Nuclear Power Operation Safety and Environment Part 1 pdf

Contents Preface IX Part 1 Operation and Safety 1 Chapter 1 World Experience in Nuclear Steam Reheat 3 Eugene Saltanov and Igor Pioro Chapter 2 Integrated Approach for Actual Safety A

NUCLEAR POWER - OPERATION, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT

Edited by Pavel V Tsvetkov

Nuclear Power - Operation, Safety and Environment

Edited by Pavel V Tsvetkov

Published by InTech

Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2011 InTech

All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons

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have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they

are the author, and to make other personal use of the work Any republication,

referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out

of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book

Publishing Process Manager Petra Zobic

Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic

Cover Designer Jan Hyrat

Image Copyright Andrea Danti, 2010 Used under license from Shutterstock.com

First published July, 2011

Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com

Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org

Nuclear Power - Operation, Safety and Environment, Edited by Pavel V Tsvetkov

p cm

ISBN 978-953-307-507-5

free online editions of InTech

Books and Journals can be found at

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Contents

Preface IX Part 1 Operation and Safety 1

Chapter 1 World Experience in Nuclear Steam Reheat 3

Eugene Saltanov and Igor Pioro

Chapter 2 Integrated Approach for Actual Safety Analysis 29

Francesco D’Auria, Walter Giannotti and Marco Cherubini Chapter 3 LWR Safety Analysis and Licensing

and Implications for Advanced Reactors 47

P F Frutuoso e Melo, I M S Oliveira and P L Saldanha Chapter 4 Geodetic Terrestrial Observations for the

Determination of the Stability in the Krško Nuclear Power Plant Region 71

S Savšek, T Ambrožič and D Kogoj Chapter 5 Low Power and Shutdown PSA for the Nuclear

Power Plants with WWER440 Type Reactors 89

Zoltan Kovacs Chapter 6 A Study on the Actuator

Efficiency Behavior of Safety-Related Motor Operated Gate and Globe Valves 111

Shin Cheul Kang, SungKeun Park, DoHwan Lee, YangSeok Kim and DaeWoong Kim

Chapter 7 Investigation of High Energy Arcing

Fault Events in Nuclear Power Plants 127 Heinz Peter Berg and Marina Röwekamp

Chapter 8 Research on Severe Accidents

in Nuclear Power Plants 155

Jean-Pierre Van Dorsselaere, Thierry Albiol and Jean-Claude Micaelli

VI Contents

Chapter 9 Imaging of Radiation Accidents and Radioactive

Contamination Using Scintillators 183

Tomoya Ogawa, Nobuhiko Sarukura, Masahito Watanabe, Tsuguo Fukuda, Nobuhito Nango, Yasunobu Arikawa, Kohei Yamanoi, Tomoharu Nakazato, Marilou Cadatal-Raduban, Toshihiko Shimizu, Mitsuo Nakai, Takayoshi Norimatsu,

Hiroshi Azechi, Takahiro Murata, Shigeru Fujino, Hideki Yoshida, Kei Kamada, Yoshiyuki Usuki, Toshihisa Suyama, Akira Yoshikawa, Nakahiro Sato, Hirofumi Kan, Hiroaki Nishimura, Kunioki Mima, Masahito Hosaka, Masahiro Katoh, Nobuhiro Kosugi,

Kentaro Fukuda, Takayuki Yanagida, Yuui Yokota, Fumio Saito, Kouhei Sakai, Dirk Ehrentraut, Mitsuru Nagasono, Tadashi Togashi, Atsushi Higashiya, Makina Yabashi, Tetsuya Ishikawa,

Haruhiko Ohashi and Hiroaki Kimura Chapter 10 Simulation of Ex-Vessel Steam Explosion 207

Matjaž Leskovar

Part 2 Environmental Effects 235

Chapter 11 Radiological Releases and Environmental

Monitoring at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants 237

Jason T Harris Chapter 12 Radiological and Environmental Effects in Ignalina

Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Pond – Lake Druksiai: From Plant put in Operation to Shut Down Period of Time 261

Tatjana Nedveckaite, Danute Marciulioniene, Jonas Mazeika and Ricardas Paskauskas Chapter 13 Power Uprate Effect on Thermal Effluent of

Nuclear Power Plants in Taiwan 287

Jinn-Jer Peir

Part 3 Radiation Effects 303

Chapter 14 Long-Term Effects of Exposure to Low-Levels of

Radioactivity: a Retrospective Study of 239 Pu and 90

Sr from Nuclear Bomb Tests on the Swiss Population 305

Pascal Froidevaux, Max Haldimann and François BochudChapter 15 The Biliprotein C-Phycocyanin Modulates the DNA

