scholarly journals Risk perception of the pre-distribution of stable iodine to guardians of children living around the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant, Saga Prefecture, Japan

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0250570
Author(s):  
Hitomi Matsunaga ◽  
Makiko Orita ◽  
Yasuyuki Taira ◽  
Noboru Takamura
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Radioactive Iodine ◽  
Childhood Thyroid Cancer ◽  
Stable Iodine

Iodine thyroid blocking (ITB) is effective for preventing childhood thyroid cancer when radioactive iodine is released into the environment during a nuclear power plant accident. Japan employs the pre-distribution of stable iodine (PDSI) to residents living near nuclear power plants; however, the number of residents who have actually received stable iodine to date remains limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the profile of guardians of children living around the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant (GNPP) in Japan. We distributed self-administered questionnaires regarding perception of risks associated with administration of stable iodide to approximated 400 guardians of children aged 0–6 in 10 kindergartens located in four municipalities. We obtained responses from 286 guardians, and after excluding invalid responses, 247 were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analysis revealed that living within 5 km of the GNPP (odds ratio [OR] = 4.48, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.43–8.24), awareness of preferential implementation of ITB to children (OR = 3.33, 95%CI: 1.78–6.22), and awareness of the prophylaxis booklet published by the local government (OR = 2.53, 95%CI: 1.37–4.68) were independently associated with PDSI for children. The main reasons for not receiving PDSI were “anxiety about the side effects of stable iodine” (40.2%), “distrust of the effectiveness of SI” (23.5%), “complicated procedures for receiving stable iodine” (15.7%) and “missed the date for receiving stable iodine” (8.8%). In the case of ITB implementation during a nuclear emergency, it is necessary to clarify the risk perceptions of guardians and adapt risk communication accordingly.

Risk Perceptions of Resuming Nuclear Power Plant Operations After Fukushima: A Student Survey

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (sp) ◽  
pp. 789-797
Author(s):  
Kami Seo ◽  
◽  
Tadahiro Motoyoshi ◽  
Yasunobu Maeda ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Nuclear Power Generation

Quake-induced accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 triggered heated argument about the country’s energy policy in Japan. Although many people recognized the risk of nuclear energy use, they did not necessarily support the option of abandoning the technology for the near future. This paper focuses on how people perceive risks associated with and without nuclear power generation and how perceived risks affect their opinion. We conducted questionnaire survey targeting 18–20 year old university students, the stakeholders in the future. The survey was implemented in 2013–2014 when none of Japan’s nuclear power plants was in active use. Three quarters of the respondents answered that a future with nuclear power generation was more realistic than without it. The aspects dividing the two groups, i.e., respondents who expect a future with or without nuclear energy use were their evaluations of three themes: (1) the feasibility of renewable energy sources, (2) the impacts in the safety of developing nations’ nuclear power generation, and (3) the difficulty in gaining the acceptance of residents near the power plants. Meanwhile, both groups above were similarly positive about technological innovation, and were similarly and strongly negative about developing safety management.

scholarly journals Characteristics and recognition of guardians living in the urgent protective action planning zone of the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant, Saga Prefecture, Japan who wished to receive pre-distribution stable iodine for their children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitomi Matsunaga ◽  
Makiko Orita ◽  
Yasuyuki Taira ◽  
Noboru Takamura
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Radiation Exposure ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Protective Action ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Stable Iodine

Abstract Purpose：The aim of this study was to clarify the characteristics and the awareness of nuclear prevention measures including prophylactic stable iodine (SI) of guardians of 0- to 6-year-old children living in the urgent protective action planning zone (UPZ) of the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant (GNPP), Japan. Methods：Of these 1172 guardians, 973 responded that they wished to receive pre-distribution of stable iodine (PDSI) and 199 did not wish to receive PDSI. Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that the following items were independently associated with guardians who wished to receive PDSI for their children: thinking that pregnant women should take prophylactic SI (odds ratio [OR]=6.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.62–9.35; p<0.01); wishing to participate in a lecture about the health effects of radiation exposure (OR=1.99, 95%CI: 1.40–2.82; p<0.01); thinking that SI can prevent exposure from all radionuclides (OR=1.93, 95%CI: 1.24–2.99; p<0.01); awareness of SI before the study (OR=1.91, 95%CI: 1.35–3.00; p<0.01); and anxiety about prophylactic SI for their children (OR=0.33, 95%CI: 0.20–0.55; p<0.01). The GNPP was one of the nuclear power plants in Japan that resumed operations after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011. Conclusion: These results suggest that some residents have incomplete knowledge about nuclear prevention, including SI. Therefore, it is essential to educate residents and communicate the health risks of radiation exposure with residents living around nuclear power plants. Furthermore, it is important to train specialists to educate and communicate with residents to prepare for a nuclear accident.

scholarly journals Iodine deficiency disorders as a non-infectious epidemic: a look at the problem at the tome of COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (10) ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
G. A. Mel’nichenko ◽  
E. A. Troshina ◽  
G. A. Gerasimov
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Cancer ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Iodine Deficiency ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Radioactive Iodine ◽  
Iodine Intake ◽  
Psychomotor Development ◽  
Salt Iodization

