Re: [cdn-nucl-l] Pickering Not There

[Rad Sci Health <rad_sci_health@comcast.net>]

Title: Re: [cdn-nucl-l] Pickering Not There

on 7/10/07 5:09 PM, Brown, Morgan at brownmj@aecl.ca wrote:

> An analogy (all analogies have faults) is that a particular car (and driver) might be able to operate safely on a given highway at 150 km/hour, but that the regulator (Ministry of Transport) has decreed that 100 km/h is the limit.   The CNSC regulates the power plant operators much more closely (and operators are mandated to report certain events, system unavailabilities, etc.) than is the case for vehicle operation (there are only so many police officers).
Yes. At least in the U.S. that might be 10 km/h (although that’s only one order of magnitude within the conservatively realistic safe limit – as you said “all analogies have faults”).
> Also, the nuclear operators run their stations well within their allowed (licenced) limits.  If the margin between continued operation and the licenced operational envelope decreases to less than what an operator will tolerate, then they will shut the reactor(s) address the problem, even if they are still able to operate within the licence envelope.  To continue the highway analogy, a vehicle operator may chose to operate at 90 km/h because their own internal margin is to maintain the vehicle 10 km/h within the regulatory limit.
Yes. Perhaps 7-8 km/h. :-)
> cheers 
>
> Morgan Brown 
Regards, Jim