Damage Response in Lymphocytes from Nuclear Power Plant Workers 327

K Stankova, K Ivanova, V Nikolov, K Minkova,

L Gigova, R Georgieva and R Boteva

Chapter 16 Effects of Gamma-Ray Irradiation on Tracking

Failure of Polymer Insulating Materials 341

Boxue Du, Yu Gao and Yong Liu

Preface

Energy demands due to economic growth and increasing population must be satisfied

in a sustainable manner assuring inherent safety, efficiency and no or minimized environmental impact New energy sources and systems must be inherently safe and environmentally benign These considerations are among the reasons that lead to serious interest in deploying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source Today’s nuclear reactors are safe and highly efficient energy systems that offer electricity and a multitude of co-generation energy products ranging from potable water to heat for industrial applications At the same time, catastrophic earthquake and tsunami events

in Japan resulted in the nuclear accident that forced us to rethink our approach to nuclear safety, design requirements and facilitated growing interests in advanced nuclear energy systems, next generation nuclear reactors, which are inherently capable

to withstand natural disasters and avoid catastrophic consequences without any environmental impact

This book is one in a series of books on nuclear power published by InTech Under the single-volume cover, we put together such topics as operation, safety, environment, and radiation effects The book is not offering a comprehensive coverage of the material in each area Instead, selected themes are highlighted by authors of individual chapters representing contemporary interests worldwide Our book consists of three major sections housing sixteen chapters:

Part 1 Operation and Safety

1 World Experience in Nuclear Steam Reheat

2 Integrated Approach for Actual Safety Analysis

3 LWR Safety Analysis and Licensing and Implications for Advanced Reactors

4 Geodetic Terrestrial Observations for the Determination of the Stability in the Krško Nuclear Power Plant Region

5 Low Power and Shutdown PSA for the Nuclear Power Plants with WWER440 Type Reactors

6 A Study on the Actuator Efficiency Behavior of Safety-Related Motor Operated Gate and Globe Valves

7 Investigation of High Energy Arcing Fault Events in Nuclear Power Plants

8 Research on Severe Accidents in Nuclear Power Plants

X Preface

9 Imaging of Radiation Accidents and Radioactive Contamination Using

Scintillators

10 Simulation of Ex-Vessel Steam Explosion

Part 2 Environmental Effects

11 Radiological Releases and Environmental Monitoring at Commercial Nuclear Power Plants

12 Radiological and Environmental Effects in Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Pond – Lake Druksiai: From Plant put in Operation to Shut Down Period of Time

13 Power Uprate Effect on Thermal Effluent of Nuclear Power Plants in Taiwan

Part 3 Radiation Effects

14 Long-Term Effects of Exposure to Low-Levels of Radioactivity: a Retrospective Study of 239Pu and 90Sr from Nuclear Bomb Tests on the Swiss Population

15 The Biliprotein C-Phycocyanin Modulates the DNA Damage Response in Lymphocytes from Nuclear Power Plant Workers

16 Effects of Gamma-Ray Irradiation on Tracking Failure of Polymer Insulating Materials

Our opening section is devoted to nuclear power operation and safety The discussion begins with an overview of nuclear steam supply systems that focuses on steam reheat The second chapter introduces the integrated safety analysis approach Further chapters introduce readers to licensing, probabilistic safety analysis, component operation and safety The section closes with chapters surveying approaches and topics related to severe accident studies

The second section is dedicated to environmental effects of nuclear power Included chapters address radiological release monitoring and consequences as well as thermal prolusion

The third and final section discusses radiation effects on general population, plant workers and materials

With all diversity of topics in 16 chapters, the integrated system analysis approach of nuclear power operation, safety and environment is the common thread The “system-thinking” approach allows synthesizing the entire body of provided information into a consistent integrated picture of the real-life complex engineering system – nuclear power system – where everything is working together

The goal of the book is to bring nuclear power to our readers as one of the promising energy sources that has a unique potential to meet energy demands with minimized environmental impact, near-zero carbon footprint, and competitive economics via robust potential applications The book targets everyone as its potential readership

groups - students, researchers and practitioners - who are interested to learn about nuclear power The idea is to facilitate intellectual cross-fertilization between field experts and non-field experts taking advantage of methods and tools developed by both groups The book will hopefully inspire future research and development efforts, innovation by stimulating ideas

We hope our readers will enjoy the book and will find it both interesting and useful

