Inside the $1.6B Plan to Restart Three Mile Island | WSJ

[@samfisher874]

Utility engineer here. At 0:24 the units are wrong. The narrator says "90,000 GW an hour" (units GW/h) but probably meant to say "90,000 GW-hours" (units GWh). It's a subtle difference to someone not familiar w the units, but the first makes no sense in this context. Edit: The video is now corrected and the narrator now says it correctly w a note at the end. Thanks WSJ. =]

[@JmJmmmmm]

That's approx 10,000MW. Basically 5,000MW each year

[@jm9371]

As a random consumer, I saw 90 Giga-somethings. Sounds like a lot; all I needed to know.

[@parg60]

i just wanted to write this

[@zapfanzapfan]

Yeah, 90 000 GWh, or 90 TWh. That's quite a lot if it's for AI alone. That's 10 GW continuous power, or about 12 Three Mile Island reactors worth.

[@jayelwin]

I was arguing with someone who insisted on asking “how many watts per hour”. He couldn’t understand why that made no sense. But he owned a boat. I asked him how fast his boat could go, how many “knots per hour”. He finally got it.

[@mickolesmana5899]

Nuclear power is similar to the aircraft industry. The general public fears its most catastrophic failures so much that we forgot both coal and cars have a significantly higher death toll compared to these two. Edit : Do you realize that all your comments actually prove that nuclear technology is safe? Why? Because, innately, all of you are already aware of the worst possible effects-it’s ingrained in your minds. In aviation, we call this a "safety culture." When we design something, we consciously and unconsciously strive to create the safest design possible. But i get it natural disaster and idiot people are inevitable

[@AlexWaardenburg]

Very good comparison

[@normang3668]

Yep. Coal has a significantly higher death toll, even when it's functioning as intended.

[@DoubleGoon]

Of course, Microsoft is using the plant to power their AI where it was originally brining power 800,000 people. Now the surrounding area faces the same risk, but not the reward.

[@setharp]

They aren't at all similar. Because at the end of the day all it takes is one major failure at a single nuclear power plants to make vast swaths of the area around it permanently uninhabitable.

[@AlexWaardenburg]

@setharp except that happens from the normal operation of coal power plants.

[@GoldenTV3]

Three Mile Island is like the anti-Chernobyl; At Chernobyl, the poorly made reactor exploded and caused a huge catastrophe, while the government denied the severity of the problem, whereas at Three Mile Island, the incident was relatively minor, the reactor didn’t explode, but everyone around totally freaked out about it.

[@LeonFisher-Skipper]

Calling a reactor meltdown „relatively minor“ is something. 😂 That’s literally the worst case scenario, even though it could be contained.

[@schalitz1]

There is no such thing as a "minor" Nuclear accident. While Nuclear energy has great potential you need the smartest people around. Not DEI hires.

[@thecrackin-u8p]

A meltdown is a meltdown

[@ETJeanMachine]

​@@schalitz1 what on earth does DEI - which has nothing to do with hiring practices btw, it's a corporate training word - have to do with 3MI?

[@Stefan-st]

The heat couldn’t be transported away from the reactor. Thats extremely bad.

[@kfactorprime]

At 0:38 I can't believe you drew boxes around cooling towers, and called them reactors. You got the distance right, but cooling towers aren't reactors. The reactors are actually the buildings in the middle of the two sets of cooling towers, each being identifiable by its dome-shaped roof.

[@TheRealCharlieSuper]

For whatever reason, many people see the cooling towers as the 'big bad' reactor...

[@06howea1]

Misinformation from the Wall Street Journall

[@eddiewillers1]

@@06howea1 Did you expect objectivity and accuracy from the WSJ?

[@anthonykaiser974]

@@TheRealCharlieSuper yeah, we have an Indiana & Michigan plant at Rockport, Indiana near the Ohio River that they built in the early 80s with two big cooling towers, which to me was different. It's a coal fired plant that always got it's coal from Wyoming, because our local Illinois Basin coal is dirty. Now I hear they're talking about putting a Small Modular Reactor there. After the debacle with Marble Hill (near Hanover in SE Indiana), which basically was in construction and halted after the TMI incident, that was a surprise.

[@lexluthor6906]

its the perfect demonstration of the problem. no matter how many youtube videos people watch, 99% of the population doesnt understand how these things work but they think they do. dunning kruger in full effect.

[@shezadshah3740]

Why are they reopening these power plants for mega corporations and AI, instead of to strengthen our energy grid and lower energy costs for Americans.

[@EbonySaints]

Because we don't matter. They only bothered with this because Nvidia's top of the line GPU requires as much energy as a hundred average homes per hour. Goes to show who's really represented as far as our elected officials go.

[@DaveMiller2]

We don't matter to them. They want $$$, power, and control.

[@adog7787]

You literally contradicted yourself and answered your own question

[@omegathan]

You and I don't matter, we live in an oligarchy made to serve billionaires and their interests

[@DaveMiller2]

They want the AI for something that serves themselves. And there may be other reasons they aren't talking about as well. Nefarious reasons.

[@zantrua]

90,000 GW per hour? Please for the love of god, you're a major news company, please talk to an engineer before publishing things.

[@wumi2419]

They probably ran it through AI and decided it's a good enough substitute.

[@AMPProf]

We on WALL STREET we know

[@davidanalyst671]

this power plant was able to power the eastern half of the United States. lolz

[@FrozenHaxor]

Typical AI slop, how embarrassing.

[@Ace-990]

You just rewrote the other comment as an inslut.

[@aestheticstudio007]

The US should never have gave up on Nuclear !

[@Fekillix]

Absolutely. Russia is building 6 new plants locally, and they have 10 nuclear power plant projects going on abroad. That technology should come from USA and Europe.

[@dennisallen8333]

The US haven’t given up on Nuclear Weapons?

[@jfitz7777]

@@dennisallen8333 Weapons =/= power

[@hansfranz3322]

@@jfitz7777 The US never gave u on it. The market did, as nuclear power plants are practically THE MOST EXPENSIVE power source there is. They are just not economically viable with MASSIVE subsidies.

[@ryanwalters6184]

It became so expensive that the companies went bankrupt. South Carolina, we spent billions of dollars and had to cancel the plant after the company went under. The cost just went out of control

[@andersonlynn3686]

We have nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines and we can’t handle power plants that are stationary ????

[@ryanwalters6184]

We can but they're just too expensive.

[@harrie205]

Military stuff does not have to be economically viable (nuclear is bad at that) Also because they move, spacious limitations are much more relevant (nuclear is good at that)

[@Mike__B]

@@harrie205 That first point, exactly. "We need to get costs down, so that stockholders get a good return for their investment..." is not something that was ever uttered by a nuclear powered aircraft carrier captain.

[@holycrapchris]

TMI-1 produces 15x more power than an Ohio-class submarine. And TMI-1 is near my house.... submarines aren't.

