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From: tdh@frog.UUCP (T. Dave Hudson)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.sci
Subject: nuclear power density
Message-ID: <966@frog.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Jul-86 13:40:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: frog.966
Posted: Thu Jul 17 13:40:40 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Jul-86 03:30:30 EDT
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> the power density of the Soviet graphite reactors
> is so high, that only continuos cooling prevents the temperature 
> from rising to the ignition point of the graphite.

I was told by a physicist that the purpose of the cooling was the
greater power density (due to convection?) available with it.  The
reactor at Chernobyl was supposedly running so cool that a thermal
release of Wigner (sp?) energy (The release was called "Wigner
relaxation".) in the graphite had to be performed periodically by
warming the reactor up.  (Graphite reactors can relax continuously if
run warm enough.  The energy is stored as displacements of atoms
within the graphite lattice and is due to nuclear bombardment.)  The
alternative of no maintenance leads to a catastrophic release of the
stored energy.  Presumably, botched maintenance could too.

				David Hudson