10/20/2010

Reactor Safety

We can say that the reactor pose no threat to the environment and the society as long as the reactor power level is being controlled. Also, a reactor is considered safe when the fuel is cooled by some sort of cooling mechanism. Lastly, the level of radioactivity inside the reactor must be contained. During at all times, even during shutdown, the reactor must need to be controlled, cooled and contained.

So what will happen when there is not enough fuel cooling? The major threat to safety is when the fuel overheats. This will lead to fission product gasses being released from the ceramic. When it overheats, the gas pressure inside of the fuel pellets will also increase. As temperature rises near melting point, the sheath will soften and will rupture causing fission products to be released into the coolant.

To solve this problem, the basic rules are:
  • The heat that produced by the fuel must be less than the capability of heat removal in the reactor.
  • The reactor temperature must always be kept below of the melting point of materials used inside of the reactor.
Containment is important for nuclear reactors because it is the last defense to ensure the safety of the power plant. Containment make sure nothing is being released into the surrounding areas. If reactor control and cooling mechanism failed, public safety will depend on the effectiveness of the containment.

9 comments:

  1. yes,the control and cooling mechanism must not have a chance of failure otherwise the public will be expose to danger .Also, the containment must be of the thickest layer just in case accident like explosion , terrorist attackXD etc happen.

    eyu zhi ming
    me083541
    invader81@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. what is cooling mechanism? what will happen when the surrounding in fire? there will effect the inner?

    mohd faiz mohamed rusdi
    me083874
    park_axe@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. There a lot of choices of cooling mechanisms out there. Depends on the design of the reactor and the manufacturers. Most common one is by using water to cool the reactor. Also water can also act as moderator.

    ReplyDelete
  4. as the safety of the reactor can be controlled, so no more excuses for us to deny the relevant of nuclear power in the country..thank you for sharing

    nik zakaria bin nik mustoffa
    me083873
    nik_nod32@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey there.

    Thanks for the info on the cooling system. Yes, i remember during the Nuclear lecture on Friday few weeks back, speaker mentioned about using water as the cooling system. And the water will not contain any radioactive substance after exit the cooling system. Very efficient and safe.

    Of course, it is better for the cooling system to be well maintained in order to prevent failure even though we know that the containment is able to prevent radioactive substance to be released into the environment.

    Like i mentioned before this, there will always be 1-5% of risk something might happen but based on the researches and current technology, i believed nuclear is now a safe and green energy source.

    Thank You

    LIM CHEE KEONG (ME 083567)
    eric9090@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. As stated by blogger, the control and cooling mechanism is very important to keep reactor cooled. And containment is another safety measure if the nuclear reactor overheat and releases radioactive. The risk of reactor overheating is low if there is a proper surveillance throughout the process. Thats a relieve..

    Gulshanjit Singh
    ME083709
    shanjitscsa@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Gulshanjit,

    Thank you for your response and answer. Yes, the need of safety measure is important for nuclear energy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If this is the main factor to ensure it safety, we should keep our eyes on it. Just to make sure that any tragic accident wont happen again.

    Syarifah Nur Hamizah Bt Syed Kasim
    ME083650
    ija_rc@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
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