Point C is currently projected to be 128.09GBP/MWh, if and when Hinkley does go online. It is currently projected for commissioning in 2028, after a projected 11.5ys construction time. * Dogger Bank A,B and C are currently projected to be 49.77GBP (A) and 52.41GBP (B and C) per MWh. Offshore wind is still 3x as expensive as onshore wind, making it one of the most expensive forms of renewable energy. Actual construction of the first bits (laying the undersea cables) started in 2022 and while each section should have a commissioning time of between 2-3 years, the first turbines are already delivering power. If you look at construction cost, a similar story emerges: * An EDF EPR costs 16B GBP to build (hinkley) for 1.6GW at a theoretical 90% capacity factor (yeah, right, the french are more like 72% on a good year), or 11.11GBP per watt (effective, with capacity factor). * Dogger Bank C will cost 3B GBP for 1.2GW nominal capacity, at a 60% capacity factor, or 4.17GBP per watt (effective). Again, these numbers correlate to the strike price. Even when using the overly expensive Tesla Megapacks (1000megapacks would cost 1593.27M usd,and hold 3854.40MWh) at 34c GBP per Wh, you can add 20Wh of battery storage per W of generating capacity for Dogger Bank to plug the difference with the EPR. Then there is the decommissioning cost: In September 2021, Belgian politicians made public the projected cost of decommissioning (and for long term storage) of the 7 ancient reactors in Belgium (6GW nominal capacity): 18B EUR, or 3B EUR per GW installed. This was the optimistic end of the scale that industry provided, as the greens leaked the upper projection at 42B EUR, or 7B EUR per GW. These numbers would add 8.5B GBP (9.6B EUR) or 19.8B GBP (22.4B EUR) to the cost of Hinkley. Or 2.9GBP and 6.9GBP per W (effective). Or another 8 to 20Wh of expensive battery storage for Dogger Bank. And even then there will be change left to pay for decommissioning of the off-shore wind park. Whoever is still for nuclear today, has never looked at the actual numbers.
I remember working at SONGS. I worked in Security for 8 years. It was a fun time. I also had a chance to work with the RPs with lead shielding inside containment during outages. That was also a blast. Jeff Carey was a great guy to work with.
The whole body contamination detector was very interesting. The plants that i worked at had detectors that scanned the left and right side of the body instead of front and back, it seemed much more ergonomic to use than the one shown. I am kind of curios as to which was older and what the pros and cons are between the types. Great Video! I love seeing nuclear power portrayed in such a positive and informative manner!
I try and approach the subject of radiation and nuclear power as neutral as I can be. I feel like that's a pretty effective way to show it to people that might not know much about it.
I spent my career as a renewable energy infrastructure technician and if I had to pick between wind or solar for longevity, ease of operation, power output and environmental impact and ROI... I'd choose nuclear. Spent the last years of my career working for GE. Did you know a solar panel has to be used for 7 years before it "pays back" the electrical debt it took to create it? The silicon has to be grown in vats using huge amounts of electricity. There's also many toxic chemicals used and other materials which all have to be mined, refined, and smelted. Typically in other countries where their emissions controls are unregulated. On top of that, when the panels (we call the modules, but y'all call them panels. Technically a panel is made up of modules...but if I say module everyone's eyes glaze over) aren't easily recycled. Pretty soon there will be mountains of panels laying around waiting to be recycled. Except that recycling process is going to use lots of electricity too. The wind turbine blades are fiberglass, and are already creating a problem. They were scattered all over the old fields I worked on, covered in grease and oil. Nowhere for them to go, but they sure have created a habitat for rattlesnakes. But everyone who doesn't know crap is always like "fill the deserts with them!" Now you need more transmission lines. You're talking hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum, steel, copper and alloys (which all has to be mined and smelted, then cast or extruded...oh then shipped here!) just to run that power out across the desert to get it to where it needs to go. And because you've stuck all that power generation infrastructure in the middle of nowhere... there's more line-loss getting it to somewhere. And due to the heat, everything gets derated.... Then people have to go live nearby to maintain it. Then there's nuclear. There's over 400 nuclear power reactors operating around the world, yet how often do we hear about major accidents? Mostly Fukishima with the tidal wave. We've been learning from the past mistakes and incorporating them into newer, safer power generation technology. A properly set up operation today can re-enrich the waste with a breeder reactor and generate power off both sides of the operation, generating even fewer amounts of actual waste and greatly increasing the operating life of the fuel. Now lets talk about draw. Megawatts v megavars. With renewables, they're always outputting 100% of what they can produce at any given time, whereas a steam-driven turbine can spool-up to match the load. So say it's summer and Dryer's ice cream company wants to turn on a whole bank of freezers after a maintenance cycle... that's a lot of inrush current, ok maybe they start them in series... but where does that power COME FROM if renewables are always outputting what they can, when they can?? So now you're like.. oh we'll use the renewables to charge batteries, and we'll store the power! Wonderful! Now we're mining F-tons of lithium and other rare earth minerals and no matter what anyone tells you, any tonnage of it is ALL conflict mined... but everyone needs it so no one is really pushing that whole story. But besides that, now you've got massive loads of more mining, more refining, more smelting, more manufacturing, to produce the batteries you're going to use. Because lithium has such a higher energy density than lead-acid types. So now you've actually created a much larger carbon footprint by insisting on using renewables, than if you'd used COAL FIRED PLANTS in the first place. You know what's in the gearbox of a 3MW wind turbine? A few hundred gallons of OIL. Know what all the wiring insulation is made of, that runs up and down tower and all over underground? Hydrocarbons. You have any idea how many 5gal buckets of grease and lube get pumped in to purge bearings? How about electric pitch systems with their backup batteries? 6 batteries per blade, 18 batteries per turbine. So for just 100 turbines that's 1,800 gel-cell batteries that need to get replaced. But since the desert isn't a cool location, those batteries won't last 5 years, more like 2. So for a thousand turbines that's 18,000 15Ah batteries you're replacing every two years. For 5,000 turbines that's 90,000 batteries. What's that, you're using a hydraulic pitch system? (no chance you're gonna get me climbing those disgusting oiltraps) now we're talking.... how many barrels of hydraulic fluid?
There's nothing "green" about renewable energy. Renewables have their place, but it's NOT powering massive sections of the grid and being relied on solely. The Green New Deal is a LIE being sold to you by ignorant politicians who don't have a clue what they're talking about. You don't get to just produce 95% of your products in other countries then act like that pollution isn't being created because it isn't being created HERE. That's called a shell-game, it's what trickster's play. Which is also basically cap-&-trade in a nutshell... a big shell-game. And now you're using up dozens of square miles to sporadically generate the same amount of power that a square mile nuclear station can generate reliably without ceasing for 30 years or longer. But yeah, go on with the whole "fill the deserts with solar panels and wind turbines" thing, you'll continue to fool the masses into thinking you know something, and you'll continue to sound like an absolute fool to anyone who actually knows what's going on. The next time you guys hear someone say that line... start hitting them with these facts and see what they have to say about any of it. What you'll find out is they have no answers, because they aren't used to dealing with facts, just rhetoric. It all falls to pieces under the slightest scrutiny if you're aware of what you're looking at. I love solar, I'm fully off-grid. No grid-tie and live quite comfortably. Just replaced the old Outback 240V FXR dual inverter system with a new SolArk12kW with 8kW pv, and 21kW AES "48v" LiFePO4 batteries running canbus comms to put the system into closed-loop operation. It's not "green", it's renewable... but really it's easier just to call it "off-grid". It's not on the grid, it's off the grid. My electric bill is essentially $150/mo across 20 years. There's no reason to bring into it the inherent green-ness, or lack-thereof. It all took fossil fuels to create, but it allows me to live "off" the grid. That's it. No extension cord, y'all have your blackouts and I do my own thing. Guess what happens if there's no sun for 4 days? A propane backup genny kicks on. Guess what happens if it doesn't kick on? A gasoline-powered genny kicks on. So propane is the 40kW primary but I can charge this bank on as little as a 4kW generator. Try that with a 48vdc lead acid bank. If you want to know about renewables... go ask someone who works in renewables. But the next time someone says to "fill the deserts" with them... he doesn't know jack.
@19:28...also, spent fuel pool is borated (boric acid dissolved in water) to attenuate neutrons and prevent inadvertent criticality, in addition to solid absorbers in fuel racks themselves.
Wow!! Very interesting and informative...Being from Canada, I visited Chalk River nuclear plant in Ontario during the seventies. They make isotopes for nuclear medicine at this plant.
