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Posted: 10/4/2001 3:23:58 PM EDT
[img]http://www.nukeworker.com/nuke_facilities/us_plants/region4/rancho_seco/RanchoSeco2.jpg[/img]

The Rancho Seco picture page: [url]http://www.nukeworker.com/nuke_facilities/us_plants/region4/rancho_seco/rancho_seco_pictures.htm[/url]

8 of them are mine. Hold your mouse over the thumbnail to see info about it.

I took a drive to Rancho Seco a few days ago to play around with my new Nikon N60 [img]http://www.geminiphoto.com/images/newn60.jpg[/img]

Rancho Seco is a Nuclear power generating facility that was shut down in 1989 due to popular vote by the people in Sacramento county.

It had a number of problems and never did run to it's full capacity. It has a Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) known to be a high maintenance delicate reactor. The same at Three Mile Island.

Rancho Seco had a bad operating history which you can read about here: [url]http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/RanchoSeco.htm[/url]

It sucks, I believe in Nuclear power and am fascinated by it. Rancho Seco just wasn't ran right. They had a drug problem throughout the plant and workers had little training. Kinda scary considering Rancho Seco is about 30 minutes from where I live.

This place is amazing to look at in person. There is just an eerie feel to it.

-Frank (the spank)
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:28:43 PM EDT
[#1]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:29:57 PM EDT
[#2]
that erie feeling you feel is that slow radiation leak flowing thru ur body [:D]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:32:00 PM EDT
[#3]
arrrr!!!! thems ah fightin words! hehehe

My next camera was gonna be a digital camera. But my friend needed money and was selling his Nikon so I snatched it up for only $200! Came with camera bag, strap, and a Sigma 28-80mm zoom lens, even has Macro.

How could I pass that deal up?!?! [:)]

Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:32:19 PM EDT
[#4]
i kinda get a kick seeing the cooling towers in the distance when i go to camp perry
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:35:30 PM EDT
[#5]
Nikon?? cannon???


they are but false prophets compared to a Sony

Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:39:01 PM EDT
[#6]
I always thought the bad operating history with Rancho Seco was just it wasn't running full speed and safety concerns were about things "going to" break. But then I read the detailed history... god damn... SMUD was fined millions and Rancho Seco was rated one of the worst nuclear power plants in the nation.

Reports of leaked radioactive steam, water and people dying due to pipes bursting. SMUD treated Rancho Seco like a fire burning power plant and not a nuclear power plant. Bunch of morons. Now we have this huge piece of land with a billion dollar reactor that could be helping California's power crisis.

They said the rate of infant death around Rancho Seco dropped 46% when the plant was shut down. Now that is scary. Nuclear power is safe, when you run it right. France has the most nuclear power plants in the world and have the best safety record. I guess that's what ya get when ya hire lazy American union workers.
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:39:15 PM EDT
[#7]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:40:52 PM EDT
[#8]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:43:03 PM EDT
[#9]
Paul, that what I have heard as well. PWR's are one of the safest types of reactors made. But... theses were of Westinghouse design. They are good... but are very delicate and very high matainence reactors. SMUD treated it like truck engine instead of a jet engine.
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:43:26 PM EDT
[#10]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:44:18 PM EDT
[#11]
[b]This is what happens when you hunt too close to nuclear power plants...Whacked Out Coyotes![/b]


[img]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid26/p16a71408384bca9d7c0c81a2b824c1c9/fe376a31.jpg[/img]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:46:05 PM EDT
[#12]
Sorry, but Sony doesn't make SLR's. Only digitals cameras


