Nuclear Power Plants

Disasters and their possible

meltdowns
 A little about nuclear power plants
 Most reactors have a “core” where the
reaction takes place. Inside the core are
fuel rods and assemblies, the control rods,
the moderator, and the coolant.
 Outside the core are the turbines, the heat
exchanger, and the cooling system.
Nuclear power plant diagram
 Chernobyl
 Located in the Ukraine, the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant was the site of the
worst nuclear disaster to date.
 Chernobyl
 On April 25th-26th, 1986 the
World's worst nuclear power
accident occurred at
Chernobyl in the former
USSR (now Ukraine).
 The Chernobyl nuclear
power plant located 80 miles
north of Kiev had 4 reactors
and while testing reactor
number 4. Numerous safety
procedures were ignored.
 At 1:23 am the chain
reaction in the reactor
became out of control
creating explosions and a
fireball which blew off the
reactor's heavy steel and
concrete lid.
 The radiation cloud
 The Chernobyl accident
killed more than 30
people immediately.
 As a result of the high
radiation levels in the
surrounding 20-mile
radius 135,00 people had
to be evacuated.
 The picture to the right
shows how far radiation
had spread by May 6th.
 Area of radiation cloud
 How much land was affected by the
original radiation cloud on April 26th?
There was a radius of 20 miles, so how
can you calculate the square miles
affected by the original blast?
 Effects on the environment
 In some local ecosystems
lethal doses were reached
particularly for coniferous
trees and small mammals
within a 10 km radius of the
reactor.
 However in 1989 the natural
environment of these
ecosystems began to
recover but there is the
possibility of long term
genetic effects.
 Increased cancer was
often seen. Researchers
also found that 64% of all
Ukrainian thyroid cancer
patients age 15 or
younger lived in the most
contaminated regions the
provinces of
 Kiev, Chernigov, Zhitomir,
Cherkassy
 Other long term effects?
 Can you find anymore long term effects
that the accident might have caused?
Either in humans, animals, or on just the
environment itself. There have been many
other sicknesses linked to the disaster,
discuss some of the possibilities based on
radiation poisoning.
 Closure of the plant
 The Chernobyl plant was closed on December
15th, 2000.
 More than 8,000 deaths have been blamed on
the accident.
 The concrete tomb built to encase the exploded
reactor is leaking, threatening the world with
another catastrophe.
 Forty tons of radioactive dust has accumulated
inside, and some experts believe that it could
lead to an even bigger explosion than the one
that occurred before.
 Three mile island
 A nuclear power plant located near
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
 On March 27th, 1979 there was a near
meltdown.
 The near miss
 The plants main feed  A large part of the core
water pumps in the melted and the system
secondary non-nuclear was highly radioactive.
cooling system failed.  Over the next week the
 From that point there was steam and hydrogen
a series of events that were removed from the
occurred from either a reactor using a
mechanical or electrical recombiner and, more
failure. controversially, by venting
straight to the
atmosphere.
atmosphere
 Clean up efforts
 The reactor cleanup started in August
1979 and officially ended in December
1993 at a cost of around $975 million.
 From 1985 to 1990 almost 100 tons of
radioactive fuel were removed from the
site. TMI-2 had been online only three
months. TMI-1 was restarted in 1985.
 What’s used?
 See if you can find what radioactive
materials nuclear power plants use in their
processes. There maybe more than one
correct answer. What radioactive material
was used at the Three Mile Island plant?
 After the accident
 Approval ratings for nuclear power
dropped from near 70% to about 50% with
the accident. Write a paper on how you
feel about nuclear power.
 Give the pros and cons and make a strong
argument as to your opinion and why you
feel that way.
 South Texas Project
 Located 13 miles southwest of Bay City,
Texas or 90 miles southwest of Houston.
 The plant and surrounding areas are home
to many wildlife species.
 The plant itself
 South Texas Project
(STP) reactors went
online in August 1988
and June 1989.
 The plant contains two
identical steam
generating units.
 The permits for these
units expire in 2027 and
2028.
 Located on 11,000 acres
of land adjacent to the
Colorado river
 More plant facts
 Largest nuclear plant  Ownership of the
in the U.S. units is divided
between
 Texas Genco
(30.8%), San Antonio
City Public Service
Board (28.0%), Texas
Central Co. (25.2%)
and Austin Energy
(16.0%).
 Find the location of the plant
 On the map where would this plant most
likely be located? Look at a Texas map
and guess where you think the plant is
located. (Remember 90 miles southwest
of Houston, 13 miles southwest of Bay
City, and 12 miles Northeast of Palacios).
Use the map on the next slide to guess the
location of the plant.
 If there was a meltdown
 Guesstimating that if  Do you think that
there was a since the power plant
meltdown, that it is so close to the Gulf
would be of of Mexico, that it
equivalence to that in would do more or less
Chernobyl, what damage to the
surrounding areas environment than
would be effected? when the Chernobyl
accident happened?