[@patfre]

@@Mike__Bpeople already have and its called micro reactors. They are smaller, safer and basically costs pennies compared to a big one. The problem is just that companies wants to make giant ugly extremely expensive towers

[@survivaloptions4999]

I don't have a problem with recommissioning a nuclear reactor. The idea that Microsoft AI is going to require gigawatts of power terrifies me. I hope the robots enjoy the world they inherit.

[@PMaynard-22]

Alot of it is Air conditioning. Which epa just screwed with new regs that will just end up taking more energy as government is all our problems.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

​@@PMaynard-22worse than that, acid rain

[@richardbarron8869]

THE ROBOTS WILL ACCIDENTLY DECLARE WAR ON EACH OTHER AND THEY'LL BURN THE PLANET TO CHARRED EARTH! BET ME! THE NEXT PERSON TO TELL ME TO "EMBRACE THE TECHNOLOGY" I WILL WISH THIS UPON!

[@bain5872]

@@haruhisuzumiya6650 Um.... acid rain come from coal burning power plants not nuclear plants.

[@Bapuji42]

It might even be worth it if the AI took over the world. Sadly it will just provide wrong answers and bad decisions.

[@beaustrahm7703]

This "Report" lost all credibility within the first 45 seconds of the video. First off, the Three Mile Island incident was not a full nuclear meltdown, but a meltdown of communication and the media (which this video is now an example of) Secondly, it is not the worst nuclear incident in American history BY FAR. No one died, and in fact no one has ever been reported to have had any negative symptoms from the incident. The only fatal nuclear incident in America was in 1961 where 3 men tragically died at a test reactor in Idaho. Lastly, 90,000,000,000 w/hr? That's more than Doc and Marty needed to get back to the year 1985! There's definitely a story here. Hopefully someone with some knowledge of nuclear history picks it up.

[@CorJ0nas]

The rods melted nevertheless... Block 2 will never work again.

[@imeakdo7]

Not a meltdown? Wow. Do you call rods melting a not meltdown? That's a serious underestimation to say the least. It made corium there's no debating that. It was one very expensive mistake that was later fixed

[@perryallan3524]

Retired Nuclear Plant Engineer here: It was a partial meltdown. There have been a number of other partial meltdowns with test reactors. While we won't know until they get into the reactors at Fukushima; those are also likely partial meltdowns.

[@WobbuffetWobbuffet]

That is not the only fatal nuclear accident in the U.S. lol so how are you credible either?

[@JosephHHHo]

What do you/they mean by W/hr anyway?

[@antor_khan]

The explanation of the accident has multiple inaccuracies starting at about 2:10. consulting with an expert before publishing misinformation would have been nice from WSJ.

[@evaprendergast2394]

Pretty sure they’re showing inspections of the steam generator tubes at 2:26, which is not where the leak occurred. That’s not a similar leak to a primary relief valve being stuck open.

[@HeinousAnusOG]

All these errors coming from such a huge news outlet is one of the major reasons a lot of people have incorrect and bad opinion about nuclear

[@mediocreman2]

Oh, they definitely consulted with an expert at least in their minds. AI.

[@Nihilist_Saint]

The media are the ones who made TMI out to be exponentially worse than it actually was. Its sort of the standard for mainstream media to publish Yellow Journalism articles on nuclear, or really anything scientific that requires an expert to adequately explain; even then the lowest common denominator of the populous probably won't understand anything more complex than "A good, B bad." so they sell the "A good, B bad" narrative.

[@Forbes123]

When she said that the transformer's job was to move energy from the plant onto the grid I just closed the video and gave up.

[@BeaudoinEric]

I'm far from a nuclear energy expert (though I have an interest in how nuclear energy works) but Three Mile Island did not meltdown, only part of the core melted down. When the narrator said "the site of America's worst nuclear meltdown", they revealed a lot about their opinions on nuclear energy. Seems like fearmongering to me. I am no scientist but there is a difference between a partial core melt down and "the worst nuclear meltdown".

[@HanzBlitz-i8t]

It was in fact a meltdown, and it remains the worst meltdown in the US, even of it wasn't as bad as others.

[@mitchyoung93]

It didn't melt down...only part of it melted down...LOL>

[@mitchyoung93]

It didn't melt down...only part of it melted down...LOL>

[@HanzBlitz-i8t]

@@mitchyoung93 My ice cubes turned to water. "Melt" is a state of mind.

[@BeaudoinEric]

@@mitchyoung93 What I was trying to say (again, I’m not anything of a nuclear power expert) is that, from my understanding, there is a difference between a total meltdown and a partial meltdown. The narrator seemed to think it was appropriate in this case to leave out the distinction, with the effect being that people think the whole reactor melted down. Think of it like someone saying “there was a collision involving several vehicles” when one car door-dinged another. The severity of it is very different and it seems intentional that it was not more clearly stated.

[@AlanTheBeast100]

@1:14 The towers are not the reactors. The reactor buildings are the smaller cylinder shaped buildings near the rectangular building in the middle. @1:54 Those rods at the top are the control rods - they drop into the reactor to moderate the reaction (or pretty much stop it if all the way in)

[@johndaisley6168]

Moderation refers to the slowing down of neutrons, not the absorbing of them. Water is the moderator, but the control rods do stop the reaction. I'm guessing you already know that, but I want to clarify for others reading this comment.

[@imeakdo7]

Omg the video has tons of ai slop

[@ilovecops5499]

No. Those are fuel rods. They are inside the reactor and aw lowered to make it hotter and take our to stop it.

[@AlanTheBeast100]

@@ilovecops5499 You are dead wrong - control rods drop from the top between the fuel bundles

[@AlanTheBeast100]

@ Good points - thanks.

[@filipporiva1864]

1:51 I'm pretty sure what you're showing is a control rod and not a fuel rod, who did you consult for the animation?

[@imeakdo7]

That's ai slop

[@rnl9520]

It's a Rod 4 Sure!

[@matthewbeasley7765]

Correct.

[@Muonium1]

Obviously nobody considering they start out the very first 20 seconds by demonstrating they have no idea what the concept of power or watts mean at all, lol. "Microsoft could need over 90,000 gigawatts an hour to fuel AI" 🤣 brb, I'm gonna go fill up my car with 250 miles per hour of gasoline, lol.

[@vipecrx]

musk

[@maineiacman]

Imagine if cavemen stopped using fire the first time a village burned.

[@Cecil-yc6mc]

you probably think that's a clever analogy. LOL

[@CA_I]

A fire hardly has the same impact as a nuclear disaster, does it?

[@vipecrx]

imagine that fire kept damaging and killing untill way past today.

[@justliberty4072]

@@CA_I How many people died at, say, Chernobyl, compared to the San Francisco or Chicago fires?

[@Kriss_L]

@@CA_I Ask the residents of LA.

[@FurryEskimo]

The idea that an entire nuclear reactor’s power is going towards a single company’s servers seems, wild.. How inefficient are these AIs?

[@gretelgrosse6266]

Extremely inefficient

[@generalsol1977]

Oh Summer child.... Its not only for A.I., its Datacenters in general... Think CBDC, Crptos, and other defense contractor uses.