This was so enjoyable to watch. The strict measures they need to take, how the water shields some of the radiation. The guy who you "interviewed" or whom guided you through the facility was so keen to share info on it
I grew up in New Mexico near quite a few uranium mines and a yellowcake processing plant. I always wanted to tour a nuclear power plant to see where the good stuff from those rocks ended up.
Excellent coverage and interview. Props to the guys showing you around and really diving into the technical aspects of all the processes involved. They could definitely see you were knowledgeable about the subject which gave them the green light to get into specifics which I loved. Grew up in San Diego and have driven by San Onofre dozens of times. Sad to see it go and to see nuclear energy as a whole trending towards decommissioning rather than iteration and expansion.
Love this video so much. I'm no where near a scientist and i can still understand most of what is being said, nuclear material is just so interesting and i would never see inside places like this in my life otherwise. Really valuable information and presented really well with clear audio and video. Looking forward to watching your other videos, keep up the good work.
Excellent presentation. I did x-ray/cat scan for 23 years and had a fundamental education in radiation. Nothing here surprises me except how thorough the rad protection and monitoring is. I'm highly impressed!
My mom retired from Duke a couple years ago. She did many many years, in the spent fuel pool. She was part of an outage crew, that only did outages, in the NC area. She retired as a manager over a department involved in nuclear safety somehow. I'm not as up on her later career, but she came up through this area of McGuire nuclear power plant, and that and Okonee, Blues Creek, Dan River, those are all plants she was associated with. The lady worked 50/60 hours a week, or more, for decades. She's earned her rest for sure. It was really cool seeing this, and seeing the type of things she did on the daily. She has actually years ago, been at this plant as well, in the beginning phases of the decommission, if I'm not mistaken.
@@ronfogle5590 she was in the safety management gig at that point then. Catawba is another one she was at some. Not much, since it was 15 minutes from home. Can't have that now lol.
Man I really enjoyed this video. I worked on the environmental permitting and documentation for the decommissioning as a consultant. I think I checked at the end and had spent over 900 hours on the single document, touching all different areas of impact analysis and environmental review (even wrote one or two myself!) takes me back to a more intellectually stimulating time in my life.
Glad you enjoyed it. Making the video was super interesting. It’s one of those things where you wish you could just absorb more info if you weren’t so focused on making a video about the whole thing.
I worked at San Onofre (SONGS) from 2008 - 2014 as an NSO1; been in every location they toured...ahh the memories, like the worker that fell into the spent fuel pool during one of our outages replacing fuel rods. No idea what happened to him, but I always stood a little farther away from them during my rounds. Shout out to all the former friend there!
I'm just reading up on it all now.. Apparently he's good, and even went right back to work same day. That's fng wild though. I worked for a malt production plant and on my day off a veteran worker fell into a grain bin by accident, and no idea how long he was there before co workers found him, but he was swallowed up as you just sink. Pretty tragic. Now I understand why my parents didn't like us playing on snow piles that the plows made.
If he fell into the SFP, he got wet and made fun of by his co-workers. Maybe picked up a few mrem of dose in the process which is nothing. The worse part would be if he was a RFO contractor, he probably wasn't invited back for the next RFO.
No problem. It was awesome making this video and meeting the people. Some of the people there were fans of the channel, which was great to hear. I hope in the future I can go to other facilities and give people an inside look and further demystify what goes on in a nuclear power station.
after seeing this video, I’m gonna watch every single video! Radioactive and the history of historical artifacts is something I enjoy watching. Thank you so much I love your channel.!!!❤❤❤❤🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
As someone that used to work at Macy's, and handled that fiestaware with my bare hands and even let customers do it, and then watching you hold up a geiger counter to such tiles and it basically sounding like a flatlining heart rate monitor... that puts things in a bit more perspective.
Very cool and informative! Spent 4 years stationed right there at Camp San Mateo. Saw the plant every day. The Marines affectionately called it the "Dolly Parton Memorial" 😆
This is taking me back to my days working at Nukes. Spent a lot time in the SFP building and down in the fuel transfer pit and reactor cavity and containment buildings and aux buildings (etc). Almost all of my jobs and jumps were in the PA (protected area) or RCA. Cant tell you how many pre-job briefs, walk downs, and PCs (protective clothing) I've been in. Been in some pretty "hot" areas in the plant.
@@leahocon6231 yes, absolutely. The job requires extra training and clearance above the required skill of whatever your trade is, like Ironworker or pipefitter, so that's one reason for the higher pay than just a normal, non-nuke ironworker. Also, most of the plants hire union workers, and there is slightly higher wages for union workers vs non-union. A lot of the guys I knew worked at nukes for 6-8 months of the year, then took the rest of the year off. One downside may be that you have to travel to the sites around the US for outages. Might be an upside if you're into that. Each state has different wages, but typically the North and the West pay the most with the South being the lowest, but still well above average wages for the area.
The lion kingdom's electric bill was $50 when the nuclear power plants were running. Now it's $200. It was a lot cheaper despite all the safety protocols required.
Very cool, I was stationed at Camp San Mateo just about 12 miles from the plant and saw it all the time and always wondered what it looked like inside the facility.
Good video. I worked at Palisades for 30+ years, first as an unlicensed Operator and then as a Certified Senior Reactor Operator in Operations Training. It was interesting to have a chance to see your refueling facilities and dry fuel storage areas. It is a shame to think of the capital expended in developing safe nuclear workers and safe operating plants and then losing the experience, knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the production of non-poluting safe electrical energy.
I grew up (late 20 yr old) in nuclear power plant design and fabrication and visited my share of these sites, like River Bend, Perry, Byron and Braidwood, Clinton, and others! We designed and fabbed airlocks, spent fuel pool gates, equipment hatches and middle proof doors.
Watching videos like this makes me realize how unintelligent I am. I’m an electrician that’s worked in power plants like this. The people that design these power stations are super genius. Absolutely amazing.
Real quick you could swim to about 6ft from the fuel element in the fuel pool and still be fine...the tsunami question/answer is part of the new FLEX directive implemented since the Fukushima accident .
Well even if the site suddenly dropped below sea level and the entire fuel storage pad was underwater. It can’t imagine it cause much of a problem. Those canisters are very well built and even under sea water they would be able to hold up for a long time. Also the sea water would keep everything cool.
I worked at the Oconee Nuclear Station in Senca, SC, between work jumps I would remove my safety equipment near the fuel pool, it was in the containment building & when the shield cover was removed you could see the fuel pool close up. The blue light was memorizing, Beautiful Brillant Blue. Duke was a fantastic company and I enjoyed my job immensely! Worked with so many great and talented men!!!
At 22:40, the problem with the telescoping tube in a hot fuel pool is that you are essentially "cutting a hole" in the moderator (the water or borated-water) and if you are at the other end of pole, you just opened a hole whereby gamma radiation can stream at you from the source. At a plant in Missouri, a Rad tech did just that as the underwater transfer cart passed by and he wanted to get a reading with the detector near the fuel bundle cart as it passed by. He got it alright, just over 5000 mrem which was his NRC yearly allowance as a rad worker. He spent the next year assigned to low level areas like tool cleaning as a result. Tough lesson learned.
Reminds me of an accident I read about involving moving a fuel rod either from a spent fuel pool or a top-loading reactor like an RBMK or a Magnox, either way the machine that was lifting the rod lifted it out of it's cladding/sleeve causing everyone in the area to make a dash for the exits before they could get a tan.
when I was younger, I worked at a nuclear power plant, it was honestly one of the coolest jobs I have done. The things you see/learn. Was super enjoyable to watch this
@RadioactiveDrew they are, I'm shocked at how much they allowed you to record, over 10 years ago a simple photo inside the controlled area was a HUGE issue. They take security very seriously. If you're able to see the core, (video cameras definitely wouldn't be allowed...) but the view.... dude its... awesome
@@StephanHarz the video did take a bit of planning, about a month with background checks. I only got to see the core from the security video feed. I wanted to get some footage in there but it was a much bigger deal.
Should be showing this stuff in schools to educate our youth. It's not that scary, and we are going to need more nuclear power plants built. You are providing a valuable service. 😄
That would be cool if they showed this in schools. I have been thinking of doing some volunteer work at local schools to teach kids a little about radiation.
Stupid comment...
So, when I was in 8th grade, I actually had the privilege of touring the research reactor at Washington State University as part of a summer science camp program that I was participating in. Today I make my living as a mechanic for nuclear reactor support equipment.
nukes no
npp yes
Those research reactors are very cool.
The level of engineering that goes into this kind of operation is absolutely mind blowing.
