h the loop. Because the water in the primary loop comes in contact with the core it becomes radioactive. The heat is then transferred from the water in the primary loop to the water in the secondary loop. The water in the secondary then turns in to steam that steam turns a turbine that is connected to a generator that produces electricit!
             y. Pumps move the water through the secondary loop and back to where the heat is exchanged. Because the water in the secondary loop never comes in contact with the radioactive water in the primary loop it is not radioactive. (PBS)
             At 4:00 A.M. on March 28, 1979 the main pumps in the secondary non-nuclear loop of the unit 2 reactor stopped working caused by a slight malfunction. The turbine and then the reactor shut down according to their design. Because water is no longer flowing through the secondary loop, heat is no longer being transferred from the primary loop to the secondary loop. The water temperature and pressure in the reactor raise, this is normal and no cause for alarm. To prevent the pressure from getting too high, a pressure relief valve opens to relieve some of the pressure and water to a drain tank. (Raso) All according to what was supposed to happen in case of such an event.
             This is when things start to go wrong. The back up pumps for the secondary loop had had a test run on them 42 hours before the indent. Part of this test included a valve being closed and then reopened at the end of the test. But this time the valve was not reopened after the test. The valve being closed prevented the backup system from functioning. The plant workers discovered the valve closed in about eight minutes and reopened. Once the valve was open the back up system started to work correctly. Cooling water then flowed into the steam generators. (NRC) This solved one problem but a bigger one existed.
             Because the secondary loop was out of commission for about eight minuets the pr...