[@nathancochran4694]

A lot of power requirements for data systems come from the HVAC/server cooling system. Machine Learning is very useful, but it does require a lot of computing power, which requires more computers to do it faster. This generates a ton of heat.

[@wasgehtsiedasan8660]

Dude what? AI power consumption is extremely efficient. You just need lots and lots of data.

[@synth1002]

I thought absolutely that. We are loosing precious electricity for non important things such crypto and AI, while many people can't afford basic heating in the winter because of high prices...

[@silverbackshooting1563]

I love how the Wall Street Journal tried to make this sound very ominous and scary. Meanwhile, I’m watching this in the chair. Super excited about the future of clean energy.

[@geneherald8169]

its because they're pushing the democratic party's agenda. Literally no one died or even got injured in the three mile island incident

[@alejandroramirez-ih7jv]

Same here

[@dasbuilder]

I’m just interested in if they’ll ever replace the controls and other electronic systems? I don’t know how reliable those are and worry about their failure. However, I would think those are built like tanks?

[@jessvagnar4957]

@@dasbuilder Nuclear engineer here. The controls themselves will be retested, documented, and accepted into the program. The controls and systems themselves are not a safety issue. The reinspections are incredibly thorough and involve external personnel and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure there are no deviations that can introduce issues. Areas that are found to be deficient will be repaired or replaced. A lot of the issues TMI will face will be 'catch up maintenance' from a reduced/retired maintenance plan during non-operation. There's an entire industry of specialized tools to check material fatigue, weld integrity, and more across a nuclear reactor!

[@dasbuilder]

@@jessvagnar4957 Thank you for the detailed explanation, I appreciate it! That’s pretty awesome how much care is taken to ensure they’ll work.

[@eduardsdundurs2256]

60 year old controls and 80 year old operators. match made in heaven

[@kurtwagner350]

It unironically is

[@nicolewembley3093]

What could possibly go wrong.

[@Battleship009]

I'm sure those 80 year olds are going to train a much younger generation on the powerplant.

[@generatorjohn4537]

Those operators are mostly ex nuclear US Navy trained. They also must pass NRC qualifications. As far as controls, there is always testing procedures that take place prior to placing a system back in service. I worked in several nuclear power plants in my past career and found them to be the best places (power plants) to work at.

[@kls2020]

@@Battleship009 All of the Nuclear military personnel that were let go due to refusing the VAX are qualified and would probably fill these new job openings = no 80 year olds or clueless youngsters needed .

[@John_Morrison]

The accident was not caused by a failure of a cooling pump. There was a signal from a pilot operated relief valve that was misinterpreted by the operators, causing them to shut down the emergency cooling pumps, due to a misunderstanding of how the system works. The root cause of the accident was human error. Had the operators done nothing, the reactor would have shut down safely and the accident would never have occured.

[@Kriss_L]

Also, the coolant level was calculated based on pressure instead of being directly measured. So when steam built up pressure from a lock of coolant it appeared that there was more coolant than was needed. Which is why they were confused that they temp was rising.

[@zachzebra56]

Exactly. These 2 factors lead to the control room operator's shutting down all feedwater pumps to prevent the reactor from "going solid" (where the entire primary cooling system blows up from high pressure and water level) They thought by doing so, the situation would improve. When in reality, the reactor fuel rods were exposed at this point. Leading to a partial meltdown that caused radiation to leak, the reactor to be permanently damaged, and a buildup of hydrogen in the vessel that almost lead to a reactor explosion. Like Chernobyl.

[@John_Morrison]

@@zachzebra56 I see there are some other nuclear accident geeks who really know what they are talking about here😁. I’ve been to three mile (really surprisingly close to the little town) and when things calm down would love to visit Chernobyl, and I have a Japanese friend that swears she can get me into the Fukushima area.🤷‍♂️

[@zachzebra56]

@@John_Morrison Thanks! I've done a lot of research of nuclear accidents in the past as well as how a reactor works. Really awesome that you were at Three Mile Island. Hopefully you can visit Fukushima and Chernobyl when it's safe to do so!

[@paulmea3166]

Plant operators.... They were the bain of my existence before retirement. Some good, some well.....

[@pierreboussemart5709]

There's an error at 1:50 in the reactor diagram. The highlighted part is a control rod not a fuel rod. The core with the fuel is below

[@thejfactor1]

This shows why America does not deserve nuclear energy.

[@Demonslayer20111]

There are a lot of errors. They highlight the cooling towers as the reactors as well, and claim that three mile released radiation into the air. It didn't, it was contained inside the powerhouse.

[@thejfactor1]

@@Demonslayer20111 *containment building

[@jeffreykalb9752]

There was no melt-down! Just a release of a small amount of radioactive gas!

[@zachzebra56]

There was a partial meltdown in Unit 2. That lead to a small release of radioactive gases. Though they were able to safely shut the reactor down without further meltdowns. The reactor was permanently damaged as a result and was decommissioned right after the accident.

[@r.r.r.918]

What is with the Wall Street Journal and the eerie music, leading to the connotation that nuclear energy is dangerous, which is far from the truth? If you look at the number of people who have died as a result of nuclear energy, including Chernobyl and Fukushima, and then adjust that for the amount of energy generated, nuclear is by far the safest form of energy production, with maybe the exception of solar. I would have expected better from the Wall Street Journal.

[@justanghozzst8218]

WSJ just had a video called "How to Buy Greenland" so I don't know where your trust comes from

[@wasgehtsiedasan8660]

Deaths/Energy does not seem like a SI unit to me

[@wintermath3173]

Further reading kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKvJoaylYtZgiK8si=R9nlWnca5u0bTo-e

[@dafunkmonster]

"with maybe the exception of solar." Doubt. Solar requires mining. Plenty of people have been killed in mines.

[@CarlGerhardt1]

Did you know that if you meet someone walking down the street and there's spooky music playing around them, they must be the serial killer the police have been looking for?🤣

[@makatron]

They keep saying nuclear isn't economically viable, but does provide a dependable energy source that's isolated from market fluctuations and wars that mess with fuel supplies.

[@Cynthia_Cantrell]

Dude, the US has bought BILLIONS of dollars of nuclear fuel from Russia - $800 million just in 2023. Last time I checked, they were still getting whooped by Ukraine, and we were supplying weapons to Ukraine.

[@Coldsunscreen]

Not entirely true but the concept is correct nuclear would still be impacted by war just not as much as lets say Natural Gas, the U.S at war would switch to what is available and can be managed easily nuclear power plants are large targets they would be targeted first in an attack so whatever is available is what they would use

[@stevensko9153]

It isn't viable because regulations make it more expensive than it really is. Like everything else, it has to be produced at scale to be cheaper. We can't just build one or two plants. We have to build 20.

[@AMPProf]

Sooo one corporation to rule them all

[@Jakob_DK]

After the Russian full invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The following nations have used or bought nuclear fuel from Russia. Finland, Sweden (defective fuel rods found feb 2022),France, Slovakia, Hungary, USA and more. So where is the independence?

[@ZachReifsnider]

Now that Silicon Valley wants nuclear, it’s ok.