No
@@Jack_The_Ripper_Here yes
Its really not. Im an engineer in the oil and wind industry (yes the oil industry loves wind power, and hates nuclear pwoer, wanna guess why?), and a nuclear power plant is not really more complicated than an offshore oil rig for instance... and less complicated than an offshore floating wind field... But governments and the oil industry likes to give the illusion that nuclear energy is so complicated and dangerous that we cannot build out nuclear power. Its a shame.... but hey it keeps me in good work!
@@allnamesaretakenb4 totally disagree with your "dangerous" nuclear plants. I worked at on for 10 years. More complicated and SAFE than you can imagine. You should visit one. . . . and the reason there are no more being built is because pussies and tree huggers have convinced the politicians they are not safe. When this generation or the next runs out of oil and natural gas, the nuke plants will continue on.
Hopefully wind power will fill in the needs of the many but have seen pressure from groups saying they are killing birds. So what. Those idiots want to live like North Korea??? I say MOVE!
@@allnamesaretakenb4it’s got to be more complicated than oil oils simple you stick a tube in the earth and pump it out off shore is simple is the same just over the ocean nuclear is way more complicated I get wind is easier than nuclear
Dude you got some great access here. Respect to the Plant for allowing you in, this whole industry needs to take a lead from these guys on demystifying the industry if it's to dispel the fears
I couldn’t agree more. If they want people to feel safe they need to be upfront.
It's like you're trying to make yourself out like a superhero or something.... it's totally not a big deal.... c'mon man....😮
@@RadioactiveDrew _How_ did you get permission, I'm wondering?
I worked on the idea of a video for over a month with their media guy on-site that had seen one of my previous videos. There was a bunch of back and forth to get the access I had along with a security check which took a week.
@@RadioactiveDrew well it certainly paid off. We appreciate your going the extra mile and maybe it'll open other doors for you within the industry. 👍
I'm proud to say I worked at San Onofre for 35 years. The software used on site was developed over the years by a team of programmers. I designed, wrote and maintained the most recent version of the software that was (is) used to track worker exposure using electronic dosimeters and TLDs. The software also is used to control access the the Radiation Control Area, track radioactive sources checked in and out for testing instrumentation, etc. If we must have nukes, I feel good about my work to make it safe for the workers.
Amazing
Ever see any UFOs in that area?
@@radwizard Nope
And we really must have nukes if we want clean, dependable energy. I sure do hope the public will come around to being in favor of the new-generation nuclear power plants which, by design cannot run away and "melt down".
That's an incredible story. This year I career-changed from journalism into development, and your comment made me wonder: if you're at liberty to say, what kind of testing process would your code have gone through before it got put to work? As it provides a high-stakes function, I wonder if it's much different than regular code testing...
NICE MOVE getting in there and Kudos to the staff at the plant for so graciously showing you around like pros! This is invaluable education for the public. Nice to see capable and open tour of such a place run by people that you'd want there.
It was a very cool experience and all the people there were as nice as could be. Security for the spent fuel area was very serious.
@@RadioactiveDrew I bet. These people seem like real pros. They're also really even handed and calm and smart....just the people I want working in a nuclear plant!
Everyone that I met there was super cool. Some of them were even fans of the channel, which was awesome to hear.
@Dave Smith If you are uninformed on the topic, it surely would be benfecial knowledge. Even if only for potential ease of mind.
@Dave Smith It relieves the public to know that just a few solar panels on the site, once all the decommissioning is done, will replace the output of all those hazardous systems that old, ignorant people used to think had value.
I'm a retired nuke worker. I worked at TMI, Oyster Creek, Limerick and Peach Bottom.
The last 20 years of my carer were spent on the fuel floor or fuel handling building depending on the location. I've performed fuel handling, HSM dry cask storage, reactor disassembly and reassembly.
I found this video to be one of the best at explaining in simple terms how a spent fuel pool and dry cask storage work.
Seeing the use of portal monitors and small article monitors brought back memories of not passing the monitors while trying to exit the plant.
Great video. Keep them coming.
Thanks. Glad you liked it. I had a chance to talk with some of the workers at San Onofre and they all seemed to really like what I’m doing on the channel as well.
The detection device has strips instead of buttons because they
want your arms straight and as close to you as possible. The strips
allow for the differences in arm length/ height between workers.
In 1979/1980, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton Ca which is across the highway from the plant. I got a part time job with Wells Fargo as construction security on the plant. I would spend 8 hours walking every part of the plant looking for smoke, fire, running water. Belief me, that is a huge plant. It was also extremely educational. My patrol area was the containments, control, and the turbine/generator area. It’s sad to see it’s being decommissioned considering the huge effort I watched during its construction.
The psychopaths called politicians in California are way beyond stupid. They are also trying to shut down Diablo Canyon but I did see that Newsome being the idiot he is wants to now get a life extension on the plant as the Kalifornia politicians will see what hell is when they start blacking out the public on hot days. Last summer the public heard DO NOT CHARGE electric cars during high electric demand but that was right after the idiots wanted to ban gasoline vehicles. Get an EV then find out the grid can't support millions of EVs then later the public will find out replacement batteries will make the cost so high you won't be able to keep the car.
believe, not belief
@@dwetick1 feel better? No one cares btw. Folks know what was meant without correcting.
@@mygoogleaccount9990 I care. You must have skipped out of English class, was it "uncool?"
@@bryanphillips6666 there are two types of people, those that can “ extrapolate true understanding from incomplete data “ and those that “…………..”🤷♂️
People that spend the time pointing out others obvious mistakes generally fall into the latter category 🤦
It certainly doesn’t show a superior intellect, it’s pretty much just annoying.
The need to constantly point out others spelling/grammar mistakes is actually classified as a genuine “mental disorder “, just food for thought I guess 👍🏻
It blows my mind the great amount of science and engineering that goes into building these plants. To think that nuclear research has been going on before computers came along. Just incredible!
I totally agree.
😂 to think that hundreds of years of technological advancement existed before I was aware of it. Mind-boggling stay in school.😅
In a perfect world...
SONGS would still be generating, and a huge desalination plant would also be onsite to create water and power from clean energy.
Thanks for that cool tour and thanks to SCE for the in depth look. , and total access tour.
Nice B-roll.
I work for a nuclear fuel manufacturer, Framatome in Richland WA. Throughout this video I saw the very same parts I make on a day to day basis, it is very cool to see parts I machine in the real world. These bundles as we call them are very safe and continually drop tested, crash tested, temperature tested, and everything in-between.
Nuclear is 100% the future of humanity if people can stop being so ignorant.
Keep up the good work Drew!
Across the street from HAMMER! :)
MAP-12's are the bane of my existence. 😂
I never knew much about radiation until I went through an OSHA trainer course with a nuclear physicist. We all had to give presentations specific to our fields. He covered the foundations of how radiation works, how it's stopped/blocked, and it was really eye opening!
@Darkfarfetch In the past 8 years or so, I'd say California has gone from being one of the most beautiful States in the US of A, to one of the absolute worst. Well, not exactly in the past 8 years. More so after 2016. Definitely during the times of the worlds deadliest virus that can be stopped with a piece of cloth over your mouth and nose. Those in positions of power just seem to really want California to become the number 1 shithole. With everything they're doing, I really don't see why anyone would ever want to visit there anymore. Shame really.
Did the training course distinguish between external and internal exposure to radiation>?
We live in a radioactive world. We consume so many foods that contain radioactive elements, that our own bodies give off radiation. Granite counter tops give off radiation. Smoke detectors (which contain Americium 241) give off radiation. Air crews receive far more radiation than most nuclear power plant workers curtesy of cosmic radiation (less shielding at altitude).
In 2001/2002, I worked with the DOE and NRC to do a cyber risk assessment. This was one of the plants we selected. Nice to see it again after 20 years.
Yeah it was a relatively clean plant, now Hope Creek and Indian Point 2....nasteee!!!!
My 2 years in the industry with hundreds of hours in the reactor building and around a lot of the hot stuff is less than 150mrem. I had to operate a valve that was 3000mrem/hr on contact. Got 2mrem in the 30 seconds to get to and turn the valve. It isn't that bad at all, if you fly a lot you pick up a lot more radiation than I do running around a nuclear plant.
I totally agree about the flying frequently will give you more of a higher dose in the long term.
I work at CERN a ton and the RP people hate it if you accidentally take your dosimeter on a plane.
@@pauldavis2108 lol
@@RadioactiveDrew why is that
@@michaeltaylor8835 There is less shielding from the atmosphere against radiation coming from space.
