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French to English translations [PRO] Tech/Engineering - Nuclear Eng/Sci
French term or phrase:puits de cuve
This is in a document on a nuclear plant:
système de noyage du puits de cuve permettant la rétention du corium Un système de circulation d’eau dans le puits de cuve refroidit l’extérieur de la cuve et provoque le gel du corium et son refroidissement.
Yes, I agree that both terms are suitable in this context. However, I think that "reactor cavity" would be the better choice, considering its popularity in the chemistry literature and the ambiguity of "pit" in nucleonics. Of course, I have a USA/chemistry bias, though :)
Thank you for the informative reference: http://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/technical-publications/Do... This reference labels the region just outside the reactor vessel "reactor pit," which is the same region as the "reactor cavity" in my various references. It seems, then, that "reactor pit" is used in European publications (although Elsevier is a European publisher: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029549313... whereas "reactor cavity" is used in American and Japanese publications.
I am not an authority in this particular discipline but rather general chemistry research. I became suspicious when "reactor pit" did not give many relevant search results and did some investigation. My conclusions could be wrong.
... I would just like to point out that, from a purely linguistic point of view, the source text SEEMS to be suggesting that the 'puits' is outside the 'cuve' (surely that's the 'reactor vessel'?) — water circulating in the 'puits' will cool the OUTSIDE of the 'cuve', thereby indirectly cooling the corium that is INSIDE the cuve?
Thanks for the explanation. I understand your approach now, which *should* have been completely valid. I did not want to step on any toes while opening this can of worms.
Whilst I certainly do not share your expertise in the subject area, I certainly do share your misgivings about the entries in the KudoZ glossary, which are only of value if interpreted with intelligence, and in the light of in-depth personal research. I would, however, just like to underline one point I've already made: this use of 'pit' is not just some arbitrary consensus of non-expert translators — it is also the official term approved by the FR PWR manufacturer FRAM. That said, of course, it is sadly not unheard of for such companies to also "get it wrong" :-(
I am also taken aback by the insistence of "pit". This may be a routine translation from the French and the German terms, based on the bi-lingual dictionaries I've viewed, but I am pretty sure that the thought-object that the "puits de cuve" refers to is called "reactor cavity" in English, just as I am sure that the system being described is a "reactor cavity cooling system." Looks like I will "lose" this game, but at least we helped the Asker, who seems to also be wondering if the previous translations of "puits de cuve" were accurate.
Maybe the problem for me throughout these entries is that "systeme" (de noyage or de circulation) suggested a noncatastrophic condition in a non-HGTR unit. I don't operate these plants but I've litigated them in US EN and it never would occur to me to identify the coolant location, in normal operation, as the "pit." (Again, note the photo of the person walking through the concrete "pit" in the Fukushima sunshine. Granted, photo captions can be wrong, but so can the ProZ glossary.) We may be discussing the same thing but in different originating languages or different EN naming conventions.
Herbalchemist, you may be going astray in a couple of ways. First, I think the diagram you're citing was mine, not Tony's and I offered it to show that the pit is outside the vessel. Second, all the authorities cited here seem to agree that coolant does not belong in the pit except during a severe accident far more serious than what would trigger a typical emergency shutdown. Third, the freedictionary is discussing a system in high temp gas cooled reactors which exist almost nowhere unless the Klingons, for whom I have the utmost respect, use them in the Beta Quadrant. If HGTRs exist they lack emergency cooling systems, in the pit or the vessel, and, indeed, use no conventional coolants. FWIW, the ProZ glossary defines cuve as EN vat, which (as the picture shows) resembles the reactor vessel rather than the surrounding concrete room or "pit." Seriously, if there's coolant in the pit, it's not a systeme de refroidissement, it's a signal to hop a fast truck out of town.
Tony M.'s diagram cleared up the reason, beyond a literal translation, why the "puits de cuve" does not refer to the vessel (le cuve). As for "reactor pit", although I saw a few sources where it *might* have been referring to the space just outside the vessel, I wasn't convinced that this was a good translation. I would be more comfortable using "reactor cavity," since it is used extensively in the field. "Reactor cavity cooling system" is a standard term: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/reactor cavity co... Furthermore, "pit" has another meaning, which is a nuclear weapon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_(nuclear_weapon). Most importantly, "reactor pit" is a Klingon term meaning "main engineering": http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Engineering.
puits de cuve > reactor pit - ProZ.com www.proz.com › KudoZ home › French to English › Nuclear Eng/Sci 13 Feb 2005 - (KudoZ) French to English translation of puits de cuve: reactor pit [Nuclear Eng/Sci (Science)].
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Answers
36 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
reactor pit
Explanation: A primary system for cooling the reactor; a reactor pit.
CARL HARRIS United States Local time: 10:38 Specializes in field Native speaker of: French PRO pts in category: 4
peer agreement (net): +3