[@johnjones5354]

While this may be the first decommissioned plant to be restarted, the TVA has restarted plants both at Watts Bar and Browns Ferry after declaring them closed. In the case of Watts bar unit 2, construction was stopped in 1985 (60% complete), restarted in 2007, and was completed in 2015.

[@g00rb4u]

@0:27 90,000 GW (90 terawatts) is about 75 times the U.S.'s current hourly power usage. The state of education in the U.S. is depressing.

[@Mike__B]

I would probably point to the state of "confusing" energy terms, if I had to guess what was stated was a need for "90,000 giga-watt-hours in 2026" which for a year translates to about 10 GW continuously, however she read "90,000 gigawatts an hour"

[@lawrencefrost9063]

Those are rookie numbers, you gotta pump those numbers up.

[@collinw24]

90 TW is accurate. AI GPUs and POW currencies need energy. Kardashev t1 here we come.

[@zapfanzapfan]

What do you expect from a journalist who probably has a degree in social "science"...

[@ComfyWagie]

@@Mike__B Energy terms are only confusing if you failed grade 10 physics.

[@chiefwild]

Why is step 1 putting uranium into the reactor? Wouldn’t you want to first make sure the controls work?

[@thecrackin-u8p]

Literally should be the last😂

[@AMPProf]

First you call Scifi channel then you call wsj then A Watch maker.. Finally get back to the Lab gloweing in radiation to say GID SOLUTION WITH rust and Concreates

[@enricol5974]

They tested the controls but you need to make the reactor critical first in order to test dynamically all the rest: cooling systems,pipes and turbines. You can always scram the reactor (emergency shutdown) on the spot in case things get ugly. Three Miles Island reactor is a better design(PWR) than Chernobyl (RBMK). This doesn't mean that accidents can't happen: TMI 2 had a partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979 but it was contained and lessons were learned. TMI 1was running until 2019 without problems. TMI 1 will be operational by 2028 (that is connected to the grid) and working for the next 20 years according to Constellation. Other option is to build a new reactor :it will take 7-14 years . 17 years and 13 billions USD according to France EDF,

[@viandengalacticspaceyards5135]

Step one might better be replacing the control lamp bulbs with LED's. Controls look like an early 70's sci-fi series.

[@HardcoreOntario]

Ya no technical knowledge in this video

[@jjlynchee961]

There’s been rats chewing on the cable insulation for 20 years. good luck

[@richardmark561]

😂

[@jonkelly5562]

The plants are run by a "for profit" company with share holders. The first time that the face a quarter without adequate growth, corners will be cut. It is inevitable.

[@amirmoezz]

Remember folks, nothing is too expensive, it just may not be profitable enough to invest in.

[@louf7178]

That almost makes sense.

[@mediocreman2]

Oh, you mean like Ukraine? That sure wasn't profitable. Great money laundering, though.

[@jongmassey]

90,000GW/h?! That unit makes no sense unless you're talking about the rate of change of power demand

[@louf7178]

Yes. And, no, they weren't.

[@adammuncy8475]

Never should have been shut down in the first place!

[@peghead]

I worked in the nuclear industry for a total of 25+ years beginning in 1982, I've seen the industry improve tremendously and know for a fact that plant operators are thoroughly trained to maintain the plant in a safe condition, I live 6 miles from Three Mile Island with no concerns whatsoever.

[@mikeklinger1712]

The worst part is that it'll power A.I. Here comes Skynet!

[@viandengalacticspaceyards5135]

That control room looks like something from my youth, without screens or even LED's. I'm 64.

[@adog7787]

And still works better

[@Kriss_L]

Yep. Most of them were desinged in the 60s and 70s. Can you imagine all the paperwork to try and upgrade a control room for a plant that already had a license issued? Beyond monumental.

[@ronframe387]

And all the switches and gauges are better made than Anything you could buy today!

[@paulmea3166]

@@adog7787 If it was maintained. They'll have a real issue getting parts.

[@paulmea3166]

I've closed down two power plants. All those pneumatic controls and switchgear are going to be an issue. I was getting replacement parts from E-Bay before I retired. Finding Nuclear spec parts are going to be an issue. I'm sure Westinghouse will start a production run for the right price.

[@permiek]

No government regulation, just profit motive ? What could possibly go wrong.

[@jessvagnar4957]

Literally an entire agency called the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that dictates the entire process independently. They have their own court system, live monitoring systems, and approval processes.

[@permiek]

@jessvagnar4957 I thought the whole premise was that the commission had no regulations for restarting a reactor

[@Kriss_L]

@@permiek Restarting a reactor isn't much different than starting a reactor. Your just making sure that a used system meets specifications instead of a new one.

[@Demonslayer20111]

​@@permiekno. What they are attempting to do is bring this reactor back online under the existing license. In order to do so, they must meet all specs and regulations said license requires. Wsj is as usual telling half truths.

[@metalboxman99]

Ai will be a nightmare for humanity. I'm not talking terminator/matrix style, I'm talking reason to get out of bed in the morning style. It will radically destabilize the job market in so many fields & rob people of motivation & ambition to pursue difficult fields of study & art & music...all the while scraping enormous wealth off the top & hoarding it amongst a small handful of people.

[@TheChiefonator]

How is that different from what politicians do anyways?

[@metalboxman99]

@TheChiefonator politicians are temporary, Ai wont be

[@TheChiefonator]

@@metalboxman99 What if it's just a Chinese room and isn't actually sentient? Also what does this have to do with nuclear energy?

[@metalboxman99]

@@TheChiefonator The restarting of Three Mile Island will be just for powering Ai. & They are going to be pushing for more nuclear purely to feed Ai as its constant baseload power. (*not to mention humans in the real world will have to deal with the nuclear waste long term)

[@wumi2419]

​@@metalboxman99AI stands for All Indians. It's a lot of empty promises and hype to make the line go up. Self driving cars still don't exist despite the feature being promised for close to a decade.

[@FirstNumber1]

If we fixed things that needed to be fixed in America, things would be a lot better

[@andrewdubose9968]

We need to make it easier to build new reactors. Consider: A Westinghouse A1000 reactor has a core damage frequency of 5.09 × 10^-7. What does that mean? You walk into a casino and notice a new game called “meltdown”. Meltdown is a very simple game: the dealer shuffles a standard deck of cards and then deals a single card. The house wins if the card is the ace of spades. If it is any other card in the deck, the player wins. After each hand, the dealer puts the card back into the deck and reshuffles. Your chances of losing are very low, since a 1 in 52 chance of losing means you win ~98.08% of the time. Over the course of 1.96 million hands, the player can expect to lose (1/52) * 1.96 million ≈ 37,692 times. Now let’s say your chances of losing are equal to the core damage frequency of a Westinghouse A1000 reactor. Over the course of 1.96 million hands, your expected losses plummet from 37,692 to just _one._ Note: the core damage frequency of older plants is many orders of magnitude lower than 1 in 52.

[@zxq_5]

"ninety thousand gigawatts per hour" ... what? ... uhhhm... are you sure about that one? are you sure that's a real unit of measurement?

