Showing papers on "Nuclear power published in 1987"

The Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste

Abstract: The Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste Neil A. Chapman and Ian G. McKinley The disposal of radioactive wastes is becoming a central issue in the nuclear debate and any consideration of the future of nuclear power, and its effect on the environment, must take waste management into account. Nuclear waste is currently a significant political issue in Western Europe and North America and is becoming increasingly important in all other countries with existing or planned nuclear programmes. This is the first book to tackle in a comprehensive and integrated fashion the problems associated with the geological disposal of nuclear waste. International research and development launched during the last decade has enabled the authors to describe detailed concepts for the long-term management and disposal of such material. The level of presentation is such that readers with high school science will be able to understand the issues involved. However, the broad scope of coverage with references provided throughout as well as a guide to the key sources of information, make this an invaluable book for both the researcher and the lay environmental scientist.

Introduction To Nuclear Power

Abstract: This book provides an overview of cooling in nuclear power, and includes a description of coolant loss accidents and their consequences. Terrestrial nuclear heat generation, nuclear reactions, decay heat, fission, and the terrestrial thermal cycle are discussed. Topics covered include principles of thermal reactors and fast reactors; methods of cooling reactors; events and consequences of cooling loss with examples from cooling accidents at EPRI, Enrico Fermi, Browns Ferry, and Three Mile Island; core melt down and fuel-coolant interaction problems; refueling machines, cooling ponds, reprocessing plants; and issues relating to the final cooldown such as long-term storage of fission products, glassification, and the reuse of plutonium. The last chapter discusses the need for fusion power.

Nuclear power facilities

Abstract: A container-outer-periphery pool in which water is stored is provided between a primary containment vessel and a reactor building, and outside of a pressure suppression pool. Consequently, the natural heat transfer capabilities of reactor facilities is enhanced, and the inherent safety of the reactor facilities is improved.

Soviet medical response to the Chernobyl nuclear accident

Abstract: The nuclear accident at Chernobyl was the worst in the history of nuclear power. It tested the organized medical response to mass radiation casualties. This article reviews the Soviet response as reported at the 1986 postaccident review meeting in Vienna and as determined from interviews. The Soviets used three levels of care: rescue and first aid at the plant site; emergency treatment at regional hospitals; and definitive evaluation and treatment in Moscow. Diagnosis, triage, patient disposition, attendant exposure, and preventive actions are detailed. The United States would be well advised to organize its resources definitively to cope with future nonmilitary nuclear accidents.

Radiation effects on microelectronics

Abstract: Applications of radiation-hardened microelectronics in nuclear power systems include (a) light water reactor (LWR) containment building, postaccident instrumentation that can operate through the beta and gamma radiation released in a design basis loss-of-coolant accident; (b) advanced LWR instrumentation and control systems employing distributed digital integrated circuit (IC) technology to achieve a high degree of artificial intelligence and thereby reduce the probability of operator error under accident conditions; (c) instrumentation, command, control and communication systems for space nuclear power applications that must operate during the neutron and gamma-ray core leakage environments as well as the background electron, proton, and heavy charged particle environments of space; and (d) robotics systems designed for the described functions. Advanced microelectronics offer advantages in cost and reliability over alternative approaches to instrumentation and control. No semiconductor technology is hard to all classes of radiation effects phenomena. As the effects have become better understood, however, significant progress has been made in hardening IC technology. Application of hardened microelectronics to nuclear power systems has lagged military applications because of the limited market potential of hardened instruments and numerous institutional impediments.

The safety goals of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Abstract: In August 1986, after 6 years of effort, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopted a Policy Statement on safety goals for nuclear power reactors. The commission's qualitative goals state that individual members of the public should be provided a level of protection from the consequences of nuclear power plant operation such that they bear no significant additional risk to life and health, and societal risks to life and health from nuclear power should be comparable to or less than the risks of generating electricity by viable competing technologies and should not be a significant addition to other societal risks. The commission's safety goal Policy Statement also includes quantitative design objectives.

A solar-hydrogen energy system

Abstract: Current prospects as to a steady supply of sufficient energy in the future are diffuse. The most commonly discernible view of scientists interested in the bigger energy picture at this time, and the assumption underlying practically all meetings on energy, is that the present energy economy will continue indefinitely. Such a view is suggested and encouraged by low oil prices. It is thought that nuclear power will gradually supply an increasing fraction of electricity and when the liquid fossil fuel supply rate begins to decline in some twenty years time, the losses will be replaced by synthetic products derived from coal, e.g., methyl alcohol.

Commentary: Nuclear Power as a Social Experiment—European Political “Fall Out” from the Chernobyl Meltdown*:

Abstract: Society has become an experimentation field for complex technologies. Nuclear power plants are being sold as well-developed products by industry, they are legitimated as necessary for the future provision of energy by political agencies, and scientifically they are supported by seemingly objective and neutral safety studies and risk assessments. But none of the 300 existing nuclear power plants are identical and their safety cannot be tested under real extreme conditions: That is the nature of this technology. Thus, the actual safety of nuclear power plants in normal operation and the manageability of an accident remain specula-

Nuclear power after Chernobyl.

Abstract: The causes and progress of the accident at Chernobyl are described, and a comparison between the Chernobyl accident and the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power station is made. Significant similarities between Chernobyl and Three Mile Island include complacency of operators and industry, deliberate negation of safety systems, and a lack of understanding of their plant on the part of the operators, which shows the critical importance of the human element. The Chernobyl accident has implications for nuclear power in the United States; it will affect the research program of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, regulation of Department of Energy reactors, new reactor designs, and public attitudes.

