I worked with Westinghouse Nuclear as a refueler, and I actually did a refueling on this plant. Neat to see so many things that I have not seen in decades.
I was in high school in Ontario about 5 miles away when the B generator popped, and I lived 3 miles away for about 25 years .... even wound up working at Ginna in 1985. It was nice place to work - it was clean, well maintained and the people were decent. The place hadn't changed much from the video.
When I was a kid, pre 9/11, you could get tours inside the plant from the reactor room to the control room. My dad and I went, it was equal parts fascinating and terrifying. I've got a postedboard from there with a cutaway diagram of everything in the plant that they gave me.
Just came across this video. I worked on the steam generator replacement there in 1996. When the plant was designed, there wasn’t adequate headroom inside the secondary to lift the steam generators up and out. They had to cut two openings in the dome, and lift the generators out with a Lamson crane positioned outside.
10mintwo better surveillance procedures, better maintenance procedures and probabilistic risk assessment informed inspection schedules are some of the reasons for the decrease in outage time.
Where did my comment go!?! Anyway that guy said the blue glow was due to electrons moving through the water FASTER than the speed of light! Pretty impressive!
bobl78 actually a common inspection and repair technique. Commercial power radiation is not as dangerous as the oil and gas industry have lobbied for you to believe. Think about it. If it was as dangerous as they say we would have all died when the Chernobyl accident happened since that was a catastrophic worse case scenario. Yet we're all still here and there are people who live in the exclusion zone today. As a matter of fact people worked at units 1,2and 3 for decades after the accident right next to a reactor that had a massive steam explosion that exposed the core directly to the environment.
When a mote is moving fast than the light speed IN THAT MATERIAL (in the water an alpha mote is faster than the light. in the vacuum and in the air the light is faster than an alpha mote), that mote produces light shockwaves (similar to a sonic bang). This cause the Cherenkov radiation (also known as Cherenkov light or Cherenkov blue).
Can anyone tell me why they unload the fuel rods underwater to contain radiation but they unload new rods outside of the water with people standing next to them? Why would they need that protection to remove them but not to unpack a fresh fuel rod?
+Michael Belloli Fresh rod's have very low levels of radioactivity. It is not until they achieve criticality in a critical assembly that they become highly dangerous.
+Michael Belloli Uranium is not particularly radioactive or toxic.(indeed, lead and mercury are probably a bit more poisonous if eaten) However as it splits into smaller atoms, those are unstable and break apart as well. This means the rods end up with a mix of new isotopes inside as the reaction goes on. Many of these daughter isotopes can either be very active, or poison the reaction. Hence the need for refueling. Amongst those produced are Radon, Francium, Protactinium, Polonium, and Thorium.
+Michael Belloli In it's unreacted state, Uranium is only mildly radioactive, and is generally safe to handle with sensible precautions. The cause of all of the problems with solid nuclear fuel - radiation, chemical toxicity, and decay heat - are caused by fission products, the daughter atoms that result when you split uranium in half. Some of these have relatively short half lives, and there's an inverse relationship between half life and radioactive intensity, so that makes them very "hot", both radiation wise, and thermally. Once an appreciable amount of fission products have built up in the solid matrix of the fuel, it becomes very unsafe to handle until it is chemically reprocessed, and the fission products are removed.
I remember when RG&E Ginna plant went online. They promised a KWH for 2 cents, which never developed. Instead in 1965 the price per KWH jumped from 4 cents to 6 cents. That prompted the acronym RG&E to be understood as "Robbery, Greed, and Extortion". The projected life of the plant was only 25 years, yet I hear it still is in operation 48 years later. When the "B" steam generator blew out in the 80's, I moved out of the area.
It is a great technology and most plants had license renewals. Nuclear was pretty new so the NRC estimated 40 years. Then in the 2000s 20 year extensions were granted. I guess in the future we will see what happens then! Hopefully a new plant is built or if fit, an extension to be granted. Unfortunately there are no new plants. Nine Mile Point proposed for a third unit pressurized reactor in 2008 alongside their two boiling reactors. But they withdrew the request around 2011ish to build one (I wish I can find out more about it, only see info on the NRC).
Mark is right. Ginna is a PWR not a BWR. Not to mention, that Ginna's PWR is Westinghouse, while Fukushima's BWRs are designed by GE. Both plants were built around the same time (late 60s).
Fukushima were GE BWR's in pressure suppression containments. This is a PWR (Westinghouse I think) that operates under higher pressure with isolated secondary loops for steam generation and a completely different type of containment.
47 year old video... Same reactor designs today... We should've been on molten salt reactors by now, but thanks to environmentalists we're still stuck with oversized, overpriced, overengineered, dangerous reactor designs...
