Nuclear Plant Breakdown | National Geographic

Engineers must replace a rotor in a nuclear plant that has powered 1,000,000 homes for five years.
➡ Subscribe: bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe
About National Geographic:
National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible.
Get More National Geographic:
Official Site: bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSite
Facebook: bit.ly/FBNatGeo
Twitter: bit.ly/NatGeoTwitter
Instagram: bit.ly/NatGeoInsta
World's Toughest Fixes : channel.nationalgeographic.com...
Nuclear Plant Breakdown | National Geographic
• Nuclear Plant Breakdow...
National Geographic
/ natgeo

[@murdoch3396]

My Grandfather was an iron worker in Berwick back in the 1970’s and he helped build those cooling towers. Very proud to see what he helped to create :)

[@johng4155]

This plant has Boiling Water Reactors. That is why the turbine is contaminated. The main steam lines come directly from the reactor.

[@crozz131]

For the BWR Turbines, they let them sit for while then give it a full cleaning. Most of the contamination is surface level so it comes off with the cleaning. The turbine will still be a source of radiation after the cleaning but it will be small. About as much as a microwave. It will then get shipped to a refurbish facility to be re worked then it may find its way back into the same unit some day or a similar one. Im a pipefitter so I cant comment on the work but Ive seen many done in the past.

[@user-zp2ek7kp8r]

Nuclear power is often misunderstood

[@ericliu5491]

Thank you for speaking up.

[@barbaradavis8372]

Thank you!

[@mattyjmar10]

0:44 Narrator: "If anything goes wrong, we could be talking about serious money." $10 Million: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@brevinainslie6357]

In the world of nuclear power- yes

[@MiningPhotography]

Fascinating video! I worked an outage in the Turbine Room of a TVA Coal Plant in Kentucky. It's one of the world's largest coal plants and we had to to a complete retrofit and overhaul on one of 3 Units. Unit 2 was the Unit and this video shows the process in pretty decent detail. Obviously it takes days, but this is pretty cool to watch in just a couple of minutes! LOL!

[@RingshadowCat]

As a Radworker, rock on national geographic. Re: Contamination, depends whether it's a BWR or PWR. In a BWR, a turbine will be contaminated, in a PWR, it won't be.

[@RingshadowCat]

It does. The turbine is radioactive. That's why everyone is in anti-cs and why everyone runs in with swiffer mops after they remove the turbine's casing. When the turbine is running, giant cement shields are in place to shield from any radioactive rays. Once the reactor is shut down and the turbine has had a few weeks, it' s just dealing with the contamination, mostly. This is all as far as I know, I've only personally seen a PWR opened up.

[@BigEvan96]

Having a nuclear reactor is not an act of war...Its so that an infinite amount of energy can support millions of homes and 10mill to replace it is well worth it.

[@user-gu2rs3mu5r]

Hello

[@Jim54_]

Our Civilisation’s rejection of Nuclear power was a massive mistake, and the environment has payed dearly for it as we continue to rely on fossil fuels for our electricity

[@ludolorandi]

You're right, but the MSRs I'm referring to come between the HP and LP stages of the turbine, where the exhaust steam from HP is reheated and the moisture it picks up is taken out again before entering the LP. This is a BWR plant and has a steam separator and a steam dryer in the RPV. You're probably thinking about PWRs (which I don't know that well).

[@moonwalker5058]

Man, such great technology and power!!!

[@douro20]

The biggest problem is that this is a BWR. A BWR turbine takes the steam directly from the top of the reactor. It contains some short-lived radionuclides which have to be dealt with before the turbine can even be removed from its housing.

[@RingshadowCat]

Depends whether it's a PWR or a BWR. in a BWR, the steam is made in the reactor vessel, which is the case here. In a PWR, the steam comes off a steam generator, and is not radioactive.

[@billp1955]

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

[@happyavacado1495]

Sean buddy I hope you make new episodes of this amazing show for a very long time

[@o7jimmy]

Wow.

