Type of accident in nuclear power plant

Major accident - Major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures.

 

Serious accident - Significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures.

Accident with wider consequences - Limited release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of some planned countermeasures. It is also caused several deaths from radiation. For radiological barriers & control, severe damage to reactor core, release of large quantities of radioactive material within an installation with a high probability of significant public exposure. This could arise from a major critical accident or fire.

Accident with local consequences - Minor release of radioactive material unlikely to result in implementation of planned countermeasures other than local food controls. At least one death from radiation of this type of accident. Fuel melt or damage to fuel resulting in more than 0.1% release of core inventory. Release of significant quantities of radioactive material within an installation with a high probability of significant public exposure.

Incident - Exposure of a member of the public in excess of 10 mSv, exposure of a worker in excess of the statutory annual limits. Radiation levels in an operating area of more than 50 mSv/h. Significant contamination within the facility into an area not expected by design.

For an example, recently there was an accident happened at the Fukushima, Japan where the Reactor shutdown after the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami; failure of emergency cooling caused an explosion.

Fukushima from air

Public opinion on nuclear

Recently people has been exposed with negative impression about nuclear. It already started from the old days beginning with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing. Yes it is true the bombing is because of the misused of the nuclear technology itself. But then the opposite side of the face also has been followed by the negative impact. This has been keeping the people a distant from exploring the nuclear technology. 

The opposite side of the nuclear technology is by harnessing the nuclear power to generate electricity. Several incidents has been spread out through the world such as the Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima effect. This kind of events had been giving the fear to the people on the nuclear technology and nuclear power. And this fear has saturated in the people’s mind nowadays. However not all of them are aware about the reality of these nuclear technology but still, the mostly unexposed people with the nuclear power technology are having the same thinking.

Aside from that, a different opinion from a different perspective has also been the norm of the most people. The cost of nuclear technology and nuclear power plant. Nuclear power plant is a one type of long term investment. And the long term do really means in a very long time. People have been arguing about the big cost of the nuclear power plant. What they don’t really see is the power produced that is several times larger than the conventional electricity generating power plant. Which is in this case a lot of cost can be reduced since a product of a several cycle of process could be obtain by only one process.

The government needs to expose the mostly unexposed people with the proper introduction about nuclear power technology. Also to give the real facts about nuclear power and the option of nuclear power plant as a part of renewable energy.

Nuclear power plant explodes like a nuclear bomb?

Atom Bomb Explosion

The idea of a nuclear power plant going off like a bomb likely came from our collective imaginations after seeing years of images of nuclear bomb test footage. First, there's a flash of light, followed by the rush of the concussion and a rising mushroom cloud. When the smoke clears, the power plant and the neighboring city have been flattened, right? Not really. Nuclear plants aren't identical to nuclear bombs. The fuel in a nuclear plant does not contain the materials necessary to explode like a bomb, nor can its components form what is known as a "super critical" shape in order to explode.

As the world witnessed at Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, nuclear plants will experience a meltdown rather than blowing up. The real threat in a nuclear meltdown is not the event of an explosion. The greater concern is radiation leaking from the plant. Once airborne, it can contaminate huge swaths of landslide. The radiation can reach around the world, though its levels become weaker due to dissipation.

Chemical Reaction Behind a Nuclear Power Plant

What do you know about chemical reaction that takes place in a nuclear power plant? Yes of course there will the fission reaction of the uranium to produce power. There are also the neutron capture, which the two are the main process focuses on. But do you know there are also the sides dishes that is essentials in controlling and maintaining the plan? These side reaction are the reaction of the water chemistry as it being used as a coolant for the reactor pure.

Raw Uranium

Uranium plays a very important role in the production of energy through nuclear power. A heavy element located in the Actinide series it has 92 protons as indicated by its atomic number. Uranium has many different isotopes; different configurations of protons and neutrons in its nucleus. Not all of its isotopes are stable. Nuclear Power is produced when a nucleus absorbs a neutron and splits into two lighter nuclei. This releases enormous amounts of energy which in turn produces heat. In fact the Uranium, which is the most common element used to produce nuclear power today, has an energy content about 3 million times greater than that of fossil fuel. Nuclear reactors harness the heat which is produced from the energy released when the atom splits and convert it into electrical energy.

Uranium 239

Neutron capture is a term used for the scenario where a neutron comes close to a nucleus (in this case uranium) and the nucleus captures it and becomes a different nucleus. In this case when uranium-238 captures a neutron it becomes uranium-239. After uranium-239 emits a beta particle (electron) it becomes neptunium-239. Then, neptunium-239 emits a beta particle and becomes plutonium-239. The plutonium can also be used as nuclear fuel.

 Nuclear Reactor Coolant

A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor used to remove heat from the nuclear reactor core and transfer it to electrical generators and the environment. Frequently, a chain of two coolant loops are used because the primary coolant loop takes on short-term radioactivity from the reactor. Almost all currently operating nuclear power plants are light water reactors using ordinary water under high pressure as coolant and neutron moderator. Heavy water reactors use deuterium oxide which has similar properties to ordinary water but much lower neutron capture, allowing more thorough moderation. However these water also has it bad effects. The effects are the corrosion in coolant circuits. Also it does effect on the corrosion of copper alloys and zirconium at an operating nuclear power plants.