Back to DISASTERS homepage
Go to Three Mile Island  , Chernobyl


Nuclear Power Notes

Lecture Notes by Charles D. Sigwart

     Contents:

Nuclear Power Introduction

Three Mile Island

Chernobyl

Review Questions



NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: 
SUMMARY OF FEATURES

* heat energy source is fission of radioactive material,      typically U-235

* Two typical plant designs:
pressurized water reactor (PWR) (U.S.)
boiling water reactor (BWR) (Russian)

* fuel pellets are in a large number of tubes (fuel rods)

* water circulates through core

* water converted to steam drives turbine

* turbine turns generator -> electricity


SUMMARY of NUCLEAR ENERGY CONCEPTS and TERMS

Fission:

Unstable (radioactive) elements spontaneously split (radioactive decay), emitting high energy particles. Collision of particles with other atomic nuclei can trigger further nuclear decompositions. A small amount of mass is converted into a large amount of energy, when atomic nuclei are split.

Einstein equation: E = m c2

Conversion of mass to energy. E= energy, m = mass converted, c= speed of light

Critical Mass :

There is a threshold mass of a radioactive isotope at which the flux density of radioactive particles will sustain a chain reaction. If this reaction is uncontrolled the result is an atomic bomb explosion. If the radiation fluxes are controlled and limited, we call it a nuclear reactor, which can be the basis of an electric power plant.

Types of Radiation:

                              Atomic Weight   Charge                
 
 Alpha radiation  (Helium nucleus)   4           +2

 Beta   radiation   (Electron)      ~0           -1

 Neutron                             1            0

 Gamma ray                          ~0            0

Alpha radiation:

Alpha is quickly absorbed by matter because the particles have a large probability of collision with nuclei. Sources external to the human body cause radiation absorption within the thickness of the skin. Radiation from airborne particles in the lung are absorbed by surface membranes lining the lung. Alpha emitters ingested with food cause radiationabsorptionn by the lining of the gut. The risk of genetic damage to adult organisms is very small because absorption takes place in surface cells.

Beta particles.

Beta particles penetrate to the deepest parts of the body and can cause genetic damage and disrupt the function of cells anywhere in the body. Building walls and earthwork provide substantial shielding.

Gamma particles,

Gamma has the greatest penetration due to their small cross-section. Gamma particles can pass through ordinary materials. Effective shielding requires blankets of lead. Gamma radiation is a danger to all cells in the body.

Uranium fission:

92U235 + 0n1 => 92U236 => Fission Products

92U238 + 0n1 => 92U239 + Gamma => Fission Products

92U239 => 93Np239 => 94Pu239 ..
                  Neptunium        Plutonium

After many steps, (and a long time) the ultimate product is non-radioactive Lead atoms. The neutrons, whose absorrbtion is indicated above, come from splitting of later fission products in reactions not shown here. Note that U-235 fission in the presence of U-238 causes the conversion of part of the U-238 into Plutonium-239 which can be concentrated to make an H-Bomb. Intermediate isotopes of health significance include Cesium-137, Iodine-131, Strontium-90 and many others.

Half life, T:

Time for half the atomic nuclei to spontaneously split. The amount decays exponentially
N = No exp (-t/T)
N = Amount of radioactive material, No = Initial amount, t = elapsed time


Pressurized Water Reactor - 
Typical of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants

Pressurized Water Reactor
C. D. Sigwart 1999

A pressurized Water reactor (PWR) is characterized by having the core immersed in water in a large steel tank. The fuel rods and control rods make up a vertical array. Some of the control rod are movable, and are pulled up above the fixed control rods and fuel rods when the plant is in full operation. The purpose of the control rods is to absorb neutrons which trigger the splitting of atomic nuclei in the fissionable material in the fuel rods. With all the control rods inserted, there is negligible fission (and heating) in the fuel rods. When he control rods are pulled out the fuel rods heat the water, which is circulated by pumps in the primary or, inner loop, to a heat exchanger.