Outstanding video! I was stationed there as a Navy Corpsman withe the Marines, and our ambulances covered the plant. I always wondered what went on in there - but never knew, because we were never called there in my 2 years there. They are just that careful and safe there.
My brother AJ Russo was a corpsman out at Camp P around the same time. Perhaps y'all know each other. Lol
Great video. Been in the nuclear industry for 28 years in total. Started out mining the fuel and I am now a Power Plant operator at the world's largest Uranium Refinery. We need this great source of Clean Energy in order to energize our world.
this video is so underrated , the guy with 3,5k subs just gave us content as good as some ppl with millions . you really deserve more subs and views !
he and his team just gave us a full length documentary for free!
edit: wow the sub just flying it , its honestly deserved !
Thanks for the kind words. My channel is growing slowly by surely and I'm encouraged by that.
'he guy with 3,5k subs just gave us content as good as some ppl with millions'
what amazes me is the way you confuse quality with popularity. have you never heard of ed sheeran, daytime tv, fascism, adele, or macdonalds? all very popular and all utterly dreadful.
@@RadioactiveDrew why do we have nuke reactors,. answer,,for the military, no other reason..salt reactors were banned back in the 50,s as they didnt produce weapons grade material..
Your mom's OnlyFans is still bigger tho
@@RadioactiveDrew if I were you I would have been wearing safety glasses even plastic works
This may well be the most informative video I've ever seen on nuclear power. I'm so glad you left in the procedures needed to enter the restricted areas, it shows how insanely safety focused NPPs are in practice, despite what most people may think.
I wanted people to see what goes on to enter into a place like the fuel pool area, which shares an area with reactor containment.
16:48
I worked there at SONGS several times over the years. I ran cranes at the unit 1 decommissioning project as well as unit 2 & 3 refuel outages. It’s a damn shame this place is being shutdown. A lot of great people worked here and were ALWAYS professional.
it's fine jump in and go for a swim man it'll be the swim of your life🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
In the 60’s when this site was under construction I surfed about a half mile south of the construction. We had to hike out & down an 80’ cliff to our surf spot we called Mile Zero. (We called it Mile Zero as there was a speedometer check sign posted at the trail head there on CA I-5). Whenever we drifted any closer than around 200 yds from the pier they had built out into the ocean about 150 yds alarms would sound and armed guards would come out and run us out. So many times we tried to find out what they were building but we never got a reply. Nuclear was a word used to reference a war back then. BTW, it was a great surf spot.
Thats a really cool story thank you for sharing
Very refreshing to see this. I live near the area and it seems to be popular to fear monger about it around here. Loved seeing how knowledgeable the staff is. Great video, excited to share it.
Thanks for sharing it.
Great video. It's sad this source of energy isn't being utilized like it ought to be.
I agree with that 💯 %. We need to keep educating the benefits of nuclear energy And dispelling the fear of it! If people understood how safe the systems of today can be it would change perceptions!
@@jarheadlife your a re tard.. go visit chernobl.. go buy 1000 tons of waste, & keep it in your house.. only reason we have nuke reactors, is the military,, how fkn old are you, 12.??. d head.. you can not get rid of waste,,its here forever. its like those fk wits with ev cars, ''oh,, there clean energy'',, fkn total bs, brainwashed re tards like you.. in the 50,s we had free energy, clean, it was banned...do some fkn research..
@@jarheadlife It's a great technology but humans have proven we are not responsible enough as a species to be using it.
I'm not even against it. Just recognize the shortcomings. Do Chernobyl or Fukushima with any kind of recurrence (as things sit, their spacing isn't adequate)... Things start to go way wrong.
As a technology it's a potentially very useful thing, and to the extent we've utilized it, it has been. But while the events are few and far between, they don't need to be frequent and numerous... The aftermath keeps calculating for a while.
I'd like to see fusion conquered for energy production... At least the worst that can happen there is localized contamination from neutron activation. Not *nearly* the threat.
@@MadScientist267 Yes and airplanes can crash, dams collapse (and a damn that collapses makes fare more victims than Chernobyl), a worker fitting solar panels on a roof can fall off and get killed, so what? Everything can go wrong, we just have to balance the risk and benefits.
A nuclear power plant (a modern one, not Chernobyl or Fukushima) poses very little risk, instead fossil fuel kills hundreds of people EVERY DAY and we accept it as something safe, but it's not!
Nuclear waste it's LESS dangerous than the kind of waste that you get by burning fossil fuels, since nuclear waste is simple to store and shield, and it doesn't harm the environment, while fossil fuel waste combustion products do harm the environment and humans, since it causes cancer and other diseases, and we can't simply capture them and store them away, it would be impossible!
@@alerighi It's a question of scale. When any of the "normal" things you mentioned happens, they have a localized effect at worst... This isn't to downplay "severity", but to point out that the entire area around isn't immediately and for all intents and purposes to any living creature, permanently compromised. Yes there are adaptations, but by and large, the area is voided, indefinitely, with a hint of definite...
In something like a dam break, you can immediately rebuild. Fast as you can make it happen, it can happen. You gotta walk away with nuclear.
You can't walk away but so many times. And given the idea these are not way off remotely located constructs where it's you and the fences... In a moment's notice with the right proximity, you can render an entire city uninhabitable. Forever, to you.
That's the key.
Storage? Pfft. I agree that's *waaaay* overbaked. This plant is no exception. Holding it's own waste forever more with no plans to change the idea.
Cherenkov Radiation is cool. That blue glow in water is really neat to look at and to read on the phenomenon. Cherenkov won a Nobel Prize for his work on associated with charged subatomic particles moving at velocities greater than the phase velocity of light in 1958. Oh what fun this tour is! What a delight ❤️
Agreed! I've had the chance to see it in person twice (in a spent fuel pool during a tour, many years ago) and it's stunningly beautiful. Videos of it just don't convey the colour.
That Blue glow might look cool. But believe me. you wouldn't want to go in it. have any splashed on you or your tools or clothes. its nasty Cesium 137. its a by product of the reaction of the Rods in the reactor. and they poison the water with this stuff. probably make a good soup though
There might be some Cs-137 in there but most of it is activated metals from exposure to neutrons. So it would be cobalt-60 and maybe some other isotopes coming from metal corrosion.
@@andrewcowling5804 It's also no longer "blue" when it's removed from the radiation source. The bulk water itself remains largely unchanged by this process.
It's only there for a relatively short time. I remember the first time we put spent fuel in the pool, I went to look at it a few days later and was disappointed that there was no "glow". I did get to see it later on riding on the refuel bridge. It is indeed "cool".
That is fascinating getting to see inside, I remember all the times we've driven past it seeing it from the freeway.
Where I live the university here used to have a miniature nuclear reactor (they removed it in the early 2000's), and when I was in high school we took a field trip to see it once and we all got to stand around the pool as they pulled the control rod out causing it to emit that blue glow.
It's a fake disaster event just waiting to happen!
I had a tour of the Bruce Nuclear Plant back in the late 60's (Engineering class from U of M), and brought my home made Geiger counter. The spent fuel storage pool had a lower count than the ambient that I had at the university. So, yes, the shielding was good.
Water is a very good shield against radiation. I think a lot of people don’t understand that.
@@RadioactiveDrew th-cam.com/video/C5ABKM_8UuA/w-d-xo.html
@@RadioactiveDrewit is, until it's not.
Like what happened at Fukushima. Those pools can evaporate very quickly if circulation is lost, and what happens then?
The radiation can create steam, which is water broken into its baser elements by the gamma particle cracking, hydrogen an oxygen. All that is left of the fire triangle is the spark, that caused Fukushima to explode 1 fuel pool right after the next. It was admittedly, a bad design flaw from the getgo.
Thanks due to the admittedly ignorant President Nixon, it's the PWR's we are stuck with. Maybe we actually need to go back to the drawing board and rethink Dr Weinbergs reactor designs. Much like he did, when he designed and built the MSRE at ORNL. It was a much better reactor design, as it ran with a molten core fluid (no need to worry about "accidental" meltdowns, with it RUNNING in a continuous molten salt core). All that was left, was figuring out the chemical processing and fuel recovery plant. Which Kirk Sorrenson has done a lot of that, but he's not a chemical engineer. Maybe someday, we will live to see Dr Weinbergs dream come to fruition.
Oh, Canada, no wonder I had never heard of Bruce NP. I've always heard good things about Canada's CANDU reactors.