[@cloudchaser907]

Free health care too expensive

[@Kriss_L]

The worst part is people who think that government run health care would be better than anything else the government runs.

[@PMaynard-22]

no one owes you anything

[@BrownieX001]

Building new reactors and investing in research for newer tech needs to be supported.

[@MrWaalkman]

Wow! @1:02 Those are some old controls in that plant. For reference, we were junking out controls of this vintage in car plants in the late 90's. No big deal you say? Try getting replacements for these devices.

[@Kriss_L]

Try getting the plant licensed with all the modifications to upgrade it. Assuming you can get the new controls to work with the original plant systems.

[@Kriss_L]

There was probably very minimal, if any, oversight and approval from the US Federal Car Plant Agency that had to approve every modification to the controls in that car plant. That is what happens with nuclear plants. Oversight and regulation to death.

[@MrWaalkman]

@@Kriss_L Oh I know, but that's not going to make getting spares any more feasible.

[@MrWaalkman]

​@@Kriss_L There are FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) rules about how important things like wheels get attached in an auto plant. And that there was a record of it. I'm sure that there was more to the record-keeping side of things, but as a Controls Engineer I didn't need to be aware of anything other than that the Atlas-Copco (early on, later we switched to Cooper) tool monitors were tightening the bolts (and that all of the bolts were getting installed). More precisely, my concern was that the line stopped at the end of the footprint if any operation had not been completed. This applied to quality issues as well as FMVSS ones. But I've been told that there is a "Cradle to grave" record on a heck of a lot of things pertaining to your car (for GM at least, I can not comment of other manufacturers since I never worked for them). So for us, it was the "if" and not the "how" of the operation that got monitored. Unimportant things (to me) like if the volume knob on the radio got installed or if the light bulb in the ashtray was there or not was left up to Quality to keep straight. Which is still not going to make getting replacements for the gear that they have on hand at the nuclear plant any more feasible. And after all of these years, I wonder how many of the electronic devices will still work? Batteries (Looking at you, Varta) will have leaked, Tantalum capacitors will blow up, electrolytic caps will have leaked and eaten through the traces on the board. Finishing off what the batteries had started to destroy. Controls made before the dawn of the Digital Age will need re-calibration, presumably by techs who are no longer alive. Other devices such as pumps, cooling lines, and ??? will need repair or replacement. Get your checkbooks out boys, this is going to be fun... :)

[@06lbzduramax3500]

I don’t know why but I love those old control panels form the 60s and 70s they look much better than todays boring Digital Touch screens

[@ChoiceEnvironments]

Step 1: keep 3/4 of the funds to line your pockets with gold Step 2: apparently, keep using the 60 year old controls because there’s not enough money for new ones Step 3: fail

[@dereklenzen2330]

0:23 "...who could need over 90,000 gigawatts an hour" 🤦🤦🤦 Come on, couldn't you get a least one person to proofread this for accuracy? Literally just running the script through GPT-4o before the narrator read it would have picked up on this.

[@DwipKandar]

if you’re here scrolling, wondering why manifesting hasn’t worked for you, trust me, i was in the same spot. i felt stuck, like no matter how hard i tried, things wouldn’t move forward. then i read Vibrations of Manifestation by Alex Lane, and it broke everything down in a way that clicked. chapter 3 especially changed how i approach my goals-it’s worth every word.

[@gooadify]

It really concerns me that the chief generation operator got his explanation of how the generator works wrong…

[@ThomasWeber-sv8yo]

A video produced 3 days ago showing a nuclear plant in northern Illinois (Zion NPP) that was torn down 4 years ago...way to go WSJ.

[@tomd8168]

Yeah I noticed something similar for Florida

[@DreamPilot64]

I was an 8th grader in the Harrisburg PA area when that accident happened. Lived about 10 miles from the plant, got out of school early (had no idea why). Nothing resulted from the radioactive steam leak (maybe my sanity has been affected, but.... ). I was wondering if/when someone would start using that site again. They tore down two other cooling towers decades ago.

[@Demonslayer20111]

Containment was never breached. That relief valve was inside the powerhouse itself, which was designed to contain any radiation leakage.

[@DreamPilot64]

@Demonslayer20111 there was some steam released. Intentionally to reduce pressure. No issues and no major increase in radiation in the area.

[@wisecracker1]

The 3 Mile Island meltdown in 1979 was caused by frozen T&P Valve just like how my last hot water heater exploded. Lucky theirs was stuck in the open position.

[@patreilly1458]

So here in Canada the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) demands that all apparatus and equipment have an Atomic Energy certificate to be allowed to be used in a nuclear plant. To get that certification all parts used in any equipment must be traceable to source and have gone trough a massive ridged testing regime. This is a very expensive and labor intensive requirement for any manufacturer that wants to sell equipment to a nuclear plant. This also causes a lot of problems now. Take instrumentation for power monitoring as one example. In the 1960's and 1970's each function of power monitoring like under voltage or over voltage had a single separate monitor for each of the three phases of AC power production. These monitors were all mechanical in nature with motors linkages and magnets to monitor the power and send a trip signal to the breaker if they went out of tolerance. In the late 1980's the introduction of computer controls and monitoring many companies started making an All In One monitor that looked at the three phase power together with each phase load and would supply online monitoring of that output from a generator. The AEC refused to allow the Nuclear industry to use these monitors because the companies would not go through the testing that the AEC demanded. So the Bruce Nuclear Power plants were still using the old Westinghouse mechanical monitor relays instead of upgrading to the newer systems. Westinghouse said they were NOT going to support those older individual monitors but that did not matter to the AEC. Bruce power was spending $1800 to repair one relay and parts were becoming a problem to source for those repairs. There were 86 of these individual relay monitors on each generator and the costs were out of this world to maintain these old Nuclear rated monitors. For $3,500 one computer based monitor could replace all 86 of those mechanical monitors but the AEC would not allow them. This is just some of the Regulations and idiocy that are limiting the usage of nuclear power. Well you would say this must be done because it is the Nuclear industry but this example is for the downstream equipment where it is the generator of the Steam Turbine that these monitors are on and that did not matter to the AEC that it had nothing to do with the nuclear reactor.

[@simsnqta]

I give this idea a 3.6 score. Can't wait for the US version of Chenobyl. 😢

[@Neozinnn-t9c]

Something like Chernobyl can't ever happen at actual powerplants we have today. Chernobyl had a core that was incredibly unstable. The PWR type reactors we use aren't capable of ever having a blowout

[@walden420]

I live just a couple miles from an active nuclear powerplant running since 1970. Have never had any issues. It provides cheap power without pollution or needing to raze acres of forests for solar panels that only work during the day. They used to give tours of the plant before 9/11.

[@irvan36mm]

Test, test and retest before loading the first fuel rod

[@phiksit]

Test once to make sure all the dashboard lights work... good enough 🙃

[@Demonslayer20111]

Problem is you can't really test it without criticality. But that isn't an issue, because scramming is always an option if things go wrong.

[@thedominion6643]

San Onofre next. And extend Diablo Canyon even further than 2030.

