October 22, 2012
5:27 pm EDT
Industry/Regulatory/Political
- AREVA has announced a contract to provide all 23 of Japan’s pressurized water reactors with passive autocatalytic recombiners, which will help prevent hydrogen from building up in emergency situations. The company said it will install more than 100 of the devices, which work constantly to oxidize traces of hydrogen into steam catalytically. The devices are not dependent on external power or operator intervention. AREVA says it has installed the recombiners in more than 140 plants worldwide. No Japanese facilities currently have the equipment. At the Fukushima Daiichi facility last year, hydrogen buildup from the oxidation of zirconium cladding in steam led to explosions that caused extensive damage.
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October 1, 2012
2:00 pm EDT
The following news article originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview.
A new study by the Electric Power Research Institute that examines options for minimizing the release of radioactive materials in a severe nuclear accident says that a combination of strategies would be more effective than any single measure.The
EPRI report looked at boiling water reactors with Mark I and Mark II containment designs, similar to those involved in the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. The study notes that, while the accident did not have a long-term effect on public health and safety, it did result in “widespread contamination” of surrounding areas.
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August 6, 2012
4:14 pm EDT
Industry/Regulatory/Political
- An independent review of lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear plants in the aftermath of last year’s earthquake and tsunami, conducted by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations at the request of Tokyo Electric Power Co., says that reactor operators should allocate resources and training to prepare for unexpected circumstances. Priorities identified include maintaining reactor cooling and multi-unit emergency response capabilities and continually strengthening nuclear safety cultures. Tony Pietrangelo, NEI’s senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, said, “For the U.S. nuclear industry, our first priority is and always will be safety. INPO’s findings are aligned with steps already being taken to enhance safety across our industry.”
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The following story originally appeared in NEI’s Nuclear Energy Overview.
The industry has urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to separate the issue of reliable hardened vents—required for some reactors under a post-Fukushima order issued in March—from the question of whether such vents should be filtered.
Since vent filters are only one of several options for reducing or preventing a release of radioactive materials during an accident, the NRC should consider all the alternatives in a more holistic context, the industry said in a letter to the agency.
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August 12, 2011
5:29 pm EDT
Answer:
Emergency diesel generators are used in the event that a nuclear plant loses power at the site. Each U.S. nuclear plant houses its back-up emergency diesel generators in robust, steel-reinforced concrete structures that are designed to withstand the impact of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes specific to the plant site’s region. The generators are routinely checked both on line and during refueling outages to ensure that they work properly.
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