A feature of this design is that only the water in the inner loop is in contact with the radioactive fuel rods. Thus only the inner loop has contamination from the inevitable small amount of rust and corrosion. There are filters in this inner loop to capture the small particles which are radioactively contaminated. Also note that there are additional pumps to circulate cooling water through the core, which form the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) It is essential that circulation be maintained to carry heat away from the fuel rods to prevent them from melting in the event that the main primary circulation pumps should fail. The water in the tank and the primary circulation loop is never supposed to boil, i.e. it is always supposed to stay as water. Steam is a much poorer conductor of heat. The fuel rods are supposed to always stay under water. To prevent bailing, the tank and primary loop are maintained at very high pressure. Note that there is a pressure relief valve to prevent excess pressure from bursting the tank.

The secondary loop water is heated through a heat exchanger with the primary loop. Water in the secondary loop is allowed to boil in a steam generator tank (not shown). The steam is used to drive a turbine which turns an electrical generator. The residual steam is condensed back to water, which is pumped back through the heat exchanger again to make more steam. Also not shown is the circulation usually through a large cooling tower which is used to remove the waste heat. Also not indicated is the fact that the reactor and primary circulation plumbing are contained in a large reinforced containment dome. This specialbuildingg is intended to prevent escape of radioactivity if the primary plumbing or the reactor vessel should leak.

Boiling Water Reactor - 
Typical of Russian Nuclear Power Plants

Boiling Water Reactor
C. D. Sigwart 1999

A Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) is a nuclear reactor in which the design permits steam to be in contact with the nuclear fuel rods. This diagram is a schematic of a RMBK-1000 reactor which is in wide use in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union and their allies to whom they supplied this type of plant. In this design, the individual fuel rods are inside individual water pipes. Water is pumped through the pipes past the fuel rods, which heat the water to boiling. The mixture of boiling water and steam is separated in a tank (steam separator). The steam is then sent directly to the turbine which drives the electric generator. There is no separation of radioactive steam from the turbines. This system is simple in overall concept. But there is less safety margin in containing radioactivity in the event of a plumbing failure. The reactor core has all the moderator which controls neutron flux outside the water system. The variable part of the moderator system is a set of moveable Boron rods which are geometrically interspersed between the vertical array of water channels which contain the fuel rods. Instead of stationary control rods this reactor design has a massive pile of graphite bricks. Water channels and control rods pass through vertical holes through the graphite pile. Graphite has a problem. It will burn ifexposedd to air at the temperature in the pile in an operating reactor. Thus the reactor is enclosed in an air-tight and water tight concrete shell. This shell is filled with an oxygen-free gas mixtures, primarily helium and nitrogen.

MAJOR NUCLEAR POWER DISASTERS

 Chernobyl - is near Kiev, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. Destroyed by steam and hydrogen explosions followed by fire, it caused many deaths on site, increased cancer rates in the thousands of square miles it contaminated.

April 26, 1986

Three Mile Island - Located 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg PA on the Susquahanna River. The accident,and radiation release, caused no immediate deaths. The cleanup cost more than $1.5 Billion.

Mar. 28, 1979


THREE MILE ISLAND 
WHAT WENT WRONG?

* BAD CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN
unreliable valves
unreliable indicators

* POOR INSTRUMENTATION
bad panel design (No standard)
lack of indicators to monitor fluid balances

* OPERATING IN VIOLATION OF SAFETY RULES
disabled emergency core cooling system
manual override of automatic shutdown

* OPERATORS UNABLE TO HANDLE EMERGENCY,
no one on duty was a nuclear engineer
operators untrained for emergency manual control

* BAD MANAGEMENT
unwilling to investigate anomalies


ETHICAL PROBLEMS IN NUCLEAR
POWER REGULATION

The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), was formed to create a civilian nuclear energy industry, and had conflicting responsibilities:

* PROMOTING NUCLEAR POWER
- funded research in plant design
- subsidized production of nuclear fuel

* REGULATING PLANT SAFETY
- defined safety procedures, poor enforcement
- inspecting, certifying plants
- certifying operators, poor training

As a result of these conflicting interests

* NO LONG TERM WASTE DISPOSAL PLAN WAS COMPLETED
- wastes are still accumulating in temporary storage
- radioactive waste? NIMBY

* Future TERMINATION \ CLEANUP COSTS ARE NOT FACTORED INTO CURRENT ELECTRIC RATES.

* POWER COMPANIES ARE LARGELY SELF-REGULATED
- avoid reporting radiation release or do not monitor releases.
- avoid safety regulations to save money.