Radioactive iodine, flying out of the destroyed reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, like a corona virus quickly spread throughout Europe. Iodine deficiency in the regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia adjacent to nuclear power plants became a factor in increased uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland in children and after 5 years led to an epidemic of thyroid cancer. Optimal iodine intake could become a kind of vaccination, which sharply reduces the risk of developing thyroid cancer, as has happened after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Endemic goiter was eliminated 50 years ago, but returned to the country in the early 1990s after the collapse of iodized salt production and has not been eliminated to this day due to the lack of a legislative framework for mandatory salt iodization. The actual average consumption of iodine by residents of Russia is from 40 to 80 mcg per day, which is 23 times less than the recommended norm. Mild and moderate iodine deficiency was detected throughout the Russian Federation, and it is more typical for the the rural population. The iodine deficiency has the greatest negative effect on the psychomotor development of the child during the critical period the first 1000 days of life from the moment of conception to the end of the second year of life. According to WHO, over the past 20 years, iodine deficiency has been eliminated in 115 countries of the world, and the number of iodine-deficient countries has dropped to 25, but Russia is still among them. We believe that after the COVID-19 pandemic, it will no longer be necessary to prove the need for effective support for the prevention of both infectious and non-infectious diseases, and the declared preventive direction of Russian medicine will indeed become such.

Fuzzy multi-objective decision making approach for nuclear power plant installation

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 6339-6350
Author(s):  
Esra Çakır ◽  
Ziya Ulukan
Keyword(s):  
Linear Programming ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Total Duration ◽  
Objective Functions ◽  
Multi Objective

Due to the increase in energy demand, many countries suffer from energy poverty because of insufficient and expensive energy supply. Plans to use alternative power like nuclear power for electricity generation are being revived among developing countries. Decisions for installation of power plants need to be based on careful assessment of future energy supply and demand, economic and financial implications and requirements for technology transfer. Since the problem involves many vague parameters, a fuzzy model should be an appropriate approach for dealing with this problem. This study develops a Fuzzy Multi-Objective Linear Programming (FMOLP) model for solving the nuclear power plant installation problem in fuzzy environment. FMOLP approach is recommended for cases where the objective functions are imprecise and can only be stated within a certain threshold level. The proposed model attempts to minimize total duration time, total cost and maximize the total crash time of the installation project. By using FMOLP, the weighted additive technique can also be applied in order to transform the model into Fuzzy Multiple Weighted-Objective Linear Programming (FMWOLP) to control the objective values such that all decision makers target on each criterion can be met. The optimum solution with the achievement level for both of the models (FMOLP and FMWOLP) are compared with each other. FMWOLP results in better performance as the overall degree of satisfaction depends on the weight given to the objective functions. A numerical example demonstrates the feasibility of applying the proposed models to nuclear power plant installation problem.

Human reliability in non-destructive inspections of nuclear power plant components: modeling and analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2B) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanderley Vasconcelos ◽  
Wellington Antonio Soares ◽  
Raissa Oliveira Marques ◽  
Silvério Ferreira Silva Jr ◽  
Amanda Laureano Raso
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Human Reliability ◽  
Non Destructive ◽  
Plant Components

Non-destructive inspection (NDI) is one of the key elements in ensuring quality of engineering systems and their safe use. This inspection is a very complex task, during which the inspectors have to rely on their sensory, perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills. It requires high vigilance once it is often carried out on large components, over a long period of time, and in hostile environments and restriction of workplace. A successful NDI requires careful planning, choice of appropriate NDI methods and inspection procedures, as well as qualified and trained inspection personnel. A failure of NDI to detect critical defects in safety-related components of nuclear power plants, for instance, may lead to catastrophic consequences for workers, public and environment. Therefore, ensuring that NDI is reliable and capable of detecting all critical defects is of utmost importance. Despite increased use of automation in NDI, human inspectors, and thus human factors, still play an important role in NDI reliability. Human reliability is the probability of humans conducting specific tasks with satisfactory performance. Many techniques are suitable for modeling and analyzing human reliability in NDI of nuclear power plant components, such as FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) and THERP (Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction). An example by using qualitative and quantitative assessesments with these two techniques to improve typical NDI of pipe segments of a core cooling system of a nuclear power plant, through acting on human factors issues, is presented.

scholarly journals Python TensorFlow Big Data Analysis for the Security of Korean Nuclear Power Plants

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1467
Author(s):  
Sangdo Lee ◽  
Jun-Ho Huh ◽  
Yonghoon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Network Traffic ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Security Requirements ◽  
Republic Of Korea ◽  
Continuous Data ◽  
Cyber Attack ◽  
The Republic

The Republic of Korea also suffered direct and indirect damages from the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan and realized the significance of security due to the cyber-threat to the Republic of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. With such matters in mind, this study sought to suggest a measure for improving security in the nuclear power plant. Based on overseas cyber-attack cases and attacking scenario on the control facility of the nuclear power plant, the study designed and proposed a nuclear power plant control network traffic analysis system that satisfies the security requirements and in-depth defense strategy. To enhance the security of the nuclear power plant, the study collected data such as internet provided to the control facilities, network traffic of intranet, and security equipment events and compared and verified them with machine learning analysis. After measuring the accuracy and time, the study proposed the most suitable analysis algorithm for the power plant in order to realize power plant security that facilitates real-time detection and response in the event of a cyber-attack. In this paper, we learned how to apply data for multiple servers and apply various security information as data in the security application using logs, and match with regard to application of character data such as file names. We improved by applying gender, and we converted to continuous data by resetting based on the risk of non-continuous data, and two optimization algorithms were applied to solve the problem of overfitting. Therefore, we think that there will be a contribution in the connection experiment of the data decision part and the optimization algorithm to learn the security data.

