Safety Issues at Nuclear Power Plants
Standard safety issues at Nuclear Power Plants have been agreed by many countries in the Western world, as the safety of the workers, the surrounding community and the environment are of paramount importance.
Safety issues are definitely top of the agenda at nuclear power plants, and for very good reason. Uncontrolled radiation emitted into the environment causes harm to humans, animals and the environment, both on and off the nuclear power plant site, and can continue to cause damage for generations to come. Let’s take a look at some of the regulations and safety issues which are in place at nuclear power plants.
Accidents and disasters can happen for all sorts of reasons, very often a whole chain of events is needed, and though unlikely it can happen, as was proved in Chernobyl in 1986. The design of the nuclear reactor needs to include provision for equipment failure, and also operator error – especially in Springfield when they leave Homer Simpson in charge! The nuclear power plants in the western world use the ‘Defense in Depth’ system which incorporates multiple safety components each designed to deal with the inevitable human error – the Homer factor!
- Control of the Radioactivity – Control rods which absorb neutrons can be inserted into the reactor core and halt the nuclear reactions almost immediately in modern nuclear power plants.
- Core Cooling Maintenance – Cooling is necessary in all nuclear reactors, and water is generally used as a coolant. Some reactors are however designed to use sodium or sodium salts.
- Barrier Maintenance – it is essential that the physical barriers which are positioned between the environment and the radioactive core are maintained, this is also paramount to shield the workers from radiation. Many nuclear power plants have a vacuum building connected to the reactor buildings by means of a pressure relief duct, and if any radiation leaks from the reactor it is effectively sucked into the vacuum building, and not released into the outside world.
Safety for the Workers
It is extremely important that the workers within the nuclear power plant itself are not exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation. The radiation doses are controlled therefore, by these procedures:
- Equipment in the core reactor is handled by remote control
- Physical shields are in place and maintained
- Each worker is limited to the amount of time spent in an area of significant radiation level
- The workers and environment are constantly monitored for radiation levels