[@AMPProf]

They put radio in my electricity and that sounds right right

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Diablo Canyon is saved from shutdown and is still under load. San Onofre is very disassembled, but I think the reactor pressure vessel is still in place.

[@MegaMech]

This old, negligent design is just asking for an accident. There's no way to cool the reactor naturally in the event of a thermal event.

[@mikea.1586]

is no one talking about the fact that a nuclear power plant is going to power up skynet.

[@ottard]

I would think they replaced the control room equipment completely, but I guess not?

[@Kriss_L]

The plant was licensed with the control room as built. It the replaced it, it would have to be reapproved, inspected, tested, and licensed all over again. Maybe 5 to 10 year process. And trying to get a modern, comuter controlled, control room to 100% interface with the rest of the plant (as built) might not be possible.

[@phiksit]

Looks like we're stuck with upgraded 1960's tech... sweet 😛 And the fact that the only thing that made this viable in the first place was the insane amount of power the tech industry wants. Meanwhile Germany is scraping much more modern equipment... crazy world.

[@Kennanjk]

I love old fear mongers saying its never be done cant be done.

[@civilcivic44]

those fear mongers are just people of low income areas where the plants and their waste will be located, they will suffer effects from living so close to them

[@michaelhill6451]

It's almost as if they shouldn't have shut them down in the first place...

[@jacobjones7833]

Some of the blue dots that you have as dormant nuclear power plants are or in the process of being decommissioned as in being dismantled

[@peghead]

One in southern PA is Peach Bottom unit 1, an experimental reactor that was dormant since the late 60's or early 70's.

[@ryanmaris1917]

The radiation released from this was about 1 millirem above the natural background dose of 100-125 millirem per year. Its absurd to think that we can't built safe reactors with well trained operators, who won't make the mistakes of the past.

[@phiksit]

They'll make all new mistakes and cost cutting decisions 😛

[@jmlinden7]

0:29 Gigawatts per hour isn't an actual unit of measurement. It's either just Gigawatts or Gigawatt-hours per hour (both are equal)

[@imeakdo7]

Sounds like ai slop

[@adrianjagielak]

They didn't even meant power, but rather energy (GWh)

[@craigsudman4556]

Oh boy! Can't wait for the bean counters to start saying, "Naw that's too expensive, we don't know what those safety experts do so we don't need them." Those that forget the past are condemned to relive it.

[@PMaynard-22]

Old pant worked fine and should have been restarted ASAP to quell the fear you have today for no real reason, it was operators

[@allencrider]

I can get solar panels today for just 17¢ per watt in wholesale quantities. These last about 20 years. How many watts of solar panels can you buy for $1,600,000,000? 😂

[@brentftaylor]

I worked in Power plant in 1975. You can’t overcome the human factor..

[@phiksit]

Also the fact that this plant is over 50 years old. What kind of corporate greed corner cutting are they doing to get this thing running? Instead of replacing stuff they are going to "test it" and if it appears to function... hey, we're all good. The plant was closed because they were losing money and now the main thing that made it and many other of these relics worth reopening was the extreme power demands from the tech industry. So this is not so much to the benefit of average citizens but to corporate entities (greed) and we are the targets of that greed.

[@dogwithamug]

Wait are they not updating the systems??

[@louf7178]

Defeats the plan of using used equipment.

[@wasgehtsiedasan8660]

Ah yes, let's use the system that has been abandoned for years and that nobody truly understands anymore.

[@dafunkmonster]

@@wasgehtsiedasan8660 Did you miss the part where they're re-qualifying every component of every system, and how they have site-specific training for all of it?

[@phiksit]

Yeah... they're upgrading the 1960's tech... sweet👍 😄 We're the richest country in the world though. And meanwhile, Germany is scraping their much more modern equipment. What a world.

[@grayrabbit2211]

Eh, the Crystal River plant in Florida is never coming back online. Duke Energy went cheap and tried to do upgrades themselves rather than hire a competent contractor and permanently broke it.

[@MrToradragon]

Is it that plant where they tried to replace steam generator and in the process had damaged the containment building beyond repair?

[@phiksit]

That's my fear... all these plant reopenings are going to be the quick and cheap option instead of truly modernizing them.

[@tomd8168]

They're also already in the process of dismantling it. Also it was Progress Energy at the time.

[@atlasthehatless3624]

A pump never broke a clogged line happened and then the pressurizer valve opend and thats what got stuck happend in 85 at a plant in ohio identical to tmi built by Babcock&wilcox corporation operators there caught it in 30 minutes unlike tmi unit 2 took almost 2 days

[@JerryDyson-y2k]

We need to figure this out and restart as many as possible!

[@al5xdeath]

Nuclear fission technology for the production of electricity is absolutely not a dangerous technology, if you look at the statistics it is one of the safest technologies.

[@cobracommander.1958]

Go hire hommer j simpsson 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@louf7178]

I see they have the internet on computers, now.

[@phiksit]

And have replaced the crt monitors 🤣 woo hoo

[@Enonymouse_]

The bigger concerns should be that the entire system design is so outdated it doesnt take into account changes in the geology of the area, the sea level and advances in both reactor design and safety systems. These won't be present when it goes live.

[@phiksit]

Or how they skimped on replacing old components that "tested" ok because they want it done quick and cheap.

[@leofortey7561]

It will cost way more than $1.6B. They always go over budget.

[@Maxhster]

people never learn from historical mistakes. Greed rules all

[@Ozzy-R]

This article, although good news it has many things not 100% accurate. The 3MI reactor only experienced a partial-meltdown, not a full meltdown like Chernobyl. The narrator also states the consumer will pull equal amount from the grid, actually they will pull what they need at anytime during the day and the load will vary. The plant as any other nuclear plant will be a base load unit which means they are either at full load or offline, no in-between except during startups and shutdowns. People also think that because a customer wants a specific type of generation for their facility that the power company will give them just that. They will put what type they request on the grid but it cannot be directed to their facility. So yeah, there are a few more but I will leave it at that. And yes, I have been in the power industry for over 30 years.

[@PMaynard-22]

Base load is good and much needed strange how concept eludes most.

[@MrToradragon]

Chernobyl had experienced rather steam explosion and subsequent fire of graphite moderator.

[@maxmeier3550]

You do not use "gigawatts an hour". You use gigawatts or gigawatt-hours every hour. GW/hr is a rate of accelerating power use

[@Hawijack]

Restarting these reactors is simply crazy. New reactor technology that has developed over the last fifty years is way better way to go if you want to go nuclear.

[@jessvagnar4957]

True, but the cost and timeline are the major considerations here. It's like repaving an existing road, you don't have to replace all the infrastructure and it's already in a convenient grid-supported location. Gen 2 reactors are safe and have plenty of features. The most modern reactor in America is still only a single Gen 3 even while we're constructing test bed systems for MSR/SMR approaches. Vogtle took 15 years of overtures to reach operational state. We haven't finished a single Gen 4/4+.

[@DeeBrow]

He said nothing about the bean counters. See what bean counters did to Boeing? To the bean counters, a lemonade stand and a nuclear reactor are just numbers in a financial spreadsheet.