Thank you so much. My mom used to work in nuclear energy safety valves. I got to visit SONGS back when it was active. That was probably 25 years ago. It’s so cool to see how they are safely dry storing the spent fuel rods. Awesome video. Thank you for the time and education 👍
jump in and go for a swim it's a swim to die for trust me🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My older brother had worked at nuclear and coal plants in for years now. I remember him telling me so much from his training in the nuclear plants I love seeing this stuff, reminds me of those simpler times
I was an operator at San Onofre, neat to see it again. So sad they prematurely decommissioned it. I remember co-workers who needed overtime that purposely wore clothes that would set off the detectors, they had to sit around awhile to gas off! 😂
Interesting way to OT.
Should that sort of scrote be working in the nuclear industry?
you mean they got “crapped up” ? LoL ya remember those people
I ran the Bigge crane over at unit 1 during decommission of the containment wall around the sphere.
Where does one find clothes that "purposely set off detectors"?
Those are the EXACT kind of people that I would NOT want to be working at my nuclear plant..😒
I’ve just stumbled upon your channel and I really enjoy the way you structure your videos with a combination of on site fact giving and story telling as well as the voiced over narration. Its very educational and interesting, keep up the great work, your enthusiasm is contagious.
Thanks.
This is an absolutely excellent video. Perfect example of learning from experts who work in the nuclear industry, day in, day out, as opposed to speculators and fear mongers.
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.
Loved this video. When I was growing up in SoCal my family would travel past San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant at least 4 to 6 times a year to visit friends. I remember watching it being built. Years later, when my kids were growing up, on our way to visit my parents who now lived in Vista, we would take them to the tide pools that were near the power plant. I've always wanted to go inside and visit the plant. This is, I guess, the closest I'll get to see it inside. Thank you.
In '71 or '72 we went on a tour there as field trip for school. "Atomic Energy" was considered to be the future of power generation at the time and this plant was one of the first few nuclear power plants to be commercially viable.
Of course, we didn't get the kind of access that you enjoyed here, but it was very exciting and interesting just the same. Later, in my teens, we would go and surf by it. I stepped on my first sea urchin there. They were especially abundant there as the water was warmed by the discharge from the plant. Great surf spot too!
I hope we will go back in times when we had trust in progress and science. It's a shame that installations like this, that can produce clean energy are closed down and replaced by burning fossil fuels!
In the case of California they are not being replaced by anything and it’s just stupid.
From an SRO at Arkansas Nuclear One. I was amused by the wire (mobile) assemblies mounted on the vent hoods over the vertical dry cask storage assemblies. I surmise they are installed to keep the gulls from setting there. Knowing how gulls will congregate on a warm surface to roost for the night, that would have been heaven for them.
Yeah that’s exactly why they are there. That area has a bunch of sea gull deterrence. They also have a laser system to scare them off.
Had the opportunity to work and camp at SONGS when Unit 1 was being decommissioned.
Whole crews of intermittent workers for Units 2 and 3 were rotated in and out.
Quite an amazing place cut into the coastline. Many diligent staff like what we saw here.
During decommissioning every square foot, or less is taken into the D&D process.
As a 4th Class Power Engineer (Canada) I thoroughly enjoyed the video and the tour. Thanks!
Is there such thing as a 1st class?
@@bugtusslealien3931 yes
The guy giving the tour is so knowledgable! What a cool experience.
I feel very lucky that I was able to be shown around and make this video.
Worked in the Zion, IL., Commonwealth Edison facility as a contractor for years and this brings back memories. Passed the San Onofre plant many time going up and down the freeway as my brother lives in Orange County, CA. Didn't know they were decommissioning it.
Yup, 2013 is the year, if I remember correctly, due to several reasons
Mitsubishi set the whole thing in motion when they screwed a steam generator replacement.
Was it Zion Station?
@@logan5girl405 Yes it was. Zion, Illinois
@@williamalderson6677didnt they shut that one down because an operator did a big no no?
Fascinating video thanks Drew and the Crew at San Onofre for allowing us this glimps into the workings of the decommissioning.
Man I've been out of nuclear for 2 months now (NMP/JAF - took a corporate job with the parent company) and watching this stuff makes me miss the hell out of working in the plant. Nuclear is a crazy place (we made power, not logic) but it was still the coolest place to work with the best co-workers you can ask for.
Worked at a plant during construction as a pipefitter and later went back and worked security so I have been inside just about everyplace before it was hot. Odd when you go back and look at the places people can no longer go and think I use to sit 20 feet from where the core is and eat lunch. And yet odd to walk right up to a fuel rod after it comes off the truck and it is safe until it gets used
Thats incredible, thanks for sharing. How many powerplants like this did you work on?
The Uranium in an unused fuel rod isn't very radioactive, BUT, get several tons of those rods together close enough, and you wouldn't want to be anywhere near it. Yep, it's pretty amazing stuff.
Awesome video. I grew up in San Onofre base housing from 1989 till 1994. I lived lived behind the complex on the other side of I5. But surfed close to the plant.
Its a very beautiful area. The beach is super rocky...like small river rocks.
Hanford worker here. Thanks for the great video and the attention to ALARA. God bless.
Glad you appreciated it.
👍👍👌👌 Well done! I worked in the nuclear power industry for 35 years, but am now retired. Your video brings back some good memories.
The downside of plants having to increase security so much is that the visibility and education the community goes way down and that causes suspicion. When I was a kid we used to get tours of the local nuclear plants and they were both amazing in technology and impeccable from a cleanliness/maintenance perspective.
This was very interesting. We have a plant being decommissioned in Plymouth Massachusetts called pilgrim, the public is fighting them from dumping the cooling pond water into Cape Cod Bay..
The whole thing freaks me out. But this video in particular seemed like they were doing things properly.
Thank you as always Drew
Great video.
Maybe I should reach out to them...see if I can do a video about the site.
That would be killer!!!
I’ll take you to dinner too!
Great job. Brings back memories of construction at SONGS. I spent a lot of time in the FHB. 1979 to 1985.
Very interesting. Amazing how safe the places are and low the radiation is. Too bad the media is so ignorant about these places.
They're not ignorant. They choose to use fear-inducing news to make money.
What better way to brainwash the masses than with fear?
radia tion and contamina tion controlis very high tech there's a lot of man-hours that go into track inc contamina and trending such title ten code of federal regulation part 20 " standards for radiation protection" ifederal is the federal law that covers what radiation protection tech nicians do, any violation of the standard is a violation of federal law, which is why tech nicians are always in the plant when work is being per formed as radiation protection tech nicians we watch the work being per formed to ensure the workers are following their work in structionswe tell them where to stand as they work. it's all about limiting radiation exposure limiting radiation exposure is why we maintainstrick contamination con trols we dont' want any one taking radioactivematerial home lose surface con tamina tion cann get out of control real quickif workers are sloppy as tech we watch how the work is per formed if it's highly contaminated work we have the workers change gloves oftenthethrow out he gloves, rad protection is atough joband gets real tough if the worok in structions are not followedif a worker stands in the wrong place and picks up more exposure than was anticipated, then questions get askedit used to be if a worker got 100 cpm,counts per minute on a hand held frisker then the worker would get grilled as to what he did he would be expected to retrace mentally and maybe find he wasn't allowed to go back to work guys who routinely get contaminated will get extra"help by being bird dogged by radiation protection, if his work habits are sloppy we don't want to have to continually in vestigate radioligal issues, it's our job to protect he public from the hazards of ionizing radiation when it comes right down to it we protect the gene pool, a lot of technicians don't really know what our job comes downt o that toevery bit of design in the plant,, the design of the fuel, the safety systems the containment structure the, reactor vessel head, operator training all are part of keeping the public safe, it all works as a synergistic, whole verything that has to do withe nuclear fuel cycle falls under 10 cfr 20 and that includes mining and fuel manufacture it's interesting job radiation protection you really cannot afford to relax or let your guard down, If i ever get back to work, I'm going to seek permission to video under vessel work which is interesting and physically demanding under vessel work in a boiling water reacto consists of removing the con trol rod drive mechanisms while water coming directly from the reactor vessel pours on to the worker they're dressed in plastic suits to which air is supplied years ago i was covering under vessel when the workers air supply ran outI was told over the head set I was wearing send him out, but his manager didn't know hjat was happening,, they sent him back in he didn't yet realize he wasn't getting air we call the particular suit he was wearing a bubble hood they have a large volume and the way they're put on allows for minima air leakage his bubble hood hadnt't yet deflated its ' hard to explain the process in order to get to under vessel in this particular plant you have to crawl down a temporary track, so the worker crawled backout, when he finally got out he was officially out of air we cut people out of those particularsuits using surgical scissors so as to not stab the worker with pointed scissors, any way as soon as he was cut out he passed out this is what makes radiation protection trickyevery thig has got wo work ever ybody has to be aware of what's happenin g, I have had one guy die on a crew I was covering; he had a heart condition it was known sadly he was cleared to go back to work in oneof the most stressfull jobs nuclearpower has to offer, that was my worst day in nuclear power, there's nothing that can make you feel more helpless having that happen. I went back to my trailer wishing my wife was with me, I really needed a hug, that was years ago and it still chokes me up the gut had a fifteen year old son., it should have never happened.
