Page 140 - Dynamics and Control of Nuclear Reactors

136 CHAPTER 11 Nuclear reactor safety

11.6 Consequences and lessons learned
Many people who received radiation doses from Chernobyl and Fukushima Dai-ichi
live in fear of disease or death. Passage of many years will reveal their fates.
The three accidents described above had a large impact on the nuclear industry
around the world. Reactors had been or would be shut down, construction was
stopped, and plans for new plants were abandoned. Rebirth of the nuclear seemed
imminent in the early twenty-first century until the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident
again created new concerns and cancellation or postponement of plans for new reac-
tors. But some countries were not dissuaded in their new reactor construction pro-
grams. New reactor programs continue in many countries, especially China,
Russia and India.
The causes of the accidents ranged from operator error to equipment malfunction
to natural catastrophe to reactor design flaws to ignorance about the dangerous
dynamics of reactors under certain operating conditions. These problems led to an
increasing operator training, system modifications and stronger regulatory oversight.
Reactors are certainly safer as a result of the painful lessons learned from the acci-
dents, but there is no room for complacency.
Ref. [18] is a good book on light water reactor safety. The book describes the
thermal-hydraulics of severe accidents and contains case studies of reactor
accidents

Exercises
11.1. Prepare of a flow chart showing the sequence of events and decisions in the
Three-Mile Island accident.
11.2. Repeat Exercise 11.1 for the Chernobyl accident.
11.3. Repeat Exercise 11.1 for the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident.

11.4. There have been many articles written about the reactor accidents described
above. Find one of these articles on the internet and write a review, citing the
accuracy or inaccuracy of the article and providing a critique of any conclu-
sions in the article.
11.5. Write a review of the NRC report on Fukushima Dai-ichi lessons-learned (Ref.
[17]), and expand on the important recommendations in the report.
11.6. Find a website that says that nuclear power is unsafe. Write a short (1000 to
1200 words) review. Be objective, citing claims that you consider are true as
well as those that you consider are false. Cite reasons for your assessments.
Include a copy of the article that you reviewed as well as your review.