[@HoltAllen]

Are they going to spend the money to modernize the control systems? Everything looks archaic in that plant. No way it can be easy to repair or replace any systems when they fail (no matter how big or small they are).

[@wasgehtsiedasan8660]

Yes, I agree. Working with an old abandoned system is a nightmare. They should bring down the plant and build it from scratch.

[@PMaynard-22]

Ya ok mostly analogue is super complex.

[@phiksit]

I just watched a Kyle Hill video that briefly showed a MODERN reactor control room simulator in Germany... compared to this 50 year old dinosaur 😵‍💫 yikes what a different. And the one in Germany will scraped soon 😵‍💫 I just feel like they are going to go cheap and quick to get these plants running again all across the US instead of truly modernizing them. The video is titled World's Only GLASS Nuclear Reactor! ... it's 11 minutes in.

[@paulmea3166]

They probably can't and keep the same license. Repairing what they have will have major parts availability issues.

[@ttc5000]

What cracks me up about all of this is that we are restarting all these nukes for clean energy, but what are we actually using them for? Data centers. People want me to drive a glorified golf cart, but no one blinks an eye at using an ENTIRE nuclear plant to back a data center.

[@TheRealCharlieSuper]

Because a nuclear power plant is *relatively* safer than a coal/natural gas power plant. That, and taking out a large swath of forest land for a wind or solar farm would be prohibitive compared to their appearance of being "green." Until an AI bust, data centers are going to be more prevalent power consumers.

[@jessvagnar4957]

@@TheRealCharlieSuper I think the contention was what value is the AI datacenter providing society vs the sacrifice ttc5000 made driving a golf cart. Restart the nuclear reactors for clean energy, but don't expand the datacenter and you have an actually greener society. If we presuppose the creation of these AI datacenters it removes the point of the personal sacrifice.

[@ttc5000]

@@TheRealCharlieSuper The point is, where is the public outcry for how much energy these things are consuming at a time when we are supposedly cutting back? If we are using the nukes to power data centers, then that means we are using fossil to charge &*$%^& electric cars

[@mikeshotrodshop]

If they want to start up more reactors, the energy should go to the American public, not an evil empire.

[@andrewdubose9968]

The xAI Colossus cluster in Memphis, Tennessee is the world's largest H100 GPU cluster, with 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. Its power draw is expected to ramp up to 150 MW. Three mile island has 800 MW of generating capacity, meaning the *extra* capacity is enough to supply ~300,000 homes.

[@dansnow7840]

If nuclear power is going to be turned back on, let it power American homes. Microsoft buying this solely for AI servers is beyond dystopian, pure madness. These tech businessmen have so grossly oversold AI to investors. I give this project 10 years

[@TheRealCharlieSuper]

The best part, if/when MS decides they overestimated AI; it's not owned by MS, one can assume that constellation would offload said power to the grid for general use.

[@dafunkmonster]

" Microsoft buying this solely for AI servers is beyond dystopian, pure madness." I don't think you understand what's happening here. Microsoft has projected how much additional demand they're going to add to the grid. This project is going to increase supply to offset that demand.

[@FatherMolonLabe187]

@@dafunkmonster Correct, which means the net benefit of energy costs to the public is zero. A private entity benefits while the risk is socialized - in other words, dystopian.

[@PMaynard-22]

@@FatherMolonLabe187 If they are paying for project, it's still benefit to you because you didn't pay for added capacity on the grid.

[@phiksit]

But the power company is paying for the project with Microsoft being the main customer. If it wasn't for tech industries massive energy consumption, this project would not have been economically feasible or profitable. So do you think restarting this plant will make residential energy bills go down, stay the same or go up? And when the plant finally closes who pays for the decommissioning?

[@marlow769]

I think they’re downplayIng what happened at TMI. It’s true that it wasn’t even on the same scale as Chernobyl. What is also true is that the distinction was mostly due to luck, not some sort of superior knowledge, skill or engineering. TMI was a near meltdown situation - not to be dismissed as some sort of success story in relation to Chernobyl.

[@HarbingerOfManagedDemocracyy]

3 mile island was such a catastrophe that a decent portion of our country is uninhabitable, oh wait that was in the ussr.

[@ErikTheAndroid]

Nuclear power is by far the greenest and most effective form of power generation that we have. I am glad to see that the tide is finally turning back in the right direction.

[@Bobrogers99]

I presume that they will add redundant cooling systems so that the breakdown of one pump won't result in another overheating incident.

[@jerm8146]

The explanation in the video was extremely condensed because a full technical explanation would lose most people. The issue was far more complex than what they portrayed and not caused by a single pump failure. Multiple errors plus a design flaw all came together to cause this accident. It's honestly one of those "go buy a lottery ticket" situations because so many things just happed to align that it seems implausible. The industry learned a huge amount from this accident. They retrofitted their plants to reduce the risk, and operators are still HEAVILY trained on the lessons learned at TMI-2.

[@leaf16nut]

Naaaah, what's the chances it happens TWICE?

[@blakem9109]

Unit 1 was upgraded from the lessons learned by the unit 2 accident before it restarted in 1985. Unit 1 then operated safely till 2019. It will be upgraded again based on industry experience from 2019 till it come back online.

[@louf7178]

Value engineered that out.

[@perryallan3524]

Retired nuclear plant engineer here. All nuclear power plants in the USA have always been built with redundant pumps. The initial plants had to have 2 100% capable pumps. Later designs have to have 3 100% capable redundant pumps. Also, key is that the pump did not fail. An operator intentionally turned it off because they did not understand the condition of the reactor and other factors (key is that there was now a steam bubble in the reactor which created a water level). Had they left the pump, which had properly auto-started due to the shutdown, there would have been no partial meltdown. There was no instrumentation for water levels in reactors in those days as the reactor is expected to be 100% flooded except during refueling outages. After TMI the US NRC, and most countries in the world, required multiple redundant reactor water level systems be retrofitted on existing power plants, and be designed into all new reactors.

[@illinois_b]

While I’m generally pro-business, I have to ask myself, “why do I not believe the executive wearing a hard hat telling us how safe everything is?”

[@joe18750]

because you've been brainwashed to believe nuclear power is unsafe.

[@merkeet]

So basically power, data, privacy, carbon tax and health hazards are the cost we have in order to let Microsoft operate.

[@actionA06]

Why waste that money restarting a Model T when you can build a Ferrari . You are so far behind on modern nuke plants .

[@cuddlepoo11]

And the driving force of how much safety? Same as always. Profits.

[@dilara4130]

I'm planning to retire at 59 in another country outside the US that is free, safe and very cheap with a high quality of life and good healthcare. I could fully just rely on only my SS if I wanted to when that times arrives but l'll also have at least one pension, a 403 (b) and a very prolific Investment account with my Stephanie Stiefel my FA. Retiring comfortably in the US these days is almost impossible

[@DaraangelyHarvie]

I know this lady you just mentioned. Stephanie Janis Stiefel is a portfolio manager and investment advisor. She gained recognition as an employee of neuberger berman; a renowned investor she is. Stephanie Janis Stiefel has demonstrated expertise in investment strategies and has been involved in managing portfolios and providing guidance to clients.

