So, here we are, our turbine has tripped, reactor scrammed, emergency diesel generator shutdown, steam turbine driven emergency feed pump shutdown, the reactor starting to heat up, the whole plant flooded out, operators cannot access emergency equipment, no electricity to power anything except battery powered control room instrumentation, and not much of that.
Even with a source of electrical power, it's of no avail as all required equipment is flood damaged, as well, most likely, inaccessible.
Isolated from the outside world for the present. Looking outside, we see nothing but desolation!
We're truly Up the creek, sans paddle/s.
What now? Nothing in the manuals for this. None-the-less, we've got to get water into the reactor, but how?
I, along with many other arm chair engineers have been pondering this problem since day one.
Here is what I would be considering.
The only source of boiler quality water, is that in the Condensate storage tank, however, it's been mainly depleted by the steam emergency feed pump. We have no means of restarting and controlling it. And then, there's only a limited amount of water remaining in the tank.
We have the fire protection system which is pressurized, I assume, with fresh water. This I would assume is no longer pressurized, thus unavailable.
We've the whole Pacific Ocean in our backyard, but how to get it into the reactor? It's use will destroy the reactors, but, now, that cannot be our concern. Release of massive amounts of radioactivity to the environs which would result from an uncooled reactor has to be our only concern.
Now, it's the seawater, or nothing. The decision is easy.
First, what do we need? I would guess that we would need at least 3,000 gallons per minute (gpm) per reactor. My choice would be large marine salvage de-watering pumps. I would not believe that any are on site, or would I believe local fire stations would have these on hand. I could be wrong. There may be large industrial plants nearby which possess these pumps. But, it would take time to assess their availability and then obtain. Corporate headquarters would be the source to search, obtain, and deliver, helicopter would be the better choice as much of the highway infastructure is unusable.
Once a large pump, diesel driven arrives, which can draw suction from the seawater intake structures, and in place, how do we dispense the water? I would think there must be fire protection distribution manifolds available which we could connect to and from which the fire protection hard piping is run.
Now, how do we deliver water to the reactors? It seems that the only accessible path would be that of the High Pressure Coolant Injection system feedwater piping, that which is the steam-turbine driven pump system previously in operation.
The problem now is, how do we cross connect from the fire protection system? I would believe that an existing cross-connection capability, a no-no, to be non-existent. What then?
We would need to punch into the feedwater piping, which is most likely a fully welded system, that is, without flanges. However, the pump itself would most likely be flanged mounted on both discharge and suction sides.
One of these flanges must be broken, and a blind flange would need to be fabricated with a fire connection fitting welded on. We would need skilled craftsman, Pipefitter/Welders, the obvious choice. Plant operators do not possess these skills.
Connect a fire house, and viola!, we're ready to roll with sea water injection into the reactor.
