Word: steamingly
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Suddenly, a shrill alarm shatters the control room's silence. Red lights flash on the instrument panel. One of the reactor's steam condensers has lost its vacuum, causing a turbine "trip," or shutoff. No longer is the reactor able to shed heat produced by its radioactive core. Ominously its temperature climbs, threatening to boil away the coolant. Unless something is done fast, there may be a meltdown, spilling lethal radioactive gases...
...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...
...General Services Administration, the Government's housekeeper, asking that thermostats in all federal buildings be set no lower then 80°. He ended up being too conscientious in Washington's long and sultry summer: high temperatures and humidity have frequently turned the White House into a steam bath...
...energy from the earth's hot interior, and DOE analysts believe that many Western states could start to follow this example. Geothermal energy exists in volcanoes, geysers and hot springs, and can be tapped by sinking wells roughly 2,000 ft. into the reservoirs of superheated water and steam that are sandwiched between layers of rock close to the earth's molten lava. Steam rises to the surface, where it can be used to power turbines that generate electricity, and is then allowed to flow back underground for natural reheating and reuse...
There are three problems. The reservoirs often can be as difficult to find as oil deposits; they are close to the surface in only a few areas; and the steam usually has a relatively low temperature that is not very efficient for turning turbines. But the energy is essentially inexhaustible, environmentally benign and, above all, free...