Several accounts of the SL-1 experimental reactor accident vividly describe the incredibly powerful effect of water hammer on a pressure vessel : " The expansion caused by this heating process caused water hammer as water was accelerated upwards toward the reactor vessel head , producing approximately 10,000 pounds per square inch ( 69,000 kPa ) of pressure on the head of the reactor vessel when water struck the head at 160 feet per second ( 50 m/s ) ... This extreme form of water hammer propelled control rods , shield plugs , and the entire reactor vessel upward . A later investigation concluded that the 26,000-pound ( 12,000 kg ) vessel had jumped 9 feet 1 inch ( 2.77 m ) and the upper control rod drive mechanisms had struck the ceiling of the reactor building prior to settling back into its original location " A steam locomotive operating at would have a temperature of about , and a specific enthalpy of . Since standard pressure saturated water has a specific enthalpy of just , the difference between the two specific enthalpies , , is the total energy expended in the explosion . So in the case of a large locomotive which can hold as much as of water at a high pressure and temperature state , this explosion would have an theoretical energy release equal to about of TNT
SL-1
SL-1
Boiler explosion