Perks of having friends taking up their
Masters is getting invited to activities that just remind you of
school. Sometimes that means hanging out in UP, or in Trinoma/SM
North where the UP kids burn long break hours (at least then, I don't
know for today's students), and sometimes it means getting invited to
school related activities such as field trips. I got to experience all of
that, with the last point being crossed out just last Feb. 8.
Field trip's destination: the Bataan
Nuclear Power Plant!
If the trip wasn't so educational, or
the seminar wasn't data-centric, or the trip didn't stop by the beach
for a buffet lunch/meryenda, or if didn't also serve us buffet
breakfast, then I'd say the best part of the trip was that it was
sponsored, aka all expense paid. BUT no. All of those happened, so
picking my favorite part of the trip's a hard call. Shout out to my
friends Kim and Nevin, of course, for inviting me!
---
I am all for renewable energies
because, let's just say, I really appreciate ze gift of earth. This blog's a testament to how I just won't shut up about beaches, and continuously look forward to trips that are close to nature. Plus, Al Gore's
campaign in An Inconvenient Truth made me think about a lot of
things. Aside from renewable energies, I also was for Nuclear plants. That vote from me was put on hold though when Fukushima
happened. Who wouldn't be alarmed with the news, and touched by
articles saying that the older folks are volunteering to clean up the
nuclear power station in order to spare the young? I honestly didn't get to
research more of what happened there so the lazy me had BNPP in the
"i don't know" zone.
With the trip, however, a few things
got cleared up. I won't be enumerating everything, and I am not here
to convince you of anything. I will merely share what I learned, and
I trust that all of us here are smart enough to make our own research
and make a judgement for ourselves. These are my top 4 learnings:
1. Fukushima, Chernobyl.
Always the first question is about
safety. Nobody gives a damn about the cost savings, the efficiency,
the benefits of pretty much anything as long as it poses some kind of
health or safety hazard. The risks will always overshadow the
benefits. And I agree with that.
So in a nutshell, the Fukushima plant's
reactor cooling systems were damaged by a tsunami caused by a 9.0
earthquake. It's located about 10 meters above sea level, and
designed to withstand a seismic load of 0.18g. BNPP on the other hand is
located 18m above sea level, and designed to withstand a seismic load
of 0.4g.
And then there's Chernobyl. I remember
having seen a documentary about it in high school for a subject.
Looking back, I don't really remember the objective of our teacher
then, but most likely it's to let us know about the hazards of
nuclear power plants. Maybe. I don't remember really, except that the
effects of the damaged plant were hideous and unacceptable. But I
also remember clearly that the Chernobyl was not designed as a
nuclear power plant to begin with, and it was at the field trip that
i learned that it was originally a weapons plant, converted into a
nuclear power plant. It did not follow the standards of a nuclear
power plant.
I'm still iffy about the safety, to be
honest, even if according to the talk, nuclear power plants have
caused zero deaths for the past 50++ years if we exclude Chernobyl
(where 31 died, but it was not built to standard), and
that nuclear power plants are built with "overkill safety
factors". The fact that the BNPP is 30 years old is a big hump
to get past to.
2. 30 years old.
Well, almost. BNPP will be turning 30
on May, and like I said, 30 years is such a long time. It's a
generation already, maybe even 2 if we're talking about people generations (well gen gap's a little closer now but you get my point). The talk though says that the BNPP is actually one of
the younger plants, being created and built at the tailend of the
nuclear power plant boom in the 80s. And that for the past 30 years
(almost 30, i mean), the plant has been maintained by our chemists
(or chem engineers, i forget), including the daily use of Hydrazine,
a rocket fuel used as an oxygen scavenger. This is to keep the pipes
from corroding, and we use Hydrazine despite the fact that the pipes
are made of Inconel - a corrosion resistant nickel alloy.
3. Radiation
This radiation perspective-setting was
pointed out during the seminar. I don't speak the language but to put
it bluntly, eating a banana gives you more radiation than standing
for a year in front of a running nuclear power plant. IKR.
Apparently, organic materials, like a banana, naturally contain
radioactive isotopes. The numbers are: 0.01millirem for eating a
banana, and 0.009millirem per year for standing in front of a nuclear
power plant. And the talk says that nuclear power plants are much
safer and healthier compared to other conventional power sources, aka
fossil fuels, that are attributed to diseases of the lungs, some
cases of cancer, and the immune system.
4. Coal and Solar
Oh ghad. This one involved computations
on the whiteboard, and forgive me if i wasn't able to take notes. But
the computations say 2 things: first, is that nuclear is pretty
cheapass when you compare it to coal, because (among other reasons
that i forget) with coal you'll have a lot of freight cost, where in
nuclear only an extremely small amount is needed. And second, you'll need
more than 4 times of solar capacity to generate the same amount of
power as nuclear. And that's zero at night, during rain, and cloudy
days, making it inconsistent and unpredictable.
---
There were more things there, but those
4 made most impact to my personal doubts. The group had
interesting questions raised, but I can't remember them now cause
what's clear was the surprise of being by the beach for our late
lunch/meryenda!! HAHA beach and food how can you go wrong with
that. Oh i know, by wearing chuck taylors? Lol. Oh if i only knew
we'd be spending some time by the beach, at least my slippers
would've definitely made it in my back pack. Summer vibes kicking in early!
Mini-tour (aka some photos), coming up!
Gandy doing some computations! UP reprezent!
Would be nice to sit-in at a seminar that believes otherwise. Knowledge iz power ya know!