[@KarencitaSacher]

I’m planning on moving to Thailand in the next 5 years if trump’s government doesn’t do anything with the high prices of groceries and taxes What about you??

[@LuuzbelitoPirogovsky]

I went from no money to Invest with to busting my A** off on Uber eats for four months to raise about $20k to start trading with Stephanie Janis Stiefel. I am at $128k right now and LOVING that you have to bring this up here

[@emmabeyza6036]

My sister lives in Aussie. They have good healthcare better than America. I am also moving there after I retire.

[@JessieeAlmar]

Please let’s stop gentrifying countries

[@TheChiefonator]

Lots of Not in my backyard going on from the keyboard warriors here.

[@Coldsunscreen]

From people who probably don't even live within 5 hours of this plant let alone on this side of the globe.

[@laborspy]

This is officially 15mins from my house .. should never of been shut down. Speed it up let’s gooo.

[@motrhead69]

Im 5 miles/ eye shot 2 large cooling towers from my window from my home and I have to say I do get worried,either case there is a 10 mile exclusion zone IF a accident should arise and that doesn't give me reassurance, last issue was in 66 and it was relatively light,but it can be safe if people are trained correctly.

[@georgewilhelmsen9344]

Okay, 43 year nuclear employee here. Including from 2012 to 2020 at Fort Calhoun, Braidwood and Byron Stations. 60 year old controls? No, not really. The hand switches and indicating light fixtures, maybe. The recorders, controllers, all of those have been replaced multiple times. The NRC licensing process is PAINFUL and EXPENSIVE. Want to know why nuclear plants cost so much? It's the REGULATIONS, folks. So TMI is just fine to restart. Nuclear plants (post TMI-2 accident, now post-Fukushima accident) are more safe than ever before. Have we had an accident on US soil since TMI? NO. Did we have some near-missed? Yes. Davis Besse being the worst of them, and guess what? The PEOPLE behind that can no longer work in the industry. Try that penalty on for size. The bottom line is this: TMI is safe, and it ran at levels which were EXCELLENT until it was shut down because the US government insisted on distorting the energy market with subsides favoring wind and solar, which mean you subsidize wind and solar and pay them twice - once as a ratepayer, and once as a TAXPAYER because they can't make money otherwise, and good running nuclear plants like TMI, Kewaunee, Palisades, Duane Arnold and others get shut down because they can't compete against government subsidies. Relax. It will be fine. I'll stake my reputation on it.

[@Acoustic_Theory]

This is a poor summary. The first step is to check everything, which they are doing, then the second step is to pressure test the two coolant circuits to make sure they can withstand the operating pressures that will be present, plus a safety margin. Putting uranium back into the reactor is the last step before restarting, not the first one.

[@phiksit]

How do you even inspect the hot side corrosion or deficiencies?

[@kaspervestergaard2383]

@@phiksit You send in the dwarfs.

[@skier222]

It's totally on vibes, but I don't like this guy from Constellation. He strikes me as exactly the kind of "suit in a hard hat" that touts a watertight plan when I'm sure there's nuance and risk behind the scenes. I want to hear from the scientists and engineers about why we should have confidence, not the executive with money on the line.

[@filipporiva1864]

nuclear engineering student here, what do you want to know?

[@skier222]

@@filipporiva1864 haha thanks for the comment. I more want insights from the people literally working on the TMI reactor - the folks who have poured over the design documentation, assessed the current condition of the hardware, etc. I'm an engineer too and I think we all have seen the difference between what the folks behind the scenes say versus what the executives say.

[@filipporiva1864]

@@skier222 probably if you search somewhere on the DOE site there are safety assessments of the exact kind you’re searching for. Maybe all the documents are still being produced, but usually there’s a section for this kind of stuff

[@louf7178]

You must know that that role isn't the same as EE, structural engineer, nuclear engineer. High levels "should" be fielding general direction aspects.

[@WillJBailey]

And where does all the waste go?

[@tarron8785]

Magic!!! 🥸 Nah, more seriously, probably some third world country that gets bribed into taking it. Very fair. Very ethical.

[@uba5578]

@@tarron8785Wrong. High-level nuclear waste is usually stored onsite or sent to underground repositories in the US. There really isn’t much of it as well.

[@FredroStarr12]

@@tarron8785 gets sent to underground storage to decay slowly

[@raycarnis9540]

Mr. Burns keeps it in his shed.

[@blakem9109]

It sits onsite in casks until we can get politicians that have enough leadership to come up with a more permanent solution. Also, fun fact, all nuclear fuel in the US is government owned.

[@stevestretch6052]

As an electrician that works on nuclear refueling outages, among other work including in the control room. The controls look the same in every control room I've seen. I look forward to working on TMI

[@Kriss_L]

Maybe because they were all designed about the same time.

[@peghead]

I've worked in control rooms as well after analog systems were replaced/updated to digital instruments, as I'm sure you can attest. Improvements and updating systems are a constant mission in all U.S. nuclear power plants, everyone can rest easy.

[@Killerthemerc]

Welp apparently corporations haven't learned from the past if the reactor nearly melted down once it can happen again lets hope they never restart reactor 2

[@BlackRoostar-cf2yv]

So Microsoft already has the plant going, this is just the announcement to brag. Yawn. Rules for thee......

[@UXXV]

Nearly half a century old and abandoned nuclear control systems and pipework being quickly checked and used. This seems insane. I wouldn’t pull an abandoned 50 year old washing machine out and use it let alone a nuclear reactor.

[@perryallan3524]

Retired nuclear plant engineer here. It was only shut down in 2019, and there was a small active staff monitoring the plant and maintaining and operating key safety systems required to cool the water in the Spent fuel pool and radiation safety. All procedures and documents exist due to storage requirements. I'm quite sure that there was no significant degradation of any key components due to the materials and deign of nuclear power plants (virtually all nuclear safety systems are built from SS or more exotic alloys). Main steam piping and turbine casings are very thick even if they are carbon steel. Most of what is likely to have degraded in 5 years is relatively minor to replace or rebuild.

[@UXXV]

@ this video was so badly put together it appeared it was a derelict site that was mothballed! 🙈

[@dafunkmonster]

"I wouldn’t pull an abandoned 50 year old washing machine out and use it let alone a nuclear reactor." That's because you've been thoroughly programmed by advertisers to crave the next big thing. A 50 year old washing machine would have been built like a tank, using heavy gauge steel for the enclosure, and using dead-simple controls. Even if it wasn't functional, you could refurbish it for dozens of dollars.

[@UXXV]

@ not quite sunshine. Also finding someone to refurb to operating condition with suitable parts and guarantee it for use would negate getting something that worked from this millennium.

[@perryallan3524]

@ The USA and much of the rest of the world is successfully operating a lot or nuclear power plants from that era as many companies that served nuclear power plants still do production runs (but the parts are expensive). Thus key parts are still available and the knowledge of how to refurbish the equipment is standard in the industry.