my bad i thought you guys were talking about digital cams [:K]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:49:49 PM EDT
[#13]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:57:24 PM EDT
[#14]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 3:59:16 PM EDT
[#15]
Troy, ya serious?!? I've never seen a range out there. Where's it at?
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 4:02:08 PM EDT
[#16]
Forget nukes, burn more natural gas. Keeps me in a job.
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OwAAANgT5SjUoK3Py7xQMWadm4QtDtIefcudz*CX7JV95nvczrOTvL8jvwBmprvlsL3ngcdjwuxflZUwrBVtflZEm3VexT*Y/DSC000030.jpg[/img]
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OgAgYakTlR3UoK3Py7xQMZNEskp8I*c1rCDda2SQJvHXMzgtfzFymGT6XxMUQcACPMyBIWsRxb3W!tg35pfboBY733uKmkG!/DSC00004.jpg[/img]
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OgAlAKoTxh3UoK3Py7xQMZz79mgYdSsmFgjQlqjgNWSRyNQHi0zufMuvyq7E5HvUSicAE8y6xqgxvtHbH605ylG8vS3hqUM3/DSC00005.jpg[/img]
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 4:31:49 PM EDT
[#17]
Quoted:
The problem with your photos is that they are taken with a Nikon instead of a Canon... [:D]
View Quote


Oh NO!

Please don't tell me Nikon vs Canon has made it to here too?[:D]  Is this Photo.net?

Yeah, Canon innovations are coming out one a minute it seems.  The "polycarbonate"(aka plastic)body on the EOS-1N was a real innovation.  Until you hung long glass from it and the mount stretched that is.  Laughed hard when the 1V came out in metal.[;)]

Even Art Morris says the Nikon F5 is the world's best camera.  Sure do like mine.

But this is not about me.  Frank, what kind of film did you use for this shot? Negative or transparency?  Exposure?  It is an excellent image!
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 7:10:09 PM EDT
[#18]
Hey Frank, from one Nikkor bro' to another, congrats on the photos. Ever look at the Kodak DCS 760? Thats our next baby, built on an F5 frame.
Link Posted: 10/4/2001 8:59:17 PM EDT
[#19]
Jim_Dandy, damn that turbine room looks just like one of a nuclear turbine room. Then again I guess it's all the same process, boiling water. Well almost... some don't boil the water, just pressurize it and turn it into steam.

platform389,

I used some cheap Fuji Negative 800ISO for the cloudy day photos and some cheap wallgreens 200 for the sunset shots.

It's been awhile since I've been into photos. All I ever did in high school was black and white for my newspaper class and photo class. I'm still tryin to learn this camera.

Grundsau, don't know too much about new cameras. My last camera was an old Targus. I'm gettin spoiled by the N60's auto features. I can set it all back to manual but the controls are so weird and im not used to looking at a LCD for my shutter speeds and apature settings.
Link Posted: 10/5/2001 5:16:14 PM EDT
[#20]
So what do ya guys think of my pics? Any advice on taking better pictures is welcomed. I'm a bit rusty.. but had tons of fun :)
Link Posted: 10/5/2001 5:23:13 PM EDT
[#21]
those are great pictures. Are you proffesional photographer? I have never been able to take a picture that good.
Link Posted: 10/5/2001 7:51:27 PM EDT
[#22]
Frank
The shooting range is the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, off Ione road, 4 miles off the Jackson Hwy (Hwy 16).
[url]http://www.sacvalley.org/[/url]
Link Posted: 10/5/2001 8:13:11 PM EDT
[#23]
Quoted:
Here's part of my setup:

[img]http://wsphotofews.excite.com/033/7b/6S/cr/Au11886.jpg[/img]
[img]http://wsphotofews.excite.com/034/Yb/UC/sY/nr87237.jpg[/img]

Most people don't realize that a good lens will cost more than a rifle, and in some cases, more than a car.  There is even one Canon lens, the 1200mm f/5.6 that costs upwards of $90,000.  Yup, no typo there!
View Quote


Is that an A2...can't really see the pic that great...I shoot an Elan 7 myself...do you shoot for fun / hobby / or make money with it?
Link Posted: 10/6/2001 11:57:06 AM EDT
[#24]
Thanks guys, I was really proud of this [:)]

