Word: janacek
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...daily happenings at General Electric's Boiling Water Reactor Training Center in Morris, Ill., 50 miles southwest of Chicago. Since it opened eleven years ago, it has been instructing more than 400 people a year in the fine art of running and maintaining G.E.-built reactors. Says Don Janacek, the school's "dean": "Our aim is to produce people who can operate their plants not just efficiently but safely...
...action. One by one they withdraw control rods, watching as the reactor temperature rises. The work must proceed with agonizing care, and the morning is nearly gone before Maher says, "O.K., guys, we're taking her up. Let's shift her onto line and make money." But Janacek stops to check his students' progress. "We've got damn good safety systems," he says. "But they're only as good as the operators...
...prove his point, Janacek moves to the rear of the control room, glances at a panel with such legends as FEED-WATER PUMP FAILURE, STEAM-LINE RUPTURE and RELIEF-VALVE FAILURE, and presses a button. The effect is jarring. Alarms give off an almost hysterical shrill. Control-panel lights flash, and overhead lights dim. He has simulated the rupture of a 21-in.-diameter water line, which can empty the reactor of vital cooling water in less than a minute...
Higginbotham and Helton bring the situation under control before the lapse of that crucial minute. Then, as they would if such an accident had really happened, they begin cooling down the reactor for repairs and, momentarily at least, reflect on what might have been. Just before Janacek had pressed the button, the reactor was nearly up to full power. Now they must start all over...
Britain's only American museum is in Bath. The city's music and drama festival, from May 18 to June 3, is devoted mostly to baroque composers, but moderns like Janacek and Stravinsky are also performed. A small, comfortable hotel is the Richmond, near the Venetian-style three-arch Pulteney bridge across the Avon (double room with bath, about...