Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) is a mode of failure for a nuclear reactor; if not managed effectively, the results of a LOCA could result in reactor core damage. Each nuclear plant's emergency core cooling system (ECCS) exists specifically to deal with a LOCA. Nuclear reactors generate heat internally; to remove this heat and convert it into ...
A loss-of-pressure-control accident (LOPA) is a mode of failure for a nuclear reactor that involves the pressure of the confined coolant falling below specification. [1] Most commercial types of nuclear reactor use a pressure vessel to maintain pressure in the reactor plant.
A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor used to remove heat from the nuclear reactor core and transfer it to electrical generators and the environment. Frequently, a chain of two coolant loops are used because the primary coolant loop takes on short-term radioactivity from the reactor.
In a large nuclear reactor, a loss of coolant accident can damage the core: for example, at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station a recent shutdown PWR reactor was left for a length of time without cooling water. As a result, the nuclear fuel was damaged, and the core partially melted. The removal of the decay heat is a significant ...
Pickering nuclear Reactor 2, Pickering, Ontario, Canada: LOCA loss of coolant accident. Pressure tube, that holds the fuel bundles, ruptured due to hydriding. All four reactors re-tubed with new materials (Zr-2.5%Nb) over ten years. [24] 0: 1 billion Canadian dollars (1983-1993). [25] March 1986: Bruce nuclear Reactor 2, Bruce County, Ontario ...
The Reactor Protection System (RPS) is a system, computerized in later BWR models, that is designed to automatically, rapidly, and completely shut down and make safe the Nuclear Steam Supply System (NSSS – the reactor pressure vessel, pumps, and water/steam piping within the containment) if some event occurs that could result in the reactor entering an unsafe operating condition.
A core damage accident is caused by the loss of sufficient cooling for the nuclear fuel within the reactor core. The reason may be one of several factors, including a loss-of-pressure-control accident, a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), an uncontrolled power excursion. Failures in control systems may cause a series of events resulting in loss ...
Some reactors circulate pressurized water; some use liquid metal, such as sodium, NaK, lead, or mercury; others use gases (see advanced gas-cooled reactor). If the coolant is a liquid, it may boil if the temperature inside the reactor rises. This boiling leads to voids inside the reactor. Voids may also form if coolant is lost from the reactor ...