The Harnessed Atom

Lesson Eight

Concerns
What concerns do people have about nuclear power plants:

Safety at nuclear power plants

– Design features
– Engineered safety
– Barriers and backups
– Regulations
Security
Accidents
– Three Mile Island
– Chernobyl
– Fukashima
Learning from accidents

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What is the main concern people have about nuclear power
plants?

Safety

As a nuclear power plant produces electricity, its fuel becomes very

radioactive. High levels of radiation are dangerous. To protect the
workers and people living nearby, this radiation must be kept inside
the reactor and away from the environment.
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Nuclear power plants are designed with safety in mind.

• Scientists, engineers, architects, and regulators all work

together when plants are designed.
• Nuclear power plants have many controls and barriers to
protect workers and the public from radiation.

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What makes U.S. nuclear power plants safe?

Safety systems are built into nuclear power plants to control

the reaction and contain radioactive material.
Safety features in the equipment include
1. Using laws of physics and natural
properties of materials
2. Using engineered safety systems
that have many backups
3. Using strong barriers that keep
radiation inside if systems fail
4. Training workers to manage routine operations and
emergency situations.
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Scientific laws help make nuclear power plant designs safer.

It’s actually difficult to get a chain

reaction going and then keep it
going.
• The fuel, the coolant, and the chain
reaction process itself help safeguard
against accidents.
• Without the coolant (water), neutrons
move too fast to be captured by the
fuel and the chain reaction cannot
continue.

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 The reactor is surrounded by a massive containment wall.

Steel
reinforcement
1.2-meter-thick bars
concrete wall

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Nuclear power plants are designed to address emergencies.

Scientists, engineers, architects, and regulators design

nuclear power plants to
• include multiple backup safety
systems
• be strong enough to survive
tornadoes, hurricanes, fires,
floods, earthquakes, and
tsunamis, or the crash of a plane

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Nuclear power plants are inspected often.

The reactor automatically shuts itself down unless all systems are
working correctly. Nuclear power plant safety systems are inspected by
workers and regulators.

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission enforces safety
requirements.

Congress created the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enforce

safety requirements for nuclear power plants. For example, NRC
licenses and inspects construction of new plants.
They also set requirements for the control room operators.

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Security is a top priority at nuclear plants.

Every nuclear power plant has

• Security patrols
• Physical barriers
• Strict rules
• Emergency plans
• Frequent worker training

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Is living near a nuclear power plant dangerous?

Most scientists agree that the tiny amounts of radioactivity released from
nuclear power plants during normal operations are insignificant when
compared to normal levels of natural background radiation we receive
every day. Plants usually release 0.005 millisieverts (0.5 millirems) per
year or less.

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How will spent fuel be transported safely?

Spent fuel casks are designed to protect people and the environment
from the radiation from the fuel a cask holds. Casks have been tested
to survive the most severe accidents.

Video clip: Containers used to transport used nuclear fuel survive test crashes. http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1nvRBk4W3o

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What happened at Three Mile Island?

Mechanical failures and mistakes by workers caused an accident at

Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 that

• Lost coolant from the core and caused

serious reactor fuel damage
• Released high levels of radiation
inside the containment building
• Exposed people living nearby to an
average of 0.01 milliseivert (1 millirem)
• Did not cause any serious injuries or
deaths.
• Concerned a lot of people.

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What happened at Chernobyl?

In 1986 workers caused a sudden

power surge that ruptured the
reactor vessel at the Chernobyl
power plant in the Ukraine.
• 28 workers died.
• Contamination spread over the western
Soviet Union and Europe.
• The reactor was a different design than
is used in other countries and did not
have a containment building.

Chernobyl Reactor

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 What happened at Fukushima in Japan?

• A powerful earthquake in March 2011

caused three operating reactors in
Japan to shut down.

• The earthquake disrupted electricity, so

backup generators powered pumps to
circulate cooling water.

• A massive tsunami then washed over

the backup generators and knocked out
emergency power.

• One worker drowned in the tsunami.