Pavel V Tsvetkov

Department of Nuclear Engineering

Texas A&M University United States of America

Part 1

Operation and Safety

1

World Experience in Nuclear Steam Reheat

Eugene Saltanov and Igor Pioro

University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science

Canada

1 Introduction

Concepts of nuclear reactors cooled with water at supercritical pressures were studied as early as the 1950s and 1960s in the USA and Russia After a 30-year break, the idea of developing nuclear reactors cooled with SuperCritical Water (SCW) became attractive again

as the ultimate development path for water cooling This statement is based on the known history of the thermal power industry, which made a “revolutionary” step forward from the level of subcritical pressures (15 – 16 MPa) to the level of supercritical pressures (23.5 – 35 MPa) more than fifty years ago with the same major objective as that of SuperCritcal Water-cooled Reactors (SCWRs) − to increase thermal efficiency of power plants by 10 – 15% The main objectives of using SCW in nuclear reactors are: 1) to increase the thermal efficiency of modern Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) from 30 – 35% to about 45 – 50%, and 2) to decrease capital and operational costs and hence, decrease electrical-energy costs

To achieve higher thermal efficiency a nuclear steam reheat has to be introduced inside a reactor Currently, all supercritical turbines at thermal power plants have a steam-reheat option In the 60’s and 70’s, Russia, USA and some other countries have developed and implemented the nuclear steam reheat at a subcritical pressure in experimental boiling reactors Therefore, it is important to summarize the experience of implementing nuclear steam reheat at several experimental Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) worldwide and utilize

it in the context of development of SCWRs with the steam-reheat option

2 USA experience in nuclear steam reheat

An active program for the development and demonstration of BWRs with nuclear steam reheat was implemented and directed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) Two general types of the reactors were demonstrated:

1 Reactors in which steam was generated and reheated in the same core (integral reheating design); and

2 Reactors, which only used reheated steam that was supplied from another source (separate reheating design);

Under the USAEC program, the following reactors were constructed: BOiling Reactor Experiment V (BORAX–V, started operation in December of 1962), BOiling NUclear Superheater (BONUS, started operation in December of 1964), and Pathfinder (started operation in July of 1966) Main parameters of these reactors are listed in Tables 1 and 2 (Novick et al 1965)

Nuclear Power – Operation, Safety and Environment

4

At the design stage of these reactors a certain number of problems arising with the implementation of steam reheat were encountered and addressed Among them were:

1 Fuel-element sheath performance and corrosion resistance at high temperatures;

2 Corrosion, erosion, and deposits on fuel-element surfaces due to ineffective steam separation prior to the reheating-zone inlet;

3 Maintenance of the desired power split in the evaporating and reheating zones during extended reactor operation;

4 Fission products carry-over in direct-cycle systems; And

5 Reactivity changes as a result of inadvertent flooding of the reheating zone

In search of the solutions to these problems USAEC also instituted a number of programs to determine long-term integrity and behavior of the fuel-element sheath Since May of 1959, the Superheat Advance Demonstration Experiment (SADE) and the subsequent Expanded SADE (ESADE) loops had been utilized to irradiate a total of 21 fuel elements in the Vallecitos BWR Saturated steam at about 6.9 MPa from the Vallecitos BWR was supplied to the fuel-element section where it was superheated to temperatures of 418 – 480°C The results of those irradiation tests combined with out-of-core corrosion tests led to the following conclusions (Novick et al 1965):

1 Commercial 18-8 stainless steel (18-8 SS) was not satisfactory for fuel-sheath material in the SuperHeated Steam (SHS) environment it was subjected to in the SADE and ESADE experiments;

2 Materials with higher nickel-alloy content, such as Inconels and Incoloys, appeared to

perform satisfactorily as a sheath material in the SHS environment; And

3 Strain cycling coupled with environmental chemistry were significant in the failure rate

of sheath materials for reactors with the steam reheat

Additional information on design of these reactors constructed under the USAEC program can be found in USAEC reports 1959, 1961, and 1962 and in Ross (1961)

Parameters

Boiling SHS Boiling SHS Boiling SHS

Structural

Fuel material UO2 UO2–SS

UO2–SS cermet Fuel enrichment,

Cruciform and "T" Cruciform Slab Cruciform Round rod Control rod

material Boral Boral 1.0%in SS wt10B 1.0%in SS wt10B 2% wt10SS B in 2% wt10SS B in Average power

density,

MWth/m3

42.5 40.5 33.6 11.5 45.2 46.5 Table 1 Main general parameters of BWR NPPs with integral reheat design (Novick et al

1965)