Radiation and health

Abstract: Radiation has been a source of fascination and concern ever since Wilhelm Konrad Rontgen discovered X-rays on 8 November 1895. Over the years, health workers as well as the public have been concerned about medical uses of X-rays, the presence of radon in buildings, radioactive waste from nuclear power stations, fallout from nuclear test explosions, radioactive consumer products, microwave ovens, and many other sources of radiation. Most recently, the tragic accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the USSR, and the subsequent contamination over most of Europe, has again wakened interest and concern and also reminded us about a number of misconceptions about radiation. This article describes the essentials about radiation (especially ionizing radiation) and its health effects.

Safety of nuclear power plants

Abstract: The safety of operating nuclear power plants of the CANDU type is described in this paper. The need for a systematic study on these types of heavy water reactors similar to the safety studies done on light water reactors is brought out in this paper. Some of the work done on station blackout, operational transients, small and large break loss of coolant accidents is reviewed. Recent nuclear power plant accidents, namely Three-Mile Island-2 and Chernobyl, seem to indicate that an understanding of man-machine interaction and human behaviour under stress is important for the safety aspects and more work needs to be done in these areas.

A visit to Chernobyl

Abstract: Details of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were given by Soviet experts at a special International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Austria, in August 1986. Several unanswered questions were made much clearer by a visit to the decontaminated and operating power plant at Chernobyl and by discussions with Soviet scientists. The visit gives us insights into the way the Soviets design their technology, the consequences of the accident, and the magnificent way they coped with the disaster. Although there are general conclusions to be drawn for the rest of the world, such as the realization that operators of technological systems can and will deliberately cut out safety systems, the primary specific conclusion is to be grateful that the West did not follow the Soviet route in its development of nuclear power.

Cost estimating relationships for nuclear power plant operationa and maintenance

Abstract: Revised cost estimating relationships for 1987 are presented for estimating annual nonfuel operation and maintenance (O and M) costs for light-water reactor (LWR) nuclear power plants, which update guidelines published previously in 1982. The purpose of these cost estimating relationships is for use in long range planning and evaluations of the economics of nuclear energy for electric power generation. A listing of a computer program, LWROM, implementing the cost estimating relationships and written in advanced BASIC for IBM personal computers, is included.

Chernobyl: The Packaging of Transnational Ecological Disaster.

Abstract: This article examines the image production and management of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Eastern and Western blocs during and immediately after the reactor accident in April 1986. In particular, it compares and contrasts the varying ideological packaging that was wrapped around the nuclear catastrophe by Western governments, the Soviet Union, Western nuclear power firms, and the anti‐nuclear movement in Western Europe and North America. In the year following the accident, these image management efforts largely highlighted the necessity of keeping and pushing ahead with more nuclear power development rather than reducing society's reliance upon nuclear energy. Thus much of the threatening import of the Chernobyl events has been contained within the legitimating interpretation of its packaged representation to the mass publics of the East and the West.

Testing of mobile surveillance robot at a nuclear power plant

Abstract: In-plant testing of a mobile surveillance robot (SURBOT) was performed at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant by TVA personnel. The results verified that SURBOT can be used for remote surveillance in 54 separate controlled radiation rooms at the plant. High-quality color video, audio, and other data are collected, digitized by an on-board computer, and transmitted through a cable to the control console for real-time display and videotaping. TVA projects that the use of SURBOT for surveillance during plant operation will produce annual savings of about 100 person-rem radiation exposure and $200,000 in operating costs. Based on the successful results of this program, REMOTEC is now commercializing the SURBOT technology on both wheeled and tracked mobile robots for use in nuclear power plants and other hazardous environments.

Chernobyl and Nuclear Power in USSR

Abstract: (1987). Chernobyl and Nuclear Power in USSR. Nuclear Technology: Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 198-199.

Analysis of closed cycle megawatt class space power systems with nuclear reactor heat sources

Abstract: The analysis and integration studies of multimegawatt nuclear power conversion systems for potential SDI applications is presented. A study is summarized which considered 3 separate types of power conversion systems for steady state power generation with a duty requirement of 1 yr at full power. The systems considered are based on the following conversion cycles: direct and indirect Brayton gas turbine, direct and indirect liquid metal Rankine, and in core thermionic. A complete mass analysis was performed for each system at power levels ranging from 1 to 25 MWe for both heat pipe and liquid droplet radiator options. In the modeling of common subsystems, reactor and shield calculations were based on multiparameter correlation and an in-house analysis for the heat rejection and other subsystems.

Flight Safety Review Process for Space Nuclear Power Sources

Abstract: This paper describes the general flight safety review process used in the United States for space nuclear power sources. This process and·its goals are generally consistent with recommendations of the United Nations Working Group on the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space. As a recent illustrative example, specific attention will be focused on the flight safety review process as it was applied to the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) planned to be used on the Galilee and Ulysses spacecraft.

Aging and service wear of solenoid-operated valves used in safety systems of nuclear power plants: Volume 1, Operating experience and failure identification

Abstract: An assessment of the types and uses of solenoid-operated valves (SOVs) in nuclear power plant safety-related service is provided. Through a description of each SOV's operation, combined with knowledge of nuclear power plant applications and operational occurrences, the significant stressors responsible for degradation of SOV performance are identified. A review of actual operating experience (failure data) leads to identification of potential nondestructive in-situ testing which, if properly developed, could provide the methodology for degradation monitoring of SOVs. Recommendations are provided for continuation of the study into the test methodology development phase.