Internal conflicts of the AEC were supposed to be resolved by splitting the promotional and regulatory duties between the new agencies:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)- safety and standards
Dept. of Energy (DOE) - research, promotion, waste disposal, and fuel rod production

MAJOR NUCLEAR POWER DISASTERS

 Chernobyl - is near Kiev, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. Destroyed by steam and hydrogen explosions followed by fire, it caused many deaths on site, increased cancer rates in the thousands of square miles it contaminated.

April 26, 1986

Three Mile Island - Located 10 miles southeast of Harrisburg PA on the Susquahanna River. The accident,and radiation release, caused no immediate deaths. The cleanup cost more than $1.5 Billion.

Mar. 28, 1979

T.M.I. ACCIDENT CHRONOLOGY in BRIEF

1970's AEC LOFT (Loss Of Fluid Test) research canceled as economy measure.

Sept. 12 1978 T.M.I. Unit #2 dedicated.

Jan. 1979 TMI #2 began commercial operation.

Mar. 26, 1979 Emergency core cooling pumps tested, with diverter valves switched to disconnect ECCS from reactor. Valves not switched back.

Mar. 28, 1979, 4 AM ,3 Mile Island Incident began.
- Filter in inner loop switched offline to clean ..
- Pressure transient triggers shutdown sequence ..
- Core overheats, pressure relief valve sticks open, in manual override ..
- Water in core begins leaking out open relief valve ..
- Emergency cooling pumps don't work ! ..
- After more errors, 1/3 of core exposed, partial meltdown of fuel rods results.
- 2nd day someone closes relief valve (unrecorded).. situation stabilizes
- hydrogen gas bubble forms.
- Governor / NRC, order partial evacuation

Cleanup/termination cost $1.5+ BILLION.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE:
 Daniel F. Ford, THREE MILE ISLAND: 30 MINUTES TO MELTDOWN,
   Penguin Books, NY 1982

CLEANUP AFTER THE THREE MILE ISLAND ACCIDENT

After the Accident it wasnecessaryy to dispose of the radioactive gases, water, andcontaminatedddebriss from radioactive plumbing etc. The water had to be filtered to separate and concentrate radioactive contaminants for disposal. After these were removed it was possible to begin dismantling the pressure vessel and extract the fuel rods. It was not until then that the inside of the core could be inspected. As the damaged reactor was brought undercontroll, it was known from radiation monitoring that there was asignificantt amount of radioactive material in the bottom of the pressure vessel. In spite of this, the powercompanyy still maintained that the damage to the core had been minimal. When a robot with a video camera was lowered into thepressuree vessel, four years after the accident, this is what it saw:

Three Mile Island Unit 2 Reactor Core After Accident


Three Mile Island DAMAGED CORE
AP photo Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company

As outside experts had speculated, there had been a partial meltdown. Many fuel rods melted causing the tubes to break, spilling their load of uranium fuel pellets into the bottom of the pressure vessel. The pile of uranium pellets supported a continuing fissionwhichh was not subject to shutdown by control rods. That explained the continuing radiation and heating that plagued the operators trying to regain control of the plant.

There was nopossibilityy of repairing and restarting the reactor. It was entombed in concrete and left in place. The other reactors at TMI were not affected and are still in service.

For more information on Three Mile Island:
Websites , Bibliography

SIMILARITIES: CHERNOBYL and TMI


1. MANUAL OPERATION WITHOUT
AUTOMATIC SHUTDOWN SYSTEM
- TMI, override of automatic shutdown sequence
- Chernobyl , disabled to perform system tests

2. OPERATION WITH EMERGENCY COOLING SYSTEM DISABLED
- TMI, left switched off after a prior test
- Chernobyl , disabled as part of system tests

3. LACK OF OPERATOR TRAINING FOR
EMERGENCY MANUAL OPERATION
- Contrast: airline pilots must periodically 'fly' a
simulator where disaster recovery is practiced.

4. FLAWS IN SYSTEM DESIGN and
UNRELIABLE COMPONENTS

5. MANAGEMENT DECISIONS TO
CONCEAL PROBLEMS
- Delay and avoidance in reporting problems
- Evasion of regulatory requirements/standards

6. ABSENCE OF DISASTER PLANS

7. MANAGEMENT & REGULATORY
DECISIONS THAT CANCER RISK
OF RELEASED RADIATION IS
ACCEPTABLE.

DIFFERENCES: CHERNOBYL and TMI

CHERNOBYL
* HAD NO REINFORCED CONTAINMENT STRUCTURE

* FLAMMABLE GRAPHITE NEUTRON MODERATOR

* THERMAL RUNAWAY PROCESS FASTER
THAN HUMAN REACTION TIME

* SPREAD LARGE FRACTION OF RADIOACTIVE
CONTENTS TO THOUSANDS OF SQUARE MILES
OF ENVIRONMENT.

