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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.
LOCA loss of coolant accident. 2,739 litres of coolant oil leaked, most of it into the Winnipeg River. The repair took several weeks for workers to complete. [23] 0: Unknown August 1, 1983: Pickering nuclear Reactor 2, Pickering, Ontario, Canada: LOCA loss of coolant accident. Pressure tube, that holds the fuel bundles, ruptured due to hydriding.
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 ...
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.
Emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) are designed to safely shut down a nuclear reactor during accident conditions. The ECCS allows the plant to respond to a variety of accident conditions (e.g. LOCAs) and additionally introduce redundancy so that the plant can be shut down even with one or more subsystem failures. In most plants, ECCS is ...
A fuel element failure is a rupture in a nuclear reactor's fuel cladding that allows the nuclear fuel or fission products, either in the form of dissolved radioisotopes or hot particles, to enter the reactor coolant or storage water. [1] The de facto standard nuclear fuel is uranium dioxide or a mixed uranium/plutonium dioxide.
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 ...