Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima: Curse of the Nuclear Genie

124 Pages·2016·5.42 MB·English

by  Thomas Filburn

Thomas Filburn · Stephan Bullard
Three Mile
Island,
Chernobyl and
Fukushima
Curse of the Nuclear Genie
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima
Thomas Filburn • Stephan Bullard
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl
and Fukushima
Curse of the Nuclear Genie
Thomas Filburn Stephan Bullard
Department of Mechanical Engineering Hillyer College
University of Hartford University of Hartford
West Hartford , CT , U SA West Hartford , CT , USA
ISBN 978-3-319-34053-1 ISBN 978-3-319-34055-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-34055-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016954641
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
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Contents
1 How Do Nuclear Reactors Work? ......................................................... 1
Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
Nuclear Basics .......................................................................................... 2
References ................................................................................................. 13
2 Why Pressurized Water? ........................................................................ 15
The Origins of the PWR ........................................................................... 15
References ................................................................................................. 28
3 Three Mile Island .................................................................................... 29
Introduction ............................................................................................... 29
The TMI Accident ..................................................................................... 34
References ................................................................................................. 41
4 Russian Reactor Design History ............................................................ 43
Introduction ............................................................................................... 43
References ................................................................................................. 53
5 Chernobyl Accident ................................................................................ 55
RBMK Reactor Design ............................................................................. 55
The Chernobyl Accident ........................................................................... 59
References ................................................................................................. 66
6 Why Boiling Water? ............................................................................... 67
The Development of BWRs ...................................................................... 67
References ................................................................................................. 76
7 Fukushima Daiichi Development and Operation Prior
to Great East Japan Earthquake ........................................................... 77
Building the Fukushima Power Plant........................................................ 77
References ................................................................................................. 88
v
vi Contents
8 The Great East Japan Earthquake and Its Immediate Effects
on Fukushima .......................................................................................... 91
Introduction ............................................................................................... 91
References ................................................................................................. 96
9 Fukushima Daiichi Today....................................................................... 97
Overview ................................................................................................... 97
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 ......................................................................... 97
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 ......................................................................... 98
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 ......................................................................... 99
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 ......................................................................... 100
Fukushima Daiichi Units 5 and 6 .............................................................. 101
The General Fukushima Daiichi Site Area ............................................... 101
Fukushima Prefecture ............................................................................... 102
References ................................................................................................. 104
10 Nuclear Fuel, Cladding, and the “Discovery” of Zirconium ............... 105
Introduction ............................................................................................... 105
References ................................................................................................. 114
11 Summary .................................................................................................. 115
Fermi’s Chicago Pile 1 .............................................................................. 115
TMI ........................................................................................................... 115
Chernobyl .................................................................................................. 117
Fukushima ................................................................................................. 118
References ................................................................................................. 120
Glos sary
AEC Atomic Energy Commission, US civilian organization
that continued weapons development after World War
II, and encouraged peaceful uses of atomic energy
Bureau of Ships Supervised the design, construction, conversion, pro-
curement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other
craft for the U.S. Navy
BWR Boiling Water Reactor, water is both the coolant and
neutron moderator within the reactor, and is allowed to
form steam within the reactor, originally commercial-
ized by GE
CANDU CANDU® “C AN ada D euterium U r anium.” It is a
Canadian-designed power reactor of PHWR type
(Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) that uses heavy
water (deuterium oxide) for moderator and coolant, and
natural uranium for fuel.
Fission Neutron High energy neutron generated by fi ssion traveling at
over 6,700,000 mph
GE General Electric
LMFBR Liquid metal, fast breeder reactor, liquid metal cooled
and moderated reactor, that keeps the neutrons at a high
