Unit at Texas nuclear plant shutting down due to leak

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D885BI3G0.html


A reactor at the South Texas Project nuclear facility was being shut down Wednesday after the discovery of a small water leak in its coolant system.

Officials at the nuclear plant, located about 100 miles southwest of Houston, said there was no release of radiation and no danger to the public.

Sensitive instruments used to monitor for leaks indicated earlier this week there might be a problem with Unit 2, said Mark McBurnett, manager of nuclear safety assurance at the facility. The leak was confirmed on Wednesday by a robotic camera and the shut down process began around noon.

The shut down process should be completed by noon Thursday. McBurnett said he could not estimate how long the unit would be out of service. However, the repairs should be fairly straightforward, he said.

[whistle]

1. Could pebble bed uranium prevent this sort of melt down?

<snip>

Pebble bed reactor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Pebble Bed Reactor is an advanced nuclear reactor design. This technology claims a dramatically higher level of safety and efficiency. Instead of water, it uses an inert or semi-inert gas such as helium, nitrogen or carbon dioxide as the coolant, at very high temperature, to drive a turbine directly. This eliminates the complex steam management system from the design, and increases the transfer efficiency (ratio of electrical output to thermal output) to about 50%.

<more>

<link> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor

If yes, then why isn't the country converting to this safer and more efficient form of nuclear generation plant?

<other links>

http://cavendishscience.org/bks/nuc/pebupdat.htm

http://m1.mny.co.za/BusToday.nsf/0/C2256A2A0020082A42256F870056B658?OpenDocument

http://www.toddwiley.com/