No I am not a proffesional photographer, just something I like to do for fun. I just recently got back into it, I had an old manual camera that I used in high school for my photo class and my school newspaper.
Link Posted: 10/6/2001 12:17:27 PM EDT
[#25]
My vote goes to Nikon! They also make awsome rifle scopes. {:D]
Link Posted: 10/6/2001 12:18:26 PM EDT
[#26]
Quoted:
My vote goes to Nikon! They also make awsome rifle scopes. [:D]
View Quote
Link Posted: 10/6/2001 5:40:23 PM EDT
[#27]
Nikon makes just about anything with glass.
Link Posted: 10/6/2001 7:35:39 PM EDT
[#28]
Quoted:
So what do ya guys think of my pics? Any advice on taking better pictures is welcomed. I'm a bit rusty.. but had tons of fun :)
View Quote


Take the same picture when the sun is low and behind you (This is called MAGIC HOUR), either right at sunset or sunrise when the light is Orange. It'll be a great addition to your other photo, and make those cooloing towers look like they are on FIRE!!

Oh, and ALWAYS use a tripod.....


Bulldog OUT
Link Posted: 10/6/2001 11:07:42 PM EDT
[#29]
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 2:18:02 AM EDT
[#30]
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-07-01.html

How lame.... people are freaking over "missing" fuel rods...

Like reactor fuel rods are the size of tire irons..

This is a reactor fuel rod: [img]http://www.iaea.or.at/ns/nusafe/nusafe3/tutorial/images/images/pho17100.gif[/img]

I'm sure someone tucked it under their jacket and ran off to make a nuclear bomb even though plutonium which is the byproduct of uranium after it has been fissioned only acts as the trigger in a nuclear bomb.

I wonder how whoever made off with the fuel rods got past the rad meter alarms plus overcome MELTING by holding a glowing fuel rod. [img]http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:WoNtDiqADmY:www.comptons.com/encyclopedia/PICTURES/20004462.jpg[/img]

Maybe they just backed up their pickup truck into the containment dome and loaded them up. Security is always lax at nuclear power plants.... heh..

Ignorant media..

Thanks bulldog1967 for the advice. I will have to make another trip out there. No tripod yet.. I'll get one soon though.
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 6:06:01 AM EDT
[#31]
I used to shoot the Minolta Maxxim 9000-PRO bodies, on a wide array of lenses...

The most expensive I had were a F2.8 200mm APO and a F4.0 600mm APO.  These 2 lenses cost roughly $15k.  Not the mention the 3 9000-Pro bodies that I carried everywhere!

I was with Knight Ridder Newspapers and AP, but used my personal equipment, since I was not a Nikon F5 fan at the time.
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 7:15:33 AM EDT
[#32]
Gas- the other non-radioactive white meat. I think we're gen'ing more than Rancho Seco is.
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OwAgVN4TESrUoK3Py7xQMduhv15RBXizLn!FxAMfyw0qOFP6xXYPhZ4J4xVJJDUuKRZZgAVF*JwrDPMwd7HulWtkjj6WVpe3/DSC000090.jpg[/img]
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OwD5EtwTrinUoK3Py7xQMe7BGKA9ai8aKOZ*4jhWE8ZLfRVd!T0cDlNVlmrtay7Hab1ETM5j1xHQsvCJyQyGq92HKQwSv7J2/DSC000160.jpg[/img]
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OwBGAN4TEirUoK3Py7xQMdCT3wAWne!MrJJuRcw53rCGKRQONrSovhy!N1x5Wbv5Ij4jNCJHblZNqCwE*p7htTZ2XhIKB2sN/DSC000180.jpg[/img]

Please note the hard-to-see, but present, company provided trap range to the left of the upper towers.
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 7:22:13 AM EDT
[#33]
what type of furnace are you heating?






