Why It Takes 7+ Years to Shut Down a Nuclear Plant

Video written by Ben Doyle

[juliegolick]

What?! You didn't send your writer Amy to a decommissioned nuclear power plant to test its radioactivity?! What is HAI even coming to?!

[PresTeddy]

Fun fact: The IRS actually has a specific tax form, 1120-ND, for reporting income and expenses of decommissioning a nuclear power plant.

[bluebanana]

To give an example as to why wait 40-60 years. The water released at Fukushima has a half life of 20 years (or at least the wast majority of the radioactive material in it). Many parts in a nuclear plant has the same kind of halflife. Meaning after 40-60 years will make the radiation only 4-8 times less radioactive in those parts. Meaning it's much more easy to work with it since not the same precautions/procedures has to be used.

[shoarmadad]

My father used to work in nuclear decommissioning. He retired earlier this year and the projects he was working on wouldn't be finished for at least another 100 years. He explained plenty to my family about this, and the video is prettt much spot on.

[joebuzzard]

7+ years is nothing compared to how long it takes to get approval to build one.

[boarbot]

The bad thing is the lifetime membership to nebula is the same as a 20 year subscription with the curiosity stream bundle deal, which is really just too much of a commitment.

[CharliMorganMusic]

Vermont Man is a superhero who was born from the ashes of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. When the plant was demolished in 2014, some of its radioactive components were dumped in a landfill near his home. Vermont Man was just an ordinary guy who liked maple syrup and skiing, until he accidentally stumbled upon the toxic waste and got exposed to a massive dose of radiation. Instead of killing him, the radiation gave him incredible powers, such as super strength, flight, and the ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes. Vermont Man decided to use his powers for good, and became the protector of the Green Mountain State. He fights against evil villains, such as New Hampshire Man, who wants to annex Vermont and make it part of his granite empire, and Quebecois, who tries to sabotage Vermont's dairy industry with his army of mutant moose. Vermont Man is a beloved hero who always stands up for justice, freedom, and maple candy.

[HirokaAkita]

I love how Sam defines TikTok as a menace for the human society.

[TheLostVector]

Hey! I worked at Duane Arnold pre-shutting down. And while it's true the storm was the last day of operation, it was planned to be closed later that year anyway. It was always planned to be the long decommissioning, not because they were short of money, but because it's way cheaper. Unverified but I heard it was like $1 billion in that fund, and the parent company could actively use for other things, so long as it's repaid. It was financially better to just wait it out and use that capital for other things, then just dump it to fast close a plant with almost 0 ROI.

[horationelson]

Imagine getting a job shutting down a nuclear power plant, and having to explain to your whole family that it’s not as “temporary” of employment as it sounds 😂

[HeisenbergFam]

1:27 "taking a wrecking ball to a haunted Chuck E Cheese" this man's commentary is a gift that keeps on giving

[TheLiamster]

It’s really sad that nuclear power plants are being decommissioned since it’s an extremely safe, reliable, efficient and carbon free way of generating electricity

[stevelapointe]

Sam, I know you know that it’s Concrete and not Cement. It’s never cement.

[traumgeist]

There are multiple reactors in my home state that are entombed, and my understanding of the technical details is limited but as far as I know, these were single circuit reactors (Water goes straight in and straight out) for weapons grade plutonium production and are hard to dismantle and remove, very dirty and lightly contained reactors, hence the decision to entomb them. Also they are far from any towns or cities and in the middle of a very large government reservation, so there's no one who could conceivably complain that they are an eyesore or want to redevelop the site.

[camilovega]

To those 3/4 as interested. The "bad thing" of transporting the material until it has been in water for years is that nuclear fuel is like a fire you can't put out, all you can do is keep it cool until it naturally goes off. It is not just hot, it is continually becoming more hot, making more heat as the fuel gets used up, and you need that heat to go somewhere otherwise you will eventually melt whatever is holding it since the maximum temperature it can get to is in the order of ridiculous. The water helps get rid of the heat it is producing and is needed until the rate of making heat is low enough that it becomes safe to handle without actively cooling it off. The half life also describes the number of years before the amount of heat it constantly produces is cut in half meaning it takes a long time for the rate to go down enough.

[TrialzGTAS]

My buddy does this for a career. It’s really interesting

[jimsvideos]

I'd suggest titling this something more specific than shut down, because it might be confused with the time it takes to stop the reaction and pump out the decay heat.

[ccityplanner]

In Wales there is a powerplant called Trawsfynydd that was activated in the 1960s & has been undergoing the decommissioning process since the 1980s. It was one of the first nuclear power stations so nobody had any idea how long decommissioning would take.

[vanchaser]

Who else WANT him to "open that can of worms". Waiting for part 2!

[vincentgrinn]

fun fact
it also takes about a decade to decommission a coal power plant, the only reason they dont take longer because of radiation is because basically all of a coal power plants radiation goes straight into the air!