Diesels and Nuclear Plants

I see there has been a lot of activity looking up my old posts about the old company, and a certain eastern nuclear plant, that I drove by today, on the way back from the cottage.

Then I thought about vw and their shitty diesels that everybody loved because they were cheap and peppy.  The physics would make all these things impossible and still pass the epa test.  They cheated the physics in software by making the performance a slug, and who would notice that on a test frame?  I hope they now calculate the performance by computer, and compare it to a real drive.  This is a multi-billion dollar scandal, since who wants a slug car, which is what they'll have to do.

It makes me think about my multi-billion dollar scandal that happened years ago.  They arbitrarily picked acceleration, velocity and displacement for the seismic basis of the nuclear plant with no physics.  When put together in simulation, nothing could survive it.  Any test run honestly broke the equipment, and almost broke the testing machine.  Yet it all passed.

Years later, we ran into this pixie dust when we reran the old computer runs.  Couldn't get close to what was in the report.  My friend who actually ran the analysis went on to sweep floors and he is happy.  I dropped my long-running campaign to get the seismic design basis changed, and they kicked me out.  The are still using this for the upgrades, and they will need the pixie dust.  :)

ps.  Not a corporate decision

WASHINGTON - Volkswagen's cheating on emissions with the use of software in diesel cars was not a corporate decision, but something that "individuals did," its U.S. chief executive told lawmakers on Thursday.

Ha, ha.  these things are always 'individuals'.  The corporation tolerates it, and shoots anybody who finds out.  Bet you there are a lot of bodies, just like certain other places.

ps2.  To be a corporate decision, somebody would have drafted a proposal for the president and board.

Proposal to Cheat on Emission Tests

We, in Engineering, have come to the conclusion that we can never get the tdi 'naked' diesel to pass emission tests and propose that we modify the software to pass tests.  Our motivation is that we were told we would all be fired or sent to Siberia, if we couldn't do it.  As this is a multi-billion dollar decision, we ask for full board approval.  

Do you see this happening?

ps3.  I'm thinking that the only way to tell if you are on a testing frame is to throw in an accelerometer.  That's another buck for approval.  :)

ps4.  There are a heck of a lot of these things that I ran across.  All have my blood on them.  :)