Quoted:
Forget nukes, burn more natural gas. Keeps me in a job.
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OwAAANgT5SjUoK3Py7xQMWadm4QtDtIefcudz*CX7JV95nvczrOTvL8jvwBmprvlsL3ngcdjwuxflZUwrBVtflZEm3VexT*Y/DSC000030.jpg[/img]
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OgAgYakTlR3UoK3Py7xQMZNEskp8I*c1rCDda2SQJvHXMzgtfzFymGT6XxMUQcACPMyBIWsRxb3W!tg35pfboBY733uKmkG!/DSC00004.jpg[/img]
[img]http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0OgAlAKoTxh3UoK3Py7xQMZz79mgYdSsmFgjQlqjgNWSRyNQHi0zufMuvyq7E5HvUSicAE8y6xqgxvtHbH605ylG8vS3hqUM3/DSC00005.jpg[/img]
View Quote
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 7:35:19 AM EDT
[#34]
I'm not sure that I follow your question, but the two pictured units are gas-fired, forced draft, reheat type boilers. Gas has always been their main fuel, however, they used to have diesel as a back up. We have two smaller units with induced draft, non-reheat boilers that used coal as their back up fuel (that high sulfur crap from northeast Oklahoma), but the EPA put a stop to that back in the '70s.
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 11:55:52 AM EDT
[#35]
The static fromw alking on my carpet in socks generates more juice than Rancho Seco, hehehe

It has been shut down since 1989 by popular vote. It sucks that it isn't running anymore. But the people that ran Rancho Seco were god damn idiots. Smud, the company that owned the reactor were fined millikns of dollars for violating safety regulations.

You can see their history here: [url]http://recollectionbooks.com/siml/library/RanchoSeco.htm[/url]

They were ranked the worst operating reactor in the united states. They spent so much on this place.. so much time, so much land and then they try and run it like it were a oil burning power plant. No one was trained enough to run that place.

Now they just have this solar field to the left of the plant...
[img]http://www.eren.doe.gov/greenpower/images/asesfig1.gif[/img]

A drip in the bucket..
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 12:42:09 PM EDT
[#36]
About 10 years ago, my friend's father floated an idea to convert Rancho Seco to a natural gas facility.  He is in the natural gas business, and made an offer that would have cost the tax payers nothing.  The idea was quickly shot down.  

Now the state is spending $$$ to do exactly what he proposed to do for free.  Don't you love government.
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 12:42:28 PM EDT
[#37]
Quoted:
i kinda get a kick seeing the cooling towers in the distance when i go to camp perry
View Quote


Me too!
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 2:49:05 PM EDT
[#38]
It has been shut down since 1989 by popular vote. It sucks that it isn't running anymore. But the people that ran Rancho Seco were god damn idiots. Smud, the company that owned the reactor were fined millikns of dollars for violating safety regulations.
They were ranked the worst operating reactor in the united states. They spent so much on this place.. so much time, so much land and then they try and run it like it were a oil burning power plant. No one was trained enough to run that place.
View Quote

It was run by S.M.U.D., Sacramento Municipal Utility District. As I recall, it's part of the City of Sacramento. I think that explains their problems. I lived in Davis for three years, so I'm somewhat familiar with the various knotheads involved. It's a wonder anything ever gets done there.
Link Posted: 10/7/2001 9:15:16 PM EDT
[#39]
When I drive on 99 I always look for the cooling towers. I remember long ago when I was little I use to call Rancho Seco the cloud making factory, from the freeway all you saw where theses big oddly shaped cooling towers with huge stacks of water vapor (it's actually not steam) comming out of them.
Link Posted: 10/8/2001 2:12:09 AM EDT
[#40]
[img]http://wsphotofews.excite.com/028/As/Ed/gF/wM70857.jpg[/img]

Here is a pic I took as I was speeding away. Can't linger around the outside of the plant before security comes after ya. hehehe
Link Posted: 10/8/2001 2:26:24 AM EDT
[#41]
Quoted:
The problem with your photos is that they are taken with a Nikon instead of a Canon... [:D]
View Quote


There is a problem the pictures taken by [B]BOTH[/B] of you as they weren't taken with a Hasselblad! [:D]

Just kidding!
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