Transition to Online Cable Insulation Condition Monitoring

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. W. Glass ◽  
Leonard S. Fifield ◽  
Mychal P. Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Capacitance Measurement ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Test Environment ◽  
Specific Test ◽  
Motor Test

Abstract Nuclear power plant cables were originally qualified for 40 year life and generally have not required specific test verification to assure service availability through the initial plant qualification period. However, license renewals to 60 and 80 years of operation require a cable aging management program that depends on some form of test and verification to assure fitness for service. Environmental stress (temperature, radiation, chemicals, water, and mechanical) varies dramatically within a nuclear power plant and, in some cases, cables have degraded and required repair or replacement before their qualified end-of-life period. In other cases, cable conditions have been mild and dependable cable performance confirmed to extend well beyond the initial qualified life. Most offline performance-based testing requires cables to be decoupled and de-energized for specially trained technicians to perform testing. These offline tests constitute an expensive operational burden that limits the economic viability of nuclear power plants. Although initial investment may be higher, new online test practices are emerging as options or complements to offline testing that avoid or minimize the regularly scheduled offline test burden. These online methods include electrical and fiber-optic partial discharge measurement, spread spectrum time or frequency domain reflectometry, distributed temperature profile measurements, and local interdigital capacitance measurement of insulation characteristics. Introduction of these methods must be supported by research to confirm efficacy plus either publicly financed or market driven investment to support the start-up expense of cost-effective instrumentation to monitor cable condition and assure reliable operation. This work summarizes various online cable assessment technologies plus introduces a new cable motor test bed to assess some of these technologies in a controlled test environment.

Research on Earthquake Acceleration Alarm of Nuclear Power Plant

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Liang ◽  
Pan Rong ◽  
Ren Guopeng ◽  
Zhu Xiuyun
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
False Alarm ◽  
Ground Motion ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Time History ◽  
Seismic Acceleration ◽  
Trigger Signal

Abstract Almost all nuclear power plants in the world are equipped with seismic instrument system, especially the third generation nuclear power plants in China. When the ground motion measured by four time history accelerometers of containment foundation exceeds the preset threshold, the automatic shutdown trigger signal will be generated. However, from the seismic acceleration characteristics, isolated and prominent single high frequency will be generated the acceleration peak, which has no decisive effect on the seismic response, may cause false alarm, which has a certain impact on the smooth operation of nuclear power plant. According to the principle of three elements of ground motion, this paper puts forward a method that first selects the filtering frequency band which accords with the structural characteristics of nuclear power plants, then synthesizes the three axial acceleration time history, and finally selects the appropriate acceleration peak value for threshold alarm. The results show that the seismic acceleration results obtained by this method can well represent the actual magnitude of acceleration, and can solve the problem of false alarm due to the randomness of single seismic wave, and can be used for automatic reactor shutdown trigger signal of seismic acceleration.

A Quantitative Approach for Reliability Evaluation of Safety I&C Systems in Nuclear Power Plants

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Dongxu ◽  
Xu Dongling ◽  
Zhang Shuhui ◽  
Hu Xiaoying
Keyword(s):  
Probability Theory ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Boolean Algebra ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Block Diagram ◽  
Reliability Assessment ◽  
Simple Approach ◽  
Assessment Approach

The probability that the safety I&C system fails to actuate or advertently actuates RT or ESF functions, in part, essentially determines whether a nuclear power plant could operate safely and efficiently. Since more conservative assumptions and simplifications are introduced during the analysis, this paper achieves solid results by performing the modeling and calculation based on a relatively simple approach, the reliability block diagram (RBD) method. A typical safety I&C platform structure is involved in the model presented in this paper. From the perspective of conservation and simplicity, some assumptions are adopted in this paper. A group of formulas is derived in this paper based on Boolean algebra, probability theory, basic reliability concepts and equations, to facilitate the calculations of probabilities that the safety I&C system fails to actuate or advertently actuates RT or ESF functions. All the inputs of the analysis and calculation in this paper, which includes the I&C platform structure, the constitution of the hardware modules, and reliability data, are referenced to the nuclear power plant universal database where applicable. Although the conclusion drawn in the paper doesn’t apply to the I&C platform assessment for a specific plant, the method of modeling and process of analysis provides an illustration of an alternative quantitative reliability assessment approach for a typical safety I&C system installed in the nuclear power plant.

scholarly journals Efficiency of Using the Auxiliary Boiler for Peak Power Generation by a Steam Turbine of NPP

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-90
Author(s):  