No Need...Those Who did Have it on Needed it. This is a PWR Style Reactor The Radioactivity is contained in a Closed Loop. Only those Working Within that Loop And With the Actual Reactor Itself Would need Protection.
+BLAINE301 They had so much sketchy shit, all of these guys are prolly dead. well that worked inside the reactor. anyone else is okay. but yeah the guys out on the turbine floor were riding loads lmao
+mitchsfarm The uranium is sintered metal pellets, wrapped in zirconium, contained in steel boxes, and much of the process is underwater - there is no dust for them to inhale. No one enters this area while the reactor is on so its not particularly dangerous in the containment building during refueling. The turbine hall is a different building from the containment isnit, and is not a particularly hazardous area even when the reactor is on.
Chainsaw Aardvark My pops sat on a reactor face while the reactor was at 0 percent, and they were checking for radioactive leaks. Candu's in my opinion are the best reactor ever made. Refuel while the core is at 100 percent power, not to mention all the other great things that our reactor has.
Chainsaw Aardvark You don't even go into the vault now without a full blown air suit that you need to fill with air every 3 minutes to make sure you have clean oxygen. Man if you get radiation on the bottom of your boots, they'll know when you leave and scan out, like you see these guys refueling this bitch without any real safety, rubbing all up and down this reactor without hardly any shielding at all. I really would love to work in a Nuclear Plant now, as thats what I'm working too as a Apprentice Millwright. I'd really like to get into this business.
I worked with Westinghouse Nuclear as a refueler, and I actually did a refueling on this plant. Neat to see so many things that I have not seen in decades.
I was in high school in Ontario about 5 miles away when the B generator popped, and I lived 3 miles away for about 25 years .... even wound up working at Ginna in 1985. It was nice place to work - it was clean, well maintained and the people were decent. The place hadn't changed much from the video.
When I was a kid, pre 9/11, you could get tours inside the plant from the reactor room to the control room. My dad and I went, it was equal parts fascinating and terrifying. I've got a postedboard from there with a cutaway diagram of everything in the plant that they gave me.
Just came across this video. I worked on the steam generator replacement there in 1996.
When the plant was designed, there wasn’t adequate headroom inside the secondary to lift the steam generators up and out. They had to cut two openings in the dome, and lift the generators out with a Lamson crane positioned outside.
Interestingly, the comment about nuclear plants being among the safest industrial facilities still holds true to this day. Amazing!
Not really, there was Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukishima in 2011.
Its crazy as hell to see my name, Ginna, with Nuclear Power Plant behind it....
10 week refueling outages are almost unheard of these days. Ginna's refueling outage starts next week and will last just 3 weeks.
How were these times able to be reduced so dramatically in recent decades?
10mintwo better surveillance procedures, better maintenance procedures and probabilistic risk assessment informed inspection schedules are some of the reasons for the decrease in outage time.
We need liquid metal cooled fast breeder nuclear reactor with online refuelling.
I refueled this plant back in the 80's. I worked for Westinghouse.
awesome video! !Rochester NY 👍👍
Where did my comment go!?! Anyway that guy said the blue glow was due to electrons moving through the water FASTER than the speed of light! Pretty impressive!
FASTER than the speed of light IN WATER, not vacuum.
Yes its called Cherenkov radiation
that would take a lot of patience for a job like that
@ 5:34 you can tell that guy totally wants to score all that bubble rap and take it home for his kids to play with.
For some reason this comment gave me hope and joy.
Diving into the reactor ???
bobl78 actually a common inspection and repair technique. Commercial power radiation is not as dangerous as the oil and gas industry have lobbied for you to believe. Think about it. If it was as dangerous as they say we would have all died when the Chernobyl accident happened since that was a catastrophic worse case scenario. Yet we're all still here and there are people who live in the exclusion zone today. As a matter of fact people worked at units 1,2and 3 for decades after the accident right next to a reactor that had a massive steam explosion that exposed the core directly to the environment.
Electrons moving faster than the speed of light?????
Cherenkov Radiation which the narrator failed to explain properly or give credit to the person who discovered it.
When a mote is moving fast than the light speed IN THAT MATERIAL (in the water an alpha mote is faster than the light. in the vacuum and in the air the light is faster than an alpha mote), that mote produces light shockwaves (similar to a sonic bang). This cause the Cherenkov radiation (also known as Cherenkov light or Cherenkov blue).
Faster than the speed of light in water. Light travels at different speeds in different mediums.
Can anyone tell me why they unload the fuel rods underwater to contain radiation but they unload new rods outside of the water with people standing next to them? Why would they need that protection to remove them but not to unpack a fresh fuel rod?
