Page 3 - Water Reactors News Today

"washington post." 1994-2002, north korea agrees to halt construction of two reactors the united states thinks could be used as part of a nuclear weapons program. instead according to the agreement, international consortium is supposed to replace the plutonium reactors with water reactors and the u.s. agrees to supply half a million tons of heavy fuel oil every year during the construction period. u.s., japan, european agency form an organization task with implementing the accord but when george...

Lot of work to be done but i am very encouraged by this fredricka. i judge it two ways. i look at the provisions of the agreement itself and compare it to other things that we have knowledge and success with. looking at it itself i think its unprecedented. it would represent a commitment by a country to a level of inspection that no country has really done before. i think its unpress departmented in negotiated agreements and there are lots of parts here. the water reactors you suggested theyll s...

>> this was partially a commercial move on our part in the early 1950s. we were concerned that the soviet union that kept pace with us in the development of nuclear reactors for power would steal a march on us and get the commercial business in europe. so president eisenhower decided to share the benefits of nuclear energy with other countries. it was called a ed atoms for pe >> we have 50 years of water reactors, 400 roughly around the world and produced a heck of a lot of waste we didnt antici...

The light water reactor is much simpler but produces more waste. it was chosen by rick over to be the reactor for the submarine. there are many things to be said for light water reactors and there is something to be said against them. but with rick overs influence, the light water reactor became a principle reactor around the world. >> we developed water reactors but we looked at that as a near term short raised stepping stone to real new clear power, the breeder reactor. thats what we consider ...

Concern about the way this one is made? the structure? >> no. there is no concern about the way this is made. this is how boiling water reactors are mayfield let me add to your description a little bit. the green part are the fuel rods. the yellow part is a very thick stainless steel pressure vessel. >> the green part at the bottom. >> from the top. from the top. the whole cylindrical shape is the reactor core. thats also the pressure vessel. the core is relatively small compared to that pressur...

The reactor, cooling pumps and the pool holding spent radioactive fuel. were the first tv crew ever allowed in the control room here. the concern has been they dont want to do anything to distract operators behind the glass. theyre under strict instructions to pay no attention to us. >> what they are doing is the most important thing that we do onnite right now, which is closely monitoring the reactor. >> reporter: in the u.s. there are two types of nuclear reactors, boiling water reactors, the ...

Geist. we have a number of nuclear plants here in the united states along fault lines in california. how confident are you this morning that if a catastrophe like this would strike the united states we would be prepared or at least better prepared to manage the situation? >> well, what i can tell you about our confidence, willie, is that we are very, very confident that we have an independent regulatory authority going back to 197, the nuclear regulatory commission which has got the responsibili...

Team. joining me, paul gunter, the president of reactor oversight and james taylor, a senior fellow at the hartland institute. paul, nuclear plants, good or bad for this country? >> bad. i mean, cliearly whats been noe straighted the fume chkushima i nuclear power is more of a disaster. when you need the power the most, this system will fail you, as has happened. you know, i think what we should remember is is that nuclear power plants, whether theyre pressurized water reactors like he showed th...