TMI CLEANUP EXPOSED THOUSANDS OF WORKERS
CHERNOBYL EXPOSED ABOUT 800,000 WORKERS


Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Chernobyl is a town, of 30,000 people, 70 mi. north of Kiev, in the Ukraine. The V. I. Lenin nuclear power plant is located 10 mi. from the town of Chernobyl. Adjacent to the plant is the town of Pripyat, which houses and services plant workers. The plant is on the Pripyat River, near its mouth into the Kiev reservoir.

The plant had 4 nuclear reactors, each with associated steam turbines and electric generators. Two additional units were under construction at the time of the accident, April 26, 1986. Each of these units was of the same Soviet design, designated RBMK-1000.

Chernobyl was the location of the world's worst nuclear power plant disaster. Massive amounts of radioactivity were released, a thousand square mile area will be uninhabitable for many decades.

(Topical humor after the accident: What is finger licking good and glows in the dark? answer: Chicken Kiev.)


Reactor design: RBMK-1000
Boiling Water Reactor

Electric generating capacity 1000 Megawatt.

Thermal output of core about 2000 Megawatt.

1661 zirconium fuel rods, holding mix of U-238 and U-235; Plutonium-239 is a byproduct, which can be extracted by reprocessing the fuel rod material. Each fuel rod is enclosed in a heat transfer water channel

211 Boron control rods .. 8 fuel rods / control rod

Graphite core 1700 T., made up of graphite bricks

Control of the reactor

1. Graphite Core, moderates neutron flux from fuel rods

2. Boron control rods to reduce neutron flux for shutdown

3. Thermal transfer control - closed circuit water/steam loop, multiple water pumps Nitrogen/Helium gas within containment - low thermal conductivity and oxygen exclusion - pressure and gas mixture are controlled. emergency core cooling water system (ECCS)

Chernobyl Reactor operations:

Computer for fine control, operator controls set points of feedback controllers
Central power authority dictated operating levels in managing power grid
Unnecessary shutdown -> 600,000 ruble revenue loss, firing of person responsible.

Plant engineers found the plant unstable at low power levels,
Local practice was to manually pull control rods if downward fluctuation threatened spontaneous shutdown. Response time to scram: 18 ssc (theoretically it was claimed to be 3 sec.)
Regulations against manual control routinely excepted.

Staff:

While a Western plant has 10-15 operators/shift, Chernobyl had 70/shift. Most did not graduate from nuclear engineer training schools, other engineer/technical training; took correspondence courses, and took qualifying tests for promotions.

Accident\safety plans:

Published odds million to 1 against an accident.
Authoritarian control .. staff & engineers do not question safety.
Accident planning was around a scenario of 1 or 2 fuel rod/water channels bursting.
No plan included a graphite fire.
Administration building had emergency bunker under it.
Reactor building was a water tight containment building.

Evacuation:

Plant director had authority in principle to order evacuation of Pripyat. However a standing order made any nuclear accident a state secret.


SAFETY PROBLEMS IN CHERNOBYL REACTOR DESIGN

System Dynamics:

A problem with RMBK-1000 reactor design is that the time constants for changes in thermal output are short. Control depends on computer regulated feedback control systems. The human operator could not react fast enough to manually control it without the automatic controls.

Neutron absorption and heat transfer coefficients are very different for water and steam, so neutron flux and thermal output changes rapidly as water in the tubethroughru the core makes a transition from hot water to steam.

Another safety problem with the design:

The normal operating temperature of core tubes is greater than the ignition of the graphite blocks of the core (carbon) in an O2 atmosphere. Its normal environment is an atmosphere with no oxygen.

Heat exchange system:

One closed loothroughru reactor core and steam turbines
Secondary loop to condense steam to water after turbine

Construction problems:

Turbine building roof; Spec. said it should be fireproof. Materials for 1 Km x 50 M fireproof roof was not available. Control cable conduits supposed to be fireproof. Material not available. Exception granted. Cement and tiles, etc. Quality control problems. Director had to prioritize uses, discard defective materials. Fittings often required remanufacture to meespecifications's.

