Inherent safety concepts in nuclear power reactors

Safety of Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear reactors have, during the first twenty years of their existence, achieved an impressive safety record, possibly exceeding that of any comparable industry. As revealed in apaper byHenriB. Smets of the European Nuclear Energy Agency, there have been recorded during this period of time but six fatalities and less than 30 persons seriously irradiated from reactor accidents. Three of the fat...

Nuclear Power Reactors in the United States

The sudden surge toward nuclear power throughout the world has given rise to some serious questions about its potential effect on many facets of our complex civilization. The social, economic, military, and geopolitical implications are staggering and far beyond the comprehension of most of us. Of immediate and practical concern to all, however, is the impact of nuclear power on our local envir...

Safety Principles for Pressurised Water Reactors in the French Nuclear Power Plant Fleet

The goal of this chapter is not to provide an exhaustive explanation of nuclear safety principles and practices at facilities in France (for a discussion on this topic, see the work of J. Libmann [1]), but to illustrate the two complementary safety approaches, deterministic and probabilistic, by introducing a key concept of the first, defence-in-depth, and a general description of probabilistic...

Nuclear Power Plant Safety

In the last decade nuclear reactors have proven to be a source of electrical energy economically competitive with conventional means of power production. With the resulting increase in orders for nuclear power stations there has been a corresponding increase in public awareness of the safety and environmental aspects of these facilities. This public awareness has been evidenced by the number of...

Safety regulations and fuzzy-logic control to nuclear reactors