• Claidheamh
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    10 months ago

    So, again, if those three examples are what you mean by catastrophic failure, then my assumption was correct. None of them were due to maintenance failures or being in service too long. Catastrophic failure is not a failure mode for a modern reactor past its service life.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Catastrophic failure is not a failure mode for a modern reactor past its service life.

      Catastrophic failure is an engineering term, and also general language term, to describe when a device that breaks down completely, or breaks down in such a way that it’s completely unusable.

      You’re assuming I use that word just to explain a huge explosion and loss of life, which is possible as a side effect of catastrophic failure, but not necessarily, like 3 Mile island.