Newsgroups: rec.crafts.metalworking
Subject: Re: A story
From: [email protected] (John De Armond)
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 07:45:28 GMT

This is absolutely true to the best of my (intentionally fading) memory.

From: [email protected] (John G. De Armond)
Newsgroups: rsi.postings
Subject: jgd; rec.models.rockets; Re: A tale of [nuclear] model rocketry
Date: 13 Dec 89 09:36:45 GMT
Lines: 92

>Ok guys, you want great model rocket stories? I got great model >rocket stories. . .

[a GREAT story deleted ]

>Beat that guys! :-)

Hey, with a challenge like that, who could resist :-) Betcha can't beat this one.

This story involves TRULY internal combustion propulsion - as in internal to the atom.

The setting is the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Chattanooga, TN. The date is about 1979 or 80 and we're starting that sucker up for the first time.

I was the shift test engineer, running the startup test program on the evening shift. Most testing is conducted from the control room. In order to get to the control room, a stroll across the turbine deck is necessary. This deck contains the huge (1200 MWe) turbines and a variety of support equipment. The floor is tiled and the 10 story tall walls are slightly tinted glass. A glorious sight when bathed in the afternoon sun.

As I was strolling toward the control room, I noticed an Aux. Operator standing near a device called a moisture separator/reheater. This device is a large heat exchanger, about 40 feet long and 20 feet in diameter. Its purpose is to reheat the steam exhausting from the high pressure turbine in order to dry it before being introducted into the low pressure turbines. On top of this device is a large safety relief valve with a tailpipe that extended almost 10 floors through the roof. When this valve opens, steam at about 900 psi exhausts to atmosphere through this ~36" tailpipe. The tailpipe is hung from spring hangers and simply floats on the exhaust flange of the safety valve which allows the pipe to move under thermal expansion.

Anyway, this operator was standing along side the reheater. In one hand was a walkie-talkie and in the other hand was a lanyard that ran to the manual trip lever on one of the safeties. This was not unusual, as the functionality of these critical valves is tested fairly often. Normally when the valve trips, there is some steam escaping around the valve, a loud shreik and a large steam cloud on the roof.

As I was almost to the control room, the operator got some activity on the handi-talkie and pulled the manual trip lanyard. The noise from the H-T had gotten my attention and I looked around just in time for the valve opening. FOOOMsssss!!!! The whole damn tailpipe jumped up about 6 inches in the air before settling back down.

Since this behavior was quite abnormal, I asked the operator what was going on. He pointed to the elevator and suggested I go to the roof to find out. I rode the elevator 5 floors and hoofed it up 5 flights of stairs and onto the roof. I noticed about 10 guys standing around near the tailpipe.

As I stepped out, I saw about 6 guys hoisting A 55 GALLON DRUM up and over the tailpipe. Whoosh. It hit bottom 10 floors below.

A message on the handi-talkie and BOOOMssss!!!!!!!! That damn 55 gallon drum full of 600 pounds of water had been launched literally out of sight by 900 psi of steam.

It stayed out of sight a good 30 seconds before it came into view again, hurtling down over the Chickamauga lake. When it hit the lake, it looked like a depth charge going off.

I did a 180 degree twist and headed back down the stairs as fast as my little feet would carry me. As Shultz on Hogan's heros used to say, "I saw notsing.. I hear notsing.. I know notsing..". I did keep a piece of strip chart recording that showed the dip in steam pressure that documents the launch :-)

I heard a few days later that one of their ICBD (Inter County Ballistic Drums) had been caught by a gust of wind and had come down on a car in the parking lot, thus ending the era of the nuclear powered missile. The funny thing is, no one would ever admit to knowing how that drum ended up on the car, which ended up about 6 inches tall :-)

So if anyone asks if America has ever launched a nuclear powered missile, you can answer truthful YES!

[BTW, I've waited 10 years to tell this story to ensure that my memory of the names of those involved has thoroughly faded just in case the nuke police were to get interested.]

John
-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC                   | The Fano Factor - 
Radiation Systems, Inc.   Atlanta, GA    | Where Theory meets Reality.
emory!rsiatl!jgd        **I am the NRA** |