That yellow foil wrapped around the tube doesn't look safe
It’s too bad that when there is a rare, unnecessary mistake, the fallout lasts for longer than our species will.
Clicked for the thumbnail, stayed for the full story! Thank you for these videos! Fascinating stuff
Glad you enjoyed it.
I worked to build Units 2 & 3 as well as shutdowns on the original Unit 1, IMO, it's criminal shame to destroy Units 2 &3. Especially as California utilities buy power from the dirt-burning (coal) power plants in the Four Corners area.
There are four reasons water is such a great radiation shield. One water is dense about 1g/ml. Two, Water has pretty good thermal capacity. Three, Water is a liquid, which has the advantage of molecules moving quite freely when imparted with excess energy. This allows very even distribution of this energy (as opposed to a solid molecular lattice). Finally water has a pretty high ratio of space taken up by protons and neutrons; which give it a very high chance of interacting with, deflecting, or being hit by a neutron.
your point is,.??..nuke is dangerous, poison, kills millions. only reason we have nuke reactors,,is the military..
It doesn’t kill millions…where are you getting that from?
Deionized water can't be irradiated. That's the number one reason.
It can all be irradiated, doesn’t matter if it’s deionized. It can also be changed into tritium from neutrons hitting it.
You don't have a clue lol
The reason water makes such a great radiation shield is because it's mostly hydrogen.
The rest of everything you mentioned is irrelevant to the idea.
Dude. Your video is like a full course level on intro to a nuclear facility job training type video. This video would be worth millions of a company hired you and you made it for free. Thank you. Super cool video.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Nuclear power is one of the safest sources of power generation both for people and environmental and it needs to be taken care of properly to be safe which for the most part is not a problem
Exactly.
So interesting to see inside a plant like this. I have always been a pro nuclear power person so I find these videos fascinating. I live in the UK, about 20 miles away from Hinkley Point Nuclear power station. Hinkley Point B - a gas cooled reactor started producing power back in 1976. It was shut down for the final time in August this year. But it is by far not the end of the line for nuclear power production at Hinkley because two new reactors are being built. When online they should provide power for over half a century to come. I think each of the two plants are going to produce 1.6mw in electrical power. Such a shame that poorly designed plants have in the past given nuclear such a bad name. And when you consider the current fuel situation, it's a shame we don't have many more nuclear power stations in our country. I think with well over half a century of knowledge behind us, mankind is more than capable of building nuclear plants that will operate safely throughout their life time.
Hinkley Point C won't be anything like A and B though, A were homegrown Magnox units and B were homegrown AGR units, both of these designs used CO2 as coolant making them safer than water-cooled reactors, C on the other hand is going to be just another water-cooled reactor built by the French and owned by the Chinese. We can thank the Tories for that, between 1979 and 1997 if it wasn't nailed down the Tories sold it off and in 1994 it was the turn of British Nuclear to go the same way as the rest of our industries did under Thatcher and Major.
The problem is only in part the poorly designed plants. Also not only the bad maintenance (France, looking at you, too) and corporate greed. The ugly thing is that all the safety calculations from the height of the nuclear era turned out to be wrong - and they tried their very best to be conservative and cautious. But they expected like one major accident in 300 years with a massive amounts of active plants, and reality ran through that error budget within 50 years. The question that needs to be addressed is none other than how we're supposed to run 250 more years accident-free *knowing* that those safety calculations were underestimating the risks of operation. How to factor in the extra issues of plants being run beyond their calculated lifetime? They underestimated risks and for 20 years corps have reacted to that by ignoring how long those same people planned the plants to run. We know how to build safer plants (actually they overrun their construction times and budgets even more and get more complex), but instead of dealing with the risk - maybe even just accepting it - we are unable to get the discussion there and instead discuss how safe accident-free plants are and how safe the spent fuel is if you put it under concrete that lasts like 1/100 halftime. That ignorance is where the technology becomes infeasible. You need direct consequences for managers and engineers involved malicious shortcuts. You need a well educated public that can handle the fact that a worst case disaster changes the countryside but all non-disaster is what pays their standard of living. If we're just too stupid for that, it's much better to just stop 🛑 overconsuming.
1600 MW
@100SteveB While in the 1970s things might have looked very different, what with the oil cartel creating an oil crisis, and gouvernments wanting that sweet plutonium to pursue their cold war goals... You simply cannot justify nuclear today on an economic basis. Never mind risk, or environmental impact (although those do somewhat factor into the cost of financing such operations).
The simplest and most undeniable metric is the strike price:
* Hinkley Point C is currently projected to be 128.09GBP/MWh, if and when Hinkley does go online. It is currently projected for commissioning in 2028, after a projected 11.5ys construction time.
* Dogger Bank A,B and C are currently projected to be 49.77GBP (A) and 52.41GBP (B and C) per MWh. Offshore wind is still 3x as expensive as onshore wind, making it one of the most expensive forms of renewable energy. Actual construction of the first bits (laying the undersea cables) started in 2022 and while each section should have a commissioning time of between 2-3 years, the first turbines are already delivering power.
If you look at construction cost, a similar story emerges:
* An EDF EPR costs 16B GBP to build (hinkley) for 1.6GW at a theoretical 90% capacity factor (yeah, right, the french are more like 72% on a good year), or 11.11GBP per watt (effective, with capacity factor).
* Dogger Bank C will cost 3B GBP for 1.2GW nominal capacity, at a 60% capacity factor, or 4.17GBP per watt (effective).
Again, these numbers correlate to the strike price.
Even when using the overly expensive Tesla Megapacks (1000megapacks would cost 1593.27M usd,and hold 3854.40MWh) at 34c GBP per Wh, you can add 20Wh of battery storage per W of generating capacity for Dogger Bank to plug the difference with the EPR.
Then there is the decommissioning cost:
In September 2021, Belgian politicians made public the projected cost of decommissioning (and for long term storage) of the 7 ancient reactors in Belgium (6GW nominal capacity): 18B EUR, or 3B EUR per GW installed. This was the optimistic end of the scale that industry provided, as the greens leaked the upper projection at 42B EUR, or 7B EUR per GW. These numbers would add 8.5B GBP (9.6B EUR) or 19.8B GBP (22.4B EUR) to the cost of Hinkley. Or 2.9GBP and 6.9GBP per W (effective). Or another 8 to 20Wh of expensive battery storage for Dogger Bank. And even then there will be change left to pay for decommissioning of the off-shore wind park.
Whoever is still for nuclear today, has never looked at the actual numbers.
@@udirt In the entire history of US commercial nuclear power, not a single member of the public has been killed. That is an amazing record of safety.
I remember working at SONGS. I worked in Security for 8 years. It was a fun time. I also had a chance to work with the RPs with lead shielding inside containment during outages. That was also a blast. Jeff Carey was a great guy to work with.
Everyone there was very nice.
Yes, Jeff Carey is a good guy.
I worked at SONGS about a million years ago. It’s pretty cool to see it now.
I was very thankful to have had the opportunity to be there and see what I saw.
We need more of these plants.
The whole body contamination detector was very interesting. The plants that i worked at had detectors that scanned the left and right side of the body instead of front and back, it seemed much more ergonomic to use than the one shown. I am kind of curios as to which was older and what the pros and cons are between the types.
Great Video! I love seeing nuclear power portrayed in such a positive and informative manner!
I try and approach the subject of radiation and nuclear power as neutral as I can be. I feel like that's a pretty effective way to show it to people that might not know much about it.
Great video, miss my days as a Procedure Writer at DC Cook Nuclear Station-great team to work with.
I spent my career as a renewable energy infrastructure technician and if I had to pick between wind or solar for longevity, ease of operation, power output and environmental impact and ROI... I'd choose nuclear.
Spent the last years of my career working for GE. Did you know a solar panel has to be used for 7 years before it "pays back" the electrical debt it took to create it? The silicon has to be grown in vats using huge amounts of electricity. There's also many toxic chemicals used and other materials which all have to be mined, refined, and smelted. Typically in other countries where their emissions controls are unregulated.
