Nuclear power engineering. Safety technology or danger for mankind?

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to present a comprehensive approach to safety issues in currently operated and newly designed nuclear power plants. In the article, the principle of operation of NPP and the concept of “defense in depth”, whose aim is to minimize the risk of spreading radioactive nuclear fission reaction products, are presented. The causes, accident sequences and consequences of selected failures of nuclear power plants, which most significantly contributed to the improvement of nuclear power safety, are described. The increase in the safety of nuclear reactors generally takes place through the development of tools and calculation codes, a diversity and multiplication of applied safety systems. In the paper, the principles of operation of selected safety systems and tools for a simulation of accident sequences and consequences of failure of nuclear reactors are reviewed. Additionally, the paper presents the results of a simulation of the release of radioactive material from the AP1000 nuclear reactor, located on the Polish seacoast. The obtained predicted impact on human health and mortality rates due to a cancer disease are compared with natural values occurring in the Pomeranian Voivodship. The conclusions are that nuclear power is the only source of electricity generation, in which the safety issues were comprehensively solved: from a design level through the operation to its decommissioning. The calculations show that in the case of one of the most serious design accidents that could occur in the NPP, the rate of the cancer disease, caused by the release of radioactive material, is lower than the current one occurring in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.