Nuclear Accidents

Nuclear Accident, Disaster

A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the

International Energy Agency,
“An event that has led to significant
consequences to the people, the environment or
the facility.”

Example include lethal effects to individuals, large radioactivity release in

to the environment, or reactor core melt.

Chernobyl Accident
Tree major disaster in the history
• The three Mile Island (US-1979)
• Chernobyl(Southwestern Soviet Union-1986)
• The Fukushima Daiichi(Japan-2011)
 The three Mile Island

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating

Station
sits on an island of area of 3.29 km2
(814 acres) in the Susquehanna River
Pennsylvania
 Introduction

• March 28, 1979 – 4 AM

• Minor malfunction caused the second reactor to shut down almost
immediately
• A relief valve was supposed to close, but it did not, contrary to what the
instrumentation showed
• Operators struggled to determine the problem and an appropriate solution
• After almost 16 hours and the collaboration of 60 or more people, the
situation was under control
 Timeline of Event

A maintenance problem causes the

feedwater pumps to shut down
An alarm sounds in the control room.
Pressure relief valve (PORV) opens
automatically.
Backup pumps in the secondary loop
come on. However, the pumps are
disconnected from the system because
of a maintenance error two days before.
Incorrect mental model.
 Timeline

The PORV light goes out indicating that

the valve had closed. However, the
valve is still open. This led to a LOCA
(Loss of Coolant Accident).
EIW (Emergency injection water) comes
on, allowing water to flow into primary
loop. This is a normal safety feature in
the event of a LOCA.
 Timeline

Operators turn off the EIW because the

water level is rising and the pressure is
dropping.
An operator finally notices that the
valves for the backup pumps are closed.
He opens them.
3,000 gallons have escaped from the
primary loop.
Water level in primary loop still
dropping.
 Timeline

Pumps pushing water through the

primary loop shake violently. 2 of 4 are
turned off.
The other 2 pumps turn off.
Water no longer covers the top of the
core. Control rods release hydrogen and
radioactive gases through the PORV.
 Timeline

An operator from the next shift comes on duty.

He notices that the PORV discharge temperature
is abnormally high. He shuts the PORV’s backup
valve.
Operators receive first indication that
radioactivity levels are going up.
The radiation alarm sounds.
 Timeline

High temperatures in the core lead some

to
believe that the core is uncovered. The
temperature is reading off of the scale
which leads others to believe that the
reading is
wrong.
Overconfidence
EIW is turned back on.
All non-essential personnel are
evacuated.
 Timeline

PORV backup valve is opened to lower

the
pressure in the primary loop.
The pumps in the primary loop are turned
back on.
 Core Meltdown

Hydrogen & some radioactive gases

were released into atmosphere.
A maximum of 13 million Curie of
radioactive gases release.

Contamination Around
 Cleanup

Around 12 years to complete.

Cost of cleanup estimated at $973.
Plant was not reopened until 1985.
 Health Effect

Government claimed no injuries or adverse health effects from

accidents.
Only one additional cancer death from radiation absorbed following
the accident would result to those living within 50 miles of the plant.

Studies found
An increase in infant death.
An increase in babies born with hypothyroidism
 Chernobyl (Southwestern Soviet Union-1986)
Before Accident

A worst nuclear disaster in the

history
Location
Reactor Schematic
 Saturday, April 26, 1986

Reactor #4 was undergoing a test to test the backup power

supply in case of a power loss.

The power fell too low, allowing the concentration of xenon-

135 to rise.

The workers continued the test, and in order to control the

rising levels of xenon-135, the control rods were pulled out.
 Reactor Explode

The toxicity of
radioactive
cloud
equivalent
400 times
Hiroshima
 Direction of Air

Radioactive cloud
covers most of
Europe
 What happened? cont’d

– The experiment involved shutting down the coolant pumps, which caused the
coolant to rapidly heat up and boil.
– Pockets of steam formed in the coolant lines. When the coolant expanded in
this particular design, the power level went up.
– All control rods were ordered to be inserted. As the rods were inserted, they
became deformed and stuck. The reaction could not be stopped.
– The rods melted and the steam pressure caused an explosion, which blew a
hole in the roof. A graphite fire also resulted from the explosion.
– To save money, the reactor was constructed with only partial containment,
which allowed the radiation to escape.
– This dispersed large amount of radioactive particulate and gaseous debris
containing cesium-137 and strontium-90 which are highly radioactive reactor
waste product.
 Reasons for the accident

– Workers lack of knowledge of reactor

physics and engineering, as well as lack of
experience and training
Delay
• The night shift was not prepared to carry
out the experiment But it was still carried
out
• The operators seem to have been unaware
of the xenon poisoning
– Insufficient communication between
the safety officers and the operators in
charge of the experiment
– Disabled all safety systems
 The Clean Up

“Liquidators”
– These were firemen who helped put out
the fires and helped clean up the radiation
– Most did not realize the dangers of
radiation.
– Many later died from radiation, because
they didn’t wear protection.

Robots
– United States supplied
– Specifically designed to enter reactor core and help
build the sarcophagus
Clean Up

Approximately 300,000 to
600,000 liquidators were
involved in the cleanup of the 30
km evacuation zone around the
plant in the years following the
meltdown.
 Fukushima Nuclear Power
Plant

Fukushima Daiichi
is among the
world’s largest
power plants.
Its locate in Japan
 Causes of Accident

The 2011 Tōhoku

earthquake and
tsunami was an 9.0-
magnitude
earthquake followed
by tsunami waves.
 Accident of Nuclear Power Plant

• The tsunami has led to shut down three active reactors on 11.03.2011.
• On 12.03.2011 , Hydrogen explosion was happened in Unit 1.

13.11.2011
Droping of the
internal pressure has
led to explosion in
Unit 3.
14-15.11.2011
There was an explosion in
Unit 4 fuel storage, after
that the fire has started
 Health Effect

16.03.2011
In Unit 1-3, a %50 portion of
the core was under threated
from melting. 17.03.2011
Helicopters transported water for cooling Unit 4
 Consequences of the Accident

Effects on alive
Because of released substances, many health problems have occurred.
Health Effect
 Effects on Environment

After the disaster, released

substance damaged the
environment.