On top of that, when the panels (we call the modules, but y'all call them panels. Technically a panel is made up of modules...but if I say module everyone's eyes glaze over) aren't easily recycled.
Pretty soon there will be mountains of panels laying around waiting to be recycled.
Except that recycling process is going to use lots of electricity too.
The wind turbine blades are fiberglass, and are already creating a problem. They were scattered all over the old fields I worked on, covered in grease and oil. Nowhere for them to go, but they sure have created a habitat for rattlesnakes.
But everyone who doesn't know crap is always like "fill the deserts with them!"
Now you need more transmission lines. You're talking hundreds of thousands of tons of aluminum, steel, copper and alloys (which all has to be mined and smelted, then cast or extruded...oh then shipped here!) just to run that power out across the desert to get it to where it needs to go.
And because you've stuck all that power generation infrastructure in the middle of nowhere... there's more line-loss getting it to somewhere.
And due to the heat, everything gets derated....
Then people have to go live nearby to maintain it.
Then there's nuclear.
There's over 400 nuclear power reactors operating around the world, yet how often do we hear about major accidents?
Mostly Fukishima with the tidal wave. We've been learning from the past mistakes and incorporating them into newer, safer power generation technology.
A properly set up operation today can re-enrich the waste with a breeder reactor and generate power off both sides of the operation, generating even fewer amounts of actual waste and greatly increasing the operating life of the fuel.
Now lets talk about draw. Megawatts v megavars.
With renewables, they're always outputting 100% of what they can produce at any given time, whereas a steam-driven turbine can spool-up to match the load.
So say it's summer and Dryer's ice cream company wants to turn on a whole bank of freezers after a maintenance cycle... that's a lot of inrush current, ok maybe they start them in series... but where does that power COME FROM if renewables are always outputting what they can, when they can??
So now you're like.. oh we'll use the renewables to charge batteries, and we'll store the power! Wonderful! Now we're mining F-tons of lithium and other rare earth minerals and no matter what anyone tells you, any tonnage of it is ALL conflict mined... but everyone needs it so no one is really pushing that whole story.
But besides that, now you've got massive loads of more mining, more refining, more smelting, more manufacturing, to produce the batteries you're going to use. Because lithium has such a higher energy density than lead-acid types.
So now you've actually created a much larger carbon footprint by insisting on using renewables, than if you'd used COAL FIRED PLANTS in the first place.
You know what's in the gearbox of a 3MW wind turbine? A few hundred gallons of OIL. Know what all the wiring insulation is made of, that runs up and down tower and all over underground? Hydrocarbons. You have any idea how many 5gal buckets of grease and lube get pumped in to purge bearings?
How about electric pitch systems with their backup batteries? 6 batteries per blade, 18 batteries per turbine. So for just 100 turbines that's 1,800 gel-cell batteries that need to get replaced. But since the desert isn't a cool location, those batteries won't last 5 years, more like 2. So for a thousand turbines that's 18,000 15Ah batteries you're replacing every two years. For 5,000 turbines that's 90,000 batteries.
What's that, you're using a hydraulic pitch system? (no chance you're gonna get me climbing those disgusting oiltraps) now we're talking.... how many barrels of hydraulic fluid?
There's nothing "green" about renewable energy.
Renewables have their place, but it's NOT powering massive sections of the grid and being relied on solely. The Green New Deal is a LIE being sold to you by ignorant politicians who don't have a clue what they're talking about.
You don't get to just produce 95% of your products in other countries then act like that pollution isn't being created because it isn't being created HERE. That's called a shell-game, it's what trickster's play. Which is also basically cap-&-trade in a nutshell... a big shell-game.
And now you're using up dozens of square miles to sporadically generate the same amount of power that a square mile nuclear station can generate reliably without ceasing for 30 years or longer.
But yeah, go on with the whole "fill the deserts with solar panels and wind turbines" thing, you'll continue to fool the masses into thinking you know something, and you'll continue to sound like an absolute fool to anyone who actually knows what's going on.
The next time you guys hear someone say that line... start hitting them with these facts and see what they have to say about any of it. What you'll find out is they have no answers, because they aren't used to dealing with facts, just rhetoric. It all falls to pieces under the slightest scrutiny if you're aware of what you're looking at.
I love solar, I'm fully off-grid. No grid-tie and live quite comfortably. Just replaced the old Outback 240V FXR dual inverter system with a new SolArk12kW with 8kW pv, and 21kW AES "48v" LiFePO4 batteries running canbus comms to put the system into closed-loop operation.
It's not "green", it's renewable... but really it's easier just to call it "off-grid". It's not on the grid, it's off the grid. My electric bill is essentially $150/mo across 20 years.
There's no reason to bring into it the inherent green-ness, or lack-thereof. It all took fossil fuels to create, but it allows me to live "off" the grid. That's it. No extension cord, y'all have your blackouts and I do my own thing. Guess what happens if there's no sun for 4 days? A propane backup genny kicks on. Guess what happens if it doesn't kick on? A gasoline-powered genny kicks on. So propane is the 40kW primary but I can charge this bank on as little as a 4kW generator.
Try that with a 48vdc lead acid bank.
If you want to know about renewables... go ask someone who works in renewables.
But the next time someone says to "fill the deserts" with them... he doesn't know jack.
I 100% respect the let me fix the sign real quick because that's me in the middle of an interview, conversation don't matter😅
Jeff likes to present a good work space.
@19:28...also, spent fuel pool is borated (boric acid dissolved in water) to attenuate neutrons and prevent inadvertent criticality, in addition to solid absorbers in fuel racks themselves.
Wow!! Very interesting and informative...Being from Canada, I visited Chalk River nuclear plant in Ontario during the seventies. They make isotopes for nuclear medicine at this plant.
I find the production of medical isotopes super fascinating. Hopefully I’ll do a video on it in the future.
This was so enjoyable to watch. The strict measures they need to take, how the water shields some of the radiation. The guy who you "interviewed" or whom guided you through the facility was so keen to share info on it
Everyone that worked there was extremely professional and nice.
I grew up in New Mexico near quite a few uranium mines and a yellowcake processing plant. I always wanted to tour a nuclear power plant to see where the good stuff from those rocks ended up.
Wow I never knew their safety protocols were so sophisticated that's crazy
Excellent coverage and interview. Props to the guys showing you around and really diving into the technical aspects of all the processes involved. They could definitely see you were knowledgeable about the subject which gave them the green light to get into specifics which I loved.
Grew up in San Diego and have driven by San Onofre dozens of times. Sad to see it go and to see nuclear energy as a whole trending towards decommissioning rather than iteration and expansion.
Yeah, it’s disappointing to see San Onofre going away. But I’m so thankful that I got the chance to meet everyone there and make these videos.
Love this video so much. I'm no where near a scientist and i can still understand most of what is being said, nuclear material is just so interesting and i would never see inside places like this in my life otherwise. Really valuable information and presented really well with clear audio and video. Looking forward to watching your other videos, keep up the good work.
Thanks.
Excellent presentation.
I did x-ray/cat scan for 23 years and had a fundamental education in radiation.
Nothing here surprises me except how thorough the rad protection and monitoring is.
I'm highly impressed!
Glad you liked it.
So underrated channel! Your content is amazing and educating youre just waiting to blow up.
Thanks. Words of encouragement are always nice to hear.
I'd agree w that, Drew. Top drawer content presented in an informative way. Biggest fan right here! Waiting to blow up is right! Like a nuke! Ha ha.
Hahaha…good one.
My mom retired from Duke a couple years ago. She did many many years, in the spent fuel pool. She was part of an outage crew, that only did outages, in the NC area. She retired as a manager over a department involved in nuclear safety somehow. I'm not as up on her later career, but she came up through this area of McGuire nuclear power plant, and that and Okonee, Blues Creek, Dan River, those are all plants she was associated with. The lady worked 50/60 hours a week, or more, for decades. She's earned her rest for sure. It was really cool seeing this, and seeing the type of things she did on the daily. She has actually years ago, been at this plant as well, in the beginning phases of the decommission, if I'm not mistaken.
Blues creek and Dan River are not nuclear plants
@@ronfogle5590 she was in the safety management gig at that point then. Catawba is another one she was at some. Not much, since it was 15 minutes from home. Can't have that now lol.
I am always surprised how many different full body detector exist. Almost every facility has a different make/model.
It's comical to hear people get all obsessed with green energy and electric cars but then they're totally against nuclear energy out of ignorance
100% in agreement with you.
I think Chernobyl helped the demiseof
@@BenskiBoi Politicians and media did that.