Hazard Potential of Water on Hot Graphite -

Water Gas Reaction:

C + H20 => CO + H2
Often used as a H2 generator in freshman chemistry labs, it has a similar hazard if not carefully controlled:

2 CO + O2 => 2 C O2

2 H2 + O2 => 2 H20

Chernobyl Accident in Brief

Chernobyl Unit #4 was commissioned on 21 Dec. 1983. after 3 months of testing. Commercial operation began on, 27 March 1984 with an untested emergency shutdown power system to drive control rods and pumps between generator outage and diesel power startup.

April 26 1986 Plan was to test low power shutdown systems on weekend before May Day. Considered routine. No analysis by safety officer at Chernobyl. No analysis by Electric Power Ministry which approved it. Plan included disconnecting ECCS.

Test began at 1 AM. under manual control. Power dropped from 25% to 5%. Control rods pulled. Power slowly increased. Water pumps slowed. Power output surged. Re-insertion of control rods failed. Water channels ruptured.

The steam explosion cracked the concrete shell around the reactor core releasing the protective atmosphere. Steam on hot graphite generates H2 gas. Explosion at 1:30 AM. Core disrupted. Graphite ignites.

Water on graphite fire was ineffective. The fire fighters were fatally exposed to radiation from the rubble left of the core.

Next day, they began bombing the core with sand, boron and lead, dropped by military helicopters. Several crews were fatally exposed to radiation.

May 9, after 5000 T of sand etc., the fire was smothered. Following which a heat exchanger was built by tunneling under reactor.

By fall, Unit 4 was entombed. Units 1, 2, were back in service in middle of a 30 Km dia. uninhabited zone, 6 months later.

Fallout:

Estimated total release was 30 Million Curies. Thousands of Km2 became uninhabitable for many years. 17.5 Million people exposed to fallout. Perhaps thousands died within a few years after exposure. Official death toll to radiation sickness 31. Birth defect rate and cancer rate increased. Abortion was recommended for all pregnant women in heavy fallout areas.


CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT CHRONOLOGY


4/25 14:00 Automatic Core Cooling switched off for shutdown experiment, but experiment postponed to midnight. Power level reduced to 50%.

4/26 00:28 Control rods: switch from local to global control. Power plummets to 30 Mw. Control rods raised,

4/26 01:03 Cooling pump 4 switched in

4/26 01:19 Shutdown signal from steam separators, blocked.

4/26 01:21 Caps on fuel rod channels seen bouncing

4/26 01:22 Pressure falls in steam drums

4/26 01:23 Local overheating in one sector of core. Control rod emergency reinsertion, failed.

4/26 01:24 Explosion in graphite pile: ruptured steam tubes release 65 atmosphere pressurized water .. water flashed to steam, Steam ruptures containment. Steam on hot carbon generates H2, mixture with O2 gas which explodes.

4/26 01:24 Upper shield disintegrates. Graphite core ignites.

01:28 Call received at fire station.

01:35 Fire brigade fights fire on turbine building roof.

02:30 Plant Director arrives at control bunker.

04:00 Three more fire brigades arrive with fire hoses.

05:00 General of militia arrives from Kiev.
Ministry of Energy & Electrification demands to know when Unit 4 will be back on line ..
Chernobyl Director still thinks reactor is intact.

4/26 As reactor 4 burns, 286 men continue work on Units 5 & 6 construction. Emissions 12 Million Curies/day

4/27 Begin helicopter drops of sand, boron, lead on burning reactor 4. They cropped 150 T. on day 1.

4/28 Radiation alarms set off at Swedish nuclear plants. TASS denies any problem all day but at 9 pm admits accident

4/29 Pripyat evacuated, 10 Km exclusion zone population of 50 K, only 21 K were left to evacuate.

5/1 After bombing reactor with 1000 T sand, etc., emissions down to 2 Million Curies/day. Radiation surveys show 40 Curie/Km2 beyond 30 Km. Affected pop >120,000.
Evacuation ordered for 30 Km zone.

5/2 Miners begin tunneling from under reactor 3 to under reactor 4 to build heat exchanger.

5/6 Official report of accident: 2 dead, 204 radiation burn cases hospitalized. Plant under control.