Radiation was released and people
living nearby were evacuated. Some
food and water was contaminated.
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How do we plan for risks?

Scientists study accidents and make changes to improve

safety.
• Scientists use a process called risk assessment to identify
potential hazards of an activity or technology.
• They also study the likelihood that a specific unwanted event will
occur.
• Then they design systems to reduce risk and also make plans for
an unwanted event.

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Summary: Fill in the blanks

• In decisions to design, build, license, and operate nuclear power

plants, safety is the prime concern.

• Engineers design a series of barriers to provide layers of containment so

radiation is not released during regular operations of a nuclear plant or during
an emergency. They design nuclear fuel plants to withstand natural disasters,
including fire, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes.

• The characteristics of the fuel, the coolant, and the chain reaction process itself
safeguard against accidents.

• Every safety-related system in a nuclear plant has backup systems.

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Summary (continued)

• The security of nuclear power plants is also part of safety. In ensuring safety
and security, workers at nuclear power plants spend many hours planning,
training, and practicing for emergencies.

• Nuclear power plants in the United States have been very reliable and have a
record for operating safely. However, the record is not perfect. There have been
accidents at nuclear power plants. The most serious ones did not happen in the
United States.

• When there is a problem at a power plant anywhere in the world, experts study
what happened to find ways to make plants safer.

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Summary (continued)

• Each way that we have of producing electricity has its own set of safety
concerns. For this reason, each type of power plant—coal, nuclear, hydro,
natural gas, solar, wind—has special design features to protect people and the
environment.

• The safety requirements are strictest for nuclear power plants.

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Lesson 8 Vocabulary

• architect – one who designs buildings and advises builders during construction
• backup – to support or be available to serve as a substitute; a person or thing
that recovers a system in the event of an accident or equipment failure
• barrier– an obstacle that prevents movement or access
• Chernobyl – the site in Ukraine in the former Soviet Union where the most
serious nuclear power plant accident occurred in 1986
• dirty bomb – a device designed to spread radioactive material
• design feature – an intended or understood part of a plan or thought; one of
many characteristics that defines the plan for a structure, form, or device
• engineer – a designer or builder who applies principles of science and
mathematics to make structures, machines, products, systems, and processes ;
to design or build
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Vocabulary

• exposure – contact with something; may be harmful or beneficial

• Fukushima Dai-Ichi – the site in Japan of a nuclear power plant accident that
resulted from an earthquake and tsunami in 2011
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) – an independent federal agency
that ensures the safe use of radioactive materials for beneficial civilian
purposes while protecting people and the environment
• permanent disposal – a deep geologic repository for spent fuel and high-level
nuclear waste
• regulation – a rule or directive made and maintained by an authority; the status
of being required to follow rules made and maintained by an authority
• regulator – a person who supervises a particular industry or business activity

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Vocabulary

• regulatory agency – a public authority or government agency responsible for

supervising or exercising authority over some area of human activity
• safeguard – a way to prevent a problem or accident; to protect against
something undesirable
• safety system – a design that works automatically to prevent accidents; a
system that reduces possible hazards due to human error
• security - the safety of an organization against criminal activity such as
terrorism, theft, or spying
• Three Mile Island – the site in Pennsylvania of a 1979 nuclear power plant
accident
• tsunami – an unusually large sea wave produced by an undersea earthquake

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Advanced Student Assignment: Nuclear power plants safety
involves both control and containment.

The most important operation at any nuclear reactor is the

control and containment of radioactive materials, under
both normal and accident conditions.

What is control?

Is control different from

containment?

Does this photo illustrate

control or containment?

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 Advanced Student Assignment:
Assessing Risk

Before making the decision to do

some things, you have to think
through the risks.

Do your own risk assessment.

1. Write down a goal and how you will do it.
Example: I want to learn to skydive. I will take lessons.
2. Identify any hazards you will meet.
3. Record the way you might be exposed to these hazards.
4. Decide what protective or control measures you can take to be safe.
5. Check with an adult. Show them your risk assessment for discussion
purposes.

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