(fast) energy level. These reactors are capable of pro-
ducing more fi ssile material than they “burn” fi ssion
LOCA Loss of coolant accident
NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission, civilian agency fol-
lowing AEC to monitor nuclear materials and commer-
cial nuclear power plants
NSSS Nuclear Steam Supply System
ONR Offi ce of Naval Reactors, Navy group responsible for
reactor design, operation and safety
Oak Ridge National Lab Manhattan Project site for Large Scale Uranium
Enrichment
vii
viii Glossary
PORV Pilot Operated Relief Valve, solenoid operated valve meant to
prevent safety relief valves from opening. This valve stuck-
open at TMI producing small break LOCA.
P WR P ressurized Water Reactor, water is kept at high pressure within
the reactor so it is kept in its liquid phase. Water is both the
coolant and neutron moderator
R BMK R eaktor bolshoy moshchnosty kanalny, high power channel
reactor
RCS Reactor Coolant System
SIR Submarine Intermediate Reactor, sodium cooled reactor
designed to reduce neutrons to intermediate energy, installed in
SSN Seawolf
STR Submarine Thermal Reactor, PWR reactor land-based proto-
type and installed in S SN Nautilus , fi rst nuclear powered
submarine
TEPCo Tokyo Electric Power Co. Owner/Operator Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plants
Thermal Neutron Low speed (~6700 mph) neutron useful for inducing fi ssion in
uranium2 35 or plutonium2 39
V VER V odo Vodyannoy Energeticheskiy Reactor, Water cooled, water
moderated reactor, generally grouped with PWR
Chapter 1
How Do Nuclear Reactors Work?
Introduction
The world at large was introduced to the power of the atom at the end of World War
II through the devastating nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The mas-
sive damage caused by the bombs dramatically illustrated the military potential of
the newly harnessed form of energy. After the war, US and Soviet scientists vigor-
ously pursued additional military applications and weaponization of atomic energy.
At the same time, both superpowers also sought to fi nd peaceful applications of this
new found phenomenon. The conversion of the ultimate weapon of mass destruc-
tion into a tamed, civilian energy source seemed to offer great promise for all of
mankind. Indeed, nuclear power was promulgated as a pollution-free energy source
that could produce almost unlimited electricity at a cost equal to fossil fuels. As the
years went by and civilian nuclear power became a reality, the optimistic predic-
tions described by the original promoters began to tarnish. Several high profi le acci-
dents occurred that gave a wider voice to those who had always been leery of nuclear
power. Even so, as fossil fuel stocks continue to dwindle, and large scale application
of alternative energy sources remains elusive, nuclear power remains a much needed
and critical corner stone of the power grids for many industrial countries. Nuclear
electricity production now accounts for 19 % of US energy needs, and over 11 % of
worldwide use. Despite nuclear power’s continued importance, the accidents
described within this book illustrate that there are additional costs to nuclear power
beyond those of simple plant construction and operation.
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 1
T. Filburn, S. Bullard, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-34055-5_1
2 1 How Do Nuclear Reactors Work?
Nuclear Basics
The normal goal of virtually all power plants, nuclear or otherwise, is to generate
electricity by turning a turbine to produce alternating current (AC) electrical power.
Although the objective is generally the same, different power plants generate electric-
ity in different ways. Newer alternative energy plants harness the innate power con-
tained within natural physical processes to generate electricity. These plants make use
of the power found within solar radiation, water and wind motion, or geothermal
energy. Other plants, including fossil fuel and nuclear plants, obtain their energy from
fuel sources. In a typical fossil fuel power plant, a burning fuel (often coal) generates
heat that is used to form steam. The steam turns a turbine that then spins a generator
to produce AC power (Woodruff et al., 2 005 ). Nuclear power plants also liberate
energy from fuels. In this case, however, the energy is provided by atomic fi ssion.
Fission occurs when the nucleus of a relatively large atom splits into several smaller
and lighter atoms. The process of fi ssion not only produces new atoms (and hence new
elements), but it also liberates considerable amounts of energy. In a nuclear reactor,
the energy liberated from fi ssion is used to generate steam, which turns a turbine,
which then produces AC power (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2 003 ).
T he fuel used in nuclear reactors comes in the form of radioactive elements. All
radioactive elements decay, and through the decay process their fundamental ele-
mental makeup is altered. One type of decay is fi ssion, whereby an element splits
into generally two smaller atoms. Spontaneous fi ssion can and will occur in radioac-
tive elements, with each element undergoing fi ssion at its own unique, predictable,
consistent, and generally slow rate. Elements can also be artifi cially induced to
undergo fi ssion more rapidly. To do this, a neutron is introduced as the catalyst to
increase the probability, and therefore the rate of fi ssion. While theoretically any
radioactive element and decay process can be used as a nuclear fuel source, those
elements that experience fi ssion most rapidly have a much higher energy density per
occurrence, and are therefore more effective energy sources. Almost all current
commercial nuclear power plants use uranium as their fuel. Uranium is either
directly fi ssioned inside the reactor, or is fi rst converted to plutonium before being
split inside the plant. Some of NASA’s robotic space missions used the decay of
Pu2 38 to generate heat and then ultimately electricity (Anon., 2 016 ).
Uranium is a radioactive element. It is found in several different elemental forms
whose atomic weights vary. When one element has atoms with different atomic
weights, each different weight is known as a separate isotope of the element. To
understand the fi ssion process, it is important to understand the basic structure of
the atom, the different isotopes of uranium and plutonium, and why some of these
isotopes are radioactively unstable.
Atoms are the smallest independent units of matter. Although they are very small,
each atom possesses the full properties of the elements they represent. Thus, an atom
of gold acts the same as any other atom of gold, or collection of gold atoms; it will,
however, act differently than atoms of silver, nitrogen, or any other element. Atoms
are composed of several regions, each of which contains different subatomic particles.