[@RingshadowCat]

No, I'm in school for Power Production, specialization Radiation Protection. However, I've had some operations training in the past. Between that and my classes I'm pretty familiar with the basics of nuke power.

[@UKRentor1605]

the control rods are encased in a containing metal which are all sealed, but they always say the water is contaminated because the casing is in contact with the nuclear material and some of that might come off, or even one of the rods may be faulty and may slightly expose nuclear material to the water. At most the water is very slightly radioactive, but even if it isn't they say it is because thats what the regulations dictate they have to say.

[@MastaRikta]

Homer Simpson must have been off that day.

[@PieceOfPieSoftware]

lol "We like to say lower, not drop. Drop is bad" Looks like a tough job, gotta have some courage for that.

[@deepwaterescue4u]

Nice vid I work these outtages on turbines and generators all the time. I love doing tearing these guy down and rebuilding them...

[@RingshadowCat]

Right. In a PWR, the primary coolant (reactor) is separated from the turbine by the steam generator. The water that spins the turbine never comes in contact with the water that cools the reactor. How do they fix a boiling what? a BWR? Generally reactors don't need much in the way of repair..

[@GEAUXFRUGAL]

I just finished NAT GEO program Worlds toughest fixes and in my scope of employment I have been involved in one way or another with some aspect of each episode on disc one. The first was diving offshore changing out a bow thruster on a rig. I have worked in a ship yard building vessels with dynamic positioning systems as a pipe fitter apprentice also as a rigger same ship yard, as a trucker I was delivering divers offshore I was responsible for the loading and transport of them and their equipment. The 2nd episode was aircraft repair I have been on the tarmac of airports more than one time in my scope of employment pre 9/11 I use to deliver food to aircraft and had to position the truck near the aircraft no room for error you make a mistake you damage an aircraft the down time alone can be more than you earn in 10 years. I also was a driver when we delivered asphalt for the repair of the airport we did this while aircraft were taking off and landing. The third was changing out the turbines of the steam generator of the nuclear power plant. I have not gone into those sensitive areas where I was required to wear the radiation detection equipment but I have delivered cryogenics to a nuclear power plant many times. I have had to deal with the guards that walk around with their AR 15 and their S&W 40 cal side arms they are not so nice to you as they were in this episode and they usually are buff dudes covered in tattoos they clearly would enjoy taking you out. Nat Geo truckers go there and more. I have even worked at NASA in 2 ways. The trucking job for divers a large portion of the diving work is at Stennis space center they also use diving to train astronauts. I have been to Stennis for the diving portion and for the delivery of fuel for the testing of the rockets that combine hydrogen and oxygen. When they test the rockets it is unreal the power involved in placing an object in outer space.

[@anthawks9374]

I went to school with Sean riley. We went rancho San justo middle school.. in hollister California Grew up together... even entered the talent show together..we lip synced Dr jekyll and Mr Hyde.

[@NathanSink]

I know the way the video is titled gets more attention, but its actually called a "shutdown", not a "breakdown". I shutdown is scheduled about every 18 months for routine maintenance and to refuel the reactor.

[@GrnArrow092]

They have the title wrong for this video. They call it a breakdown, but by watching the video, they should have called it Nuclear Plant Upgrade. They're changing out the generator rotor for better efficiency. They mentioned the possibility of radioactivity going through the turbine, but I don't understand how that is possible. Heat is exchanged from the reactor loop through the heat exchanger to the loop that carries the water from the condenser to the generator.

[@wolfpat]

This is a General Electric BWR. The steam is made in the reactor, and flows directly to the turbine. What you describe is a PWR like Westinghouse, Babcock & Wilcox, and Combustion Engineering make. There are a lot of other key differences too. For example the fuel assemblies are much smaller in a BWR. But there are more of them. And the control rods in a BWR are moved in and out of the core hydraulically from the bottom of the reactor. PWR rods are moved by way of an electric jack. To trip the PWR, the jack is deenergized, and the rods fall into the reactor. The BWR trips by releasing stored hydraulic pressure to push the rods up into the reactor. The control rods themselves are way different too. In a PWR, control rods are little rodlets that insert into selected fuel assemblies. My old plant, a PWR, had 156 fuel assemblies, but only 52 control rods. A BWR has many more control rods that are like paddles that provide a barrier between 4 fuel assemblies.