+Michael Belloli Fresh rod's have very low levels of radioactivity. It is not until they achieve criticality in a critical assembly that they become highly dangerous.
+Ledmaster really....never knew that. I assumed they would be dangerous before hand too. What changes them after they are used?
+Michael Belloli Neutrons, as they split inside the core they create lots of heat and radiation, that is where the radiation comes from.
+Michael Belloli Uranium is not particularly radioactive or toxic.(indeed, lead and mercury are probably a bit more poisonous if eaten) However as it splits into smaller atoms, those are unstable and break apart as well. This means the rods end up with a mix of new isotopes inside as the reaction goes on. Many of these daughter isotopes can either be very active, or poison the reaction. Hence the need for refueling. Amongst those produced are Radon, Francium, Protactinium, Polonium, and Thorium.
+Michael Belloli In it's unreacted state, Uranium is only mildly radioactive, and is generally safe to handle with sensible precautions. The cause of all of the problems with solid nuclear fuel - radiation, chemical toxicity, and decay heat - are caused by fission products, the daughter atoms that result when you split uranium in half. Some of these have relatively short half lives, and there's an inverse relationship between half life and radioactive intensity, so that makes them very "hot", both radiation wise, and thermally. Once an appreciable amount of fission products have built up in the solid matrix of the fuel, it becomes very unsafe to handle until it is chemically reprocessed, and the fission products are removed.
cool!
If the same people designed the reactor that did the sound in this video....
I remember when RG&E Ginna plant went online. They promised a KWH for 2 cents, which never developed. Instead in 1965 the price per KWH jumped from 4 cents to 6 cents. That prompted the acronym RG&E to be understood as "Robbery, Greed, and Extortion". The projected life of the plant was only 25 years, yet I hear it still is in operation 48 years later. When the "B" steam generator blew out in the 80's, I moved out of the area.
Still running today, 4/3/19!
It is a great technology and most plants had license renewals.
Nuclear was pretty new so the NRC estimated 40 years. Then in the 2000s 20 year extensions were granted. I guess in the future we will see what happens then! Hopefully a new plant is built or if fit, an extension to be granted.
Unfortunately there are no new plants. Nine Mile Point proposed for a third unit pressurized reactor in 2008 alongside their two boiling reactors. But they withdrew the request around 2011ish to build one (I wish I can find out more about it, only see info on the NRC).
very small reactor. identical to the Fukushima reactors. I love Cherenkov blue
Mark is right. Ginna is a PWR not a BWR. Not to mention, that Ginna's PWR is Westinghouse, while Fukushima's BWRs are designed by GE. Both plants were built around the same time (late 60s).
Fukushima were GE BWR's in pressure suppression containments. This is a PWR (Westinghouse I think) that operates under higher pressure with isolated secondary loops for steam generation and a completely different type of containment.
@@seanmckinnon4612
No, Fukushima was General Electric boiling water reactors.
How come I didn't see any feminists in this video, like what would they do if all men disappeared and this plant had a break down?
they will complain
dude cool it down girls are crafty as hell theyd figure it out
47 year old video... Same reactor designs today...
We should've been on molten salt reactors by now, but thanks to environmentalists we're still stuck with oversized, overpriced, overengineered, dangerous reactor designs...
We need liquid metal cooled fast breeder nuclear reactors.
Why no face masks or gear?
No Need...Those Who did Have it on Needed it. This is a PWR Style Reactor The Radioactivity is contained in a Closed Loop. Only those Working Within that Loop And With the Actual Reactor Itself Would need Protection.
+BLAINE301 They had so much sketchy shit, all of these guys are prolly dead. well that worked inside the reactor. anyone else is okay. but yeah the guys out on the turbine floor were riding loads lmao
+mitchsfarm The uranium is sintered metal pellets, wrapped in zirconium, contained in steel boxes, and much of the process is underwater - there is no dust for them to inhale. No one enters this area while the reactor is on so its not particularly dangerous in the containment building during refueling.
The turbine hall is a different building from the containment isnit, and is not a particularly hazardous area even when the reactor is on.
Chainsaw Aardvark My pops sat on a reactor face while the reactor was at 0 percent, and they were checking for radioactive leaks. Candu's in my opinion are the best reactor ever made.
Refuel while the core is at 100 percent power, not to mention all the other great things that our reactor has.
Chainsaw Aardvark You don't even go into the vault now without a full blown air suit that you need to fill with air every 3 minutes to make sure you have clean oxygen. Man if you get radiation on the bottom of your boots, they'll know when you leave and scan out, like you see these guys refueling this bitch without any real safety, rubbing all up and down this reactor without hardly any shielding at all.
I really would love to work in a Nuclear Plant now, as thats what I'm working too as a Apprentice Millwright. I'd really like to get into this business.