5/7 Transport system in Kiev jammed by people fleeing.

5/8 Emissions down to 150,000 Curies/day. The Ukraine Politburo in Kiev demands Soviets give recommendations on fallout countermeasures. Soviets proclaim no danger. Kiev media asks people to wash produce, etc. School year suspended May 15, children < 7th grade to be sent to summer camps.

5/9 Fire out

June '86 KGB seizes dosimeters and medical records in controlled zones. Health consequences of radiation are a state secret. Milk seized, made into butter, held until I-131 decayed. Meat stored, shipped elsewhere for 10:1 dilution.

8/27-28/86 Report to IAEA in Vienna, claimed 'full disclosure'. Soviets downplayed reactor faults, blame staff, discussion was heated, and pointed out discrepancies in numbers on radiation release. Six pages of report, detailing contamination of land N. of Chernobyl had been suppressed.

9/23 Concrete sarcophagus complete over Unit 4

9/29 Unit 1 recertified

10/1 Unit 1 back on line

11/5 Unit 2 back on line

7/7/87 Plant Directors, Engineers, Operators tried for violating safety rules, dereliction of duty. Trial was in Chernobyl. Contaminated evidence required lawyers to wear radiation protection suits.

7/27/87 After excluding evidence of design faults, all were convicted. Sentences 3 to 10 years.

5/88 IAEA conference on Chernobyl at Kiev. Fallout affected 17.5 M people in USSR, 2.5 M children under 7. 135,000 evacuated. 350 K children sent to summer camp. Still claiming only 31 dead, and 200 injured. (over 500,000 worked on cleanup)


Other, earlier, Soviet Nuclear Accidents:


Sept. 1982 - Chernobyl Unit 1, after yr.yr service, was shut down for maintenance. Restarted with some valves closed -> no water flow in a few channels. Explosion in core, a few fuel rods melted. some radioactivity escaped plant. No radiation survey was done outside plant. Streets of Pripyat were hosed down. No announcement to population. Emergency core cooling system saved plant. Chief Engineer, his deputy, and chief operator of the shift were all demoted and transferred. (Read p.42)

1980 Kursh power station. RBMK-1000 plant had a power outage,

Reactor damaged because control rods and circulation driven by electric motors/pumps failed. Time delay to start diesel generators was 40 sec. During which, power surge damaged some fuel rods. Solution : design a special generator to tap turbine power as it spun down during shutdown, to power emergency equipment..

Oct. 1982. Armyansk nuclear power station. Explosion. Subsequent fire destroyed turbine building.

Fall 1983 Chernobyl Unit 4 startup. Certification team saw anomalous power surge when control rod insertion starts. Considered minor, had been seen in another reactor. No explanation, not documented.

June 1985 Balakovsky PWR power station, Valve burst, release of 300 degree C. steam, cooked 14 workmen. Safety regulations viewed as guidelines, chief engineer regularly made exceptions.

For more information : Chernobyl websites, Bibliography


Problem set:


1. How much mass is converted to energy per day by a 1000 megawatt nuclear power station? Assume the efficiency of thermal to electric power conversion is 50%. Speed of light is 3 x 108 m/sec,
1 Joule = 1 kg m2/ssc2 = 2.78 x 10-7 kilowatt hour


2. If a 1000 Megawatt (electrical output) power station transfers its waste heat to a river which provides a stream of cooling water continuously passing through its heat exchanger. How much water (in m3/sec) has to flow through if the output water is 2 degrees C. warmer than the input water? [Should you be surprised that power plants are located on large rivers?]

1 Watt = 1 Joule/sec
Specific heat of water 4.18 kJ /( kg deg.)
( 4.18 kJ. raises the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree C. ) Density of water: 1 gm/cm3 , or 1 gm of water has a volume of 1 cm3

3. Why is the United States so worried about the RMBK reactor in North Korea that we are willing to trade them a new PWR and new fuel in exchange fordismantlingng their RMBK reactor?

4. Why might this country consider building a few dozen new nuclear power plants, considering that there have been previous serious accidentwithth nuclear power plants?



Back to
DISASTERS homepage
Go to Three Mile Island  ,  Chernobyl
Last Updated on April 20, 2001 by
Charles D. Sigwart
Please contact me if you detect any errors in this page.

C. D. Sigwart Professional Information