[@johnjones5354]

@@wolfpat Nice description. My BWR had 764 fuel assemblies and 185 control rods.

[@wolfpat]

@@johnjones5354 I worked at Brunswick for a year prior to transferring to Harris.

[@johnjones5354]

@@wolfpat I had a friend that went there in (I think) the early 90's, in the I&C department.

[@billschoe43]

Is there going to be more World's Toughest Fixes with Sean Riley? Does anybody know?!

[@ShaneM686]

"i would never say drop" lol funny

[@meccaturbo]

@douro20 The main advantage of a BWR is the thermal efficiency. No steam generators as there are in PWR's.

[@CongressmanPeanut]

One of my teacher's friend's job was to clean radioactive material off the sides of aircraft carriers after underwater nuclear tests.

[@am74343]

Whatever happened to Sean Riley? I used to like this show! I wish they'd make new ones again!

[@ap327145]

none of that stuff radioactive...unless one of the secondary reactor loop pipes bursts or leaks which liquid is slightly irradiated

[@user-zp2ek7kp8r]

Taargus Taargus very true

[@gregorymalchuk272]

These reactors are boiling water reactors. The turbines are mildy radioactive from the water which passed directly through the core.

[@TL013]

And patience. Lifting stuff that big would need to be done slowly too.

[@ICANanimations]

so if you got a Pressurized Water Reactor the water gets heated by a seperate loop of liquid. wich is in direct contact with the reactor. and if you got a boiling water reactor the water gets boiled directly in the core. I guess the turbine is dificult to replace that way. so how do they fix a Boiling

[@hotsauce8671]

That rotor looks like a big sparkplug

[@schismtomynism]

solar power= product of a nuclear reaction (fusion). most of nuclear energy doesnt come from gamma radiation. it comes from kinetic energy yielding from fission reactors.

[@EmilNicolaiePerhinschi]

no, that's the cooling tower, where water vapor goes to cool and maybe be recovered as water :(

[@team222badbrad]

@n310ea It was an upgrade not a repair.

[@schismtomynism]

uranium isnt the problem. it's the fission products like Cobalt-60. thorium is already used in breeder reactors, but due to treaties we have with russia, we don't use them because they yield plutonium as a byproduct (which is weapons grade nuclear fuel).

[@kip7295]

10years!!

[@RingshadowCat]

FAIL. Nuclear plants are in the center of parks and reserves. The ones I've been at have been host to massive amounts of wildlife. Nuclear plants are clean that way. If you see cleared areas, it's parking and transformer yards.

[@ulsfarkhoplite1388]

Nuclear energy is cheap and makes a ton of electric to power our cities, I think we need more nuke plants.

[@RNA0ROGER]

Fast reactors are even cheaper

[@ruby3504]

Ur are so idiotic it make so much damage to nature like the chernobyl disater it wasnt ezsay to clean up lol?

[@benmacdonald5445]

Ruby I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic. Are you?

[@Deathend]

"Time to rock and roll"

[@trentvo2736]

Pat L this is true of a PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) but this was about a BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) where the steam goes directly from the reactor to the turbine, no steam generators, I do not like this reactor type I think it is inherently dangerous to run the boiling water directly from the reactor to the turbine is it contaminates everything downline, as with the pressurized water reactor water is pressurized 2000 PSI to prevent boiling of the 900 degree water running through the steam generators closed loop the turbines never see Radioactive or contaminated water...

[@charlesdaniel3619]

Harness water power to make steam !

[@Sumo-san]

That power isn’t available everywhere.

[@bibbyandal]

i presume this is a BWR reactor as theyre being so cautious with the contamination. BWR's are an odd design i think

[@douro20]

Just as safe as a PWR when properly maintained. And decontaminating the steam circuit is actually quite easy since the radionuclides in the steam are short-lived.