You have to be suffering from some sort of brain mass loss..
@@Roastpeef To whom is this comment directed?
Man I really enjoyed this video. I worked on the environmental permitting and documentation for the decommissioning as a consultant. I think I checked at the end and had spent over 900 hours on the single document, touching all different areas of impact analysis and environmental review (even wrote one or two myself!) takes me back to a more intellectually stimulating time in my life.
Glad you enjoyed it. Making the video was super interesting. It’s one of those things where you wish you could just absorb more info if you weren’t so focused on making a video about the whole thing.
I worked at San Onofre (SONGS) from 2008 - 2014 as an NSO1; been in every location they toured...ahh the memories, like the worker that fell into the spent fuel pool during one of our outages replacing fuel rods. No idea what happened to him, but I always stood a little farther away from them during my rounds.
Shout out to all the former friend there!
I'm just reading up on it all now.. Apparently he's good, and even went right back to work same day. That's fng wild though. I worked for a malt production plant and on my day off a veteran worker fell into a grain bin by accident, and no idea how long he was there before co workers found him, but he was swallowed up as you just sink. Pretty tragic. Now I understand why my parents didn't like us playing on snow piles that the plows made.
If he fell into the SFP, he got wet and made fun of by his co-workers. Maybe picked up a few mrem of dose in the process which is nothing. The worse part would be if he was a RFO contractor, he probably wasn't invited back for the next RFO.
Ask the worker if he glowed in the dark. That what usually was said by site workers and security.
I was on the Mesa side in the garage from 2010-2012 and fueled the equipment at SONGS from time to time.
Wow, it's much appreciated you guy's created a Professional Honest Video, something Our Families can see and learn from. Bravo👏😎🙏💪☝👍🇺🇸
No problem. It was awesome making this video and meeting the people. Some of the people there were fans of the channel, which was great to hear. I hope in the future I can go to other facilities and give people an inside look and further demystify what goes on in a nuclear power station.
after seeing this video, I’m gonna watch every single video! Radioactive and the history of historical artifacts is something I enjoy watching. Thank you so much I love your channel.!!!❤❤❤❤🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Glad you are liking the content...more to come.
cant wait to check it all out my friend ! 🙌🏽🙌🏽
Extremely good content :)
Thanks for the tour ! Can't wait to watch the rest of your content.
I'm always working on more.
As someone that used to work at Macy's, and handled that fiestaware with my bare hands and even let customers do it, and then watching you hold up a geiger counter to such tiles and it basically sounding like a flatlining heart rate monitor... that puts things in a bit more perspective.
Very cool and informative! Spent 4 years stationed right there at Camp San Mateo. Saw the plant every day. The Marines affectionately called it the "Dolly Parton Memorial" 😆
This is taking me back to my days working at Nukes. Spent a lot time in the SFP building and down in the fuel transfer pit and reactor cavity and containment buildings and aux buildings (etc). Almost all of my jobs and jumps were in the PA (protected area) or RCA. Cant tell you how many pre-job briefs, walk downs, and PCs (protective clothing) I've been in. Been in some pretty "hot" areas in the plant.
Do you make good money in this field?
@@leahocon6231 yes, absolutely. The job requires extra training and clearance above the required skill of whatever your trade is, like Ironworker or pipefitter, so that's one reason for the higher pay than just a normal, non-nuke ironworker. Also, most of the plants hire union workers, and there is slightly higher wages for union workers vs non-union. A lot of the guys I knew worked at nukes for 6-8 months of the year, then took the rest of the year off. One downside may be that you have to travel to the sites around the US for outages. Might be an upside if you're into that. Each state has different wages, but typically the North and the West pay the most with the South being the lowest, but still well above average wages for the area.
it's called blue collar paradise for a reason
@@DeanFerraro Hmm, didnt hear that one. It's still hard work, so I wouldnt reallly call it paradise.
The lion kingdom's electric bill was $50 when the nuclear power plants were running. Now it's $200. It was a lot cheaper despite all the safety protocols required.
Very cool, I was stationed at Camp San Mateo just about 12 miles from the plant and saw it all the time and always wondered what it looked like inside the facility.
Super cool. Thank you for making the effort to put this together and share it with the world.
Good video. I worked at Palisades for 30+ years, first as an unlicensed Operator and then as a Certified Senior Reactor Operator in Operations Training. It was interesting to have a chance to see your refueling facilities and dry fuel storage areas.
It is a shame to think of the capital expended in developing safe nuclear workers and safe operating plants and then losing the experience, knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the production of non-poluting safe electrical energy.
My fiance's aunt and uncle just retired from Palisades, also after 30 years. Jinny and Rich
@asssvsdf I know both of them. They were both highly regarded by everyone at the plant. Wish them well for me if you have the opportunity. Thanks.
Amazing content for such a small channel. Thank you algorithm.
We need more nuke plants. Great job showing all the safeguards in place, I wish more people would educate themselves on these not-so-scary facilities.
I grew up (late 20 yr old) in nuclear power plant design and fabrication and visited my share of these sites, like River Bend, Perry, Byron and Braidwood, Clinton, and others! We designed and fabbed airlocks, spent fuel pool gates, equipment hatches and middle proof doors.
Watching videos like this makes me realize how unintelligent I am. I’m an electrician that’s worked in power plants like this. The people that design these power stations are super genius. Absolutely amazing.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Good to see that the plant is in such great condition.
you're exactly right.
also, there's no good reason to shut it down.
we're gonna need it.
Thank You Drew!! Learned a lot!
You and me both.
this dude pretty much covers the entire basics of rad con. good video
You are on the best way of becoming my favourite TH-camr! I hope the Fanbase of Bionerd23 discovers you. Greetings from Germany!
Thanks so much. I’ve been to Germany and Austria a couple times and it’s such a cool area with some amazing history. Glad you are enjoying the videos.
@@RadioactiveDrew Well Bavaria and Austria are beautiful for sure. North and Westgermany is like... Just flat 😂
@@dirty9358 yeah that's what I've been told by other Germans.
We need more Nuclear Power stations
The problem is that there will always be human error.
@@lisaschuster686so make sure you train the staff right.
I'm not sure why this popped up in my algorithm, but I'm glad it did. Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it.
60’s tech at it’s best. We need to build new reactors now!
Real quick you could swim to about 6ft from the fuel element in the fuel pool and still be fine...the tsunami question/answer is part of the new FLEX directive implemented since the Fukushima accident .
Well even if the site suddenly dropped below sea level and the entire fuel storage pad was underwater. It can’t imagine it cause much of a problem. Those canisters are very well built and even under sea water they would be able to hold up for a long time. Also the sea water would keep everything cool.
I worked at the Oconee Nuclear Station in Senca, SC, between work jumps I would remove my safety equipment near the fuel pool, it was in the containment building & when the shield cover was removed you could see the fuel pool close up. The blue light was memorizing, Beautiful Brillant Blue. Duke was a fantastic company and I enjoyed my job immensely! Worked with so many great and talented men!!!
Really cool video! Thanks for your work creating this content 👍🏻👍🏻
No problem. Glad you liked the video.
At 22:40, the problem with the telescoping tube in a hot fuel pool is that you are essentially "cutting a hole" in the moderator (the water or borated-water) and if you are at the other end of pole, you just opened a hole whereby gamma radiation can stream at you from the source.
At a plant in Missouri, a Rad tech did just that as the underwater transfer cart passed by and he wanted to get a reading with the detector near the fuel bundle cart as it passed by. He got it alright, just over 5000 mrem which was his NRC yearly allowance as a rad worker. He spent the next year assigned to low level areas like tool cleaning as a result. Tough lesson learned.
Reminds me of an accident I read about involving moving a fuel rod either from a spent fuel pool or a top-loading reactor like an RBMK or a Magnox, either way the machine that was lifting the rod lifted it out of it's cladding/sleeve causing everyone in the area to make a dash for the exits before they could get a tan.
when I was younger, I worked at a nuclear power plant, it was honestly one of the coolest jobs I have done. The things you see/learn. Was super enjoyable to watch this
Glad you enjoyed it. I hope I get to do some more nuclear power station videos. Those places are extremely impressive.
@RadioactiveDrew they are, I'm shocked at how much they allowed you to record, over 10 years ago a simple photo inside the controlled area was a HUGE issue. They take security very seriously. If you're able to see the core, (video cameras definitely wouldn't be allowed...) but the view.... dude its... awesome
@@StephanHarz the video did take a bit of planning, about a month with background checks. I only got to see the core from the security video feed. I wanted to get some footage in there but it was a much bigger deal.