[@user-zp2ek7kp8r]

Very true

[@FuelEfficiency]

When ice age comes, we will be in trouble.

[@soccerp4161]

I get the difference between a BWR and PWR, but I don't understand why the turbine is contaminated even with a BWR. Aren't the fuel rods uranium encased in metal tubes that are welded on both sides? Doesn't that mean that the uranium and water never come into direct contact? I don't see how you get contamination unless one of those metal tubes cracks or breaks.

[@dannywilliamson3340]

Activation of the oxygen atoms by the neutron flux makes highly radioactive nitrogen-16, which irradiates everything downstream. The half-life of N-16 is only 7 seconds, so it's all gone pretty quickly after shutdown, but the small amount of activated corrosion products in the pipiing and turbine internals has to be dealt with.

[@ItsRapty]

@123woodbridge Not really , when everything is shuted down i think it is safe. and anyway if it was dangerous they would be with special clothing from radiation

[@patrickray1679]

Literally nobody in the industry pronounces "turbine" that way.

[@violativelos3r]

@CHRIS1974100 yeah youre right but when things go wrong therye normaly disarstorous

[@luxemkingII]

nuclear energy = clean energy(waste not calculated) solar power = clean but not efficient enough

[@Nycki1337]

Oh no! Core meltdown! Quick, take a video for the internet!

[@milkman2040]

If nuclear power had a different name, people wouldnt have went crazy and stupid

[@THESUPERIORONE.]

I 100% agree with you 😆😆😆

[@ludolorandi]

Moisture separators & reheaters underneath the turbine weigh about 185 ton

[@ICANanimations]

ok I found a sketch now its clear to me. the core is in contact with liquid dont know what. that gets heated and heats the water to steam. so I think that means no radio active water. that water flows through the turbine causing it to rotate. but if I'm wrong. the water DOES get in contact with the core. or get radio active, and than the rotor gets radio active to. just like the top of that thing. right?

[@totallyunofficial3435]

The PWR (pressurized water reactor) does not have contaminated steam going through the turbine, but a BWR (boiling water reactor) has steam straight from the reactor to the turbine causing contamination.

[@jw9626]

there goes bartlet

[@K4Fusion]

No . . . super magic fairy dust!

[@Aslyuriel]

@Allante715 solar hydroelectricity and wind

[@RLHubner]

It's like a pan with water and the core is the fire.

[@MonkeyScout]

Solar power is impractical for now. Maybe in the future.

[@luxemkingII]

yes there have been...-.-

[@RLHubner]

the core heats the water and makes steam...

[@MonkeyScout]

How do they dispose of the old piece?

[@DomDoesCoasters]

Wash it down with water and soap and scrap the metal to be made into other products

[@ReDbOAtHuNgGaR]

thats a small rotor, love my job,local 740

[@kishoreinhere]

what will they do with old turbine?

[@grantchisholm1308]

Kishore Rajagopal idk

[@grantchisholm1308]

😐

[@wolfpat]

There are several things they might do with it. First, they'll decontaminate it. Since it hasn't been directly exposed to anything that emits neutrons, the turbine itself isn't radioactive. Almost everything on it that is radioactive should wash off. Once it's clean, it might be just sold off as scrap metal. Or, it might be sold to another nuclear utility. If someone who uses turbines from the same manufacturer has messed theirs up, they might sell it to them. It would be a temporary substitute until a new one can be built. The last time I was involved with this kind of thing, there was a 48 month turnaround time for one of these. No plant wants to remain down for 48 months while they wait for a new turbine assembly.

[@ICANanimations]

so the rotor is contaminated. what is the radiation dose you get from it?

[@wolfpat]

One day I checked out the steam lines where they came through the wall from the MSIVs. The dose rate there was 3 R/Hr. But by the time it hit the turbine control valves, it was 200mR/Hr. That was at Brunswick.

[@damaged01]

Dude looks like vanilla ice.

[@patrickray1679]

Word to your mother!

[@n310ea]

Damn, those rotors have a low life expectancy, you would think they would last around 10-15 years with frequent maintenance.

[@milolouis]

They last longer than that The video says that it was an upgrade

[@PlutoniusX]

@ndaboro Don`t want Coal, Don`t want Oil, Don`t want Nuclear. What do you think we should get energy from? Magic and fairy dust?

[@nuclearimbecile7674]

Allante715 I prefer nuclear😉

[@maxdavies9958]

Nuclear.

[@DansFunMovies]

Hydro, wind, solar and natural Gas..

[@chrisgrayston1982]

You don't scar steel you score or mark steel

[@schismtomynism]

okay, prove me wrong. show me a link or something.

[@ICANanimations]

O I didnt know that. I thought. once exposed always contaminated.

[@Lifewontwait29]

nuclear power is the BEST

[@wangb13]

eight-ball

[@Aaron-uc4up]

his explanation of the cooling and steam systems is very vague and basic

[@Sixstringman]

Thats because the specifics are closely gaurded secrets of national importance.

[@RLHubner]

Yes, if it was they wouldn't be there with no special suits and stuff...

[@ICANanimations]

but the steam comes out of the core right?

[@totallyunofficial3435]

Yes but a PWR does not and uses a type of steam converter

[@matthewporrini50]

I know where this nuclear plant is located

[@Lindiz]

nuclear power 4-life !

[@MonkeyScout]

Cancer is unlikely.

[@RingshadowCat]

Oh, don't be a jerk. I only used it because the statement I was replying to was so horribly wrong.

[@nuclearcarnie]

At least spell it right...Bartlett. And where are they going?

[@michaelsabella5924]

not enough detail, video's to short, really didnt show much at all, but thanks anyways. Hey maybe if we stopped being so dependant on nuc / fossil fuel and used newer technology the poor power companies wouldnt have to pay so much for all of this. But then again they pay for nothing they just pass on the costs to the public.

[@schismtomynism]

wrong. moisture seperators come before the turbine (in a boiler water reactor, it occurs in the oulet plenum, and reheaters come afterward. there are typically turbine bleed sections, which is what youre probably referring to...

[@sachapommepuy]

HUMMM?

[@MastaRikta]

No, see, the plant would have exploded.

[@schismtomynism]

this turbine setup consists of a single turbine, not cross compounded. most nuclear plants (bwrs, pwrs, breeder reactors, etc) use saturated steam. their turbines are designed with this in mind.

[@schismtomynism]

what are you talking about?

[@PatrickLipsinic]

Got a problem with your video NG. The steam going to the turbine doesn't come from the core. The core coolant goes to a heat exchanger and heats water that runs the turbine.

[@christopherkelley2761]

You have described a PWR design. BWR design use steam directly from the core.

[@12345timm]

Yeah that's in a pressurized water reactor. You can tell by the concrete shielding on the turbine deck that this is a boiling water reactor. Definitely a more dirty design.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

@@12345timm It's not "dirtier". It's simpler. PWRs have the added cost and complication of a pressurizer and steam generators, all of which can develop problems. San Onofre closed because of defects in their steam generators. Boiling water reactors don't have those problems.

[@luxemkingII]

o.k. first learn german, get the spiegel spezial of august or july 2007, there's your link

[@ICANanimations]

I know that stuff is radio active and that touching it is fatal. but... what about the radiation it sends out? cuz of his contact with the radioactive water isnt the rotor radio active to? so I ask. how large is the dose of radiation you get when your standing close to that thing?

[@milolouis]

Seriously? What is fizzion.

[@herosmonk]

I love how you didn't suggest solar energy.

[@nuclearimbecile7674]

herosmonk You must love everything, don't you?

[@CHRIS1974100]

Nuclear is the best industry in the world. Staffed by a well trained specialist and people. No wonder the accident in this industry is just small

why the fuck me need this?! peace people -.-

[@mayurwaghmare5552]

Chernobyl ☢️☣️ bring me here ☠️

[@luxemkingII]

the rocket would malfunction, then explode and you would have a tschernobyl 20 times worse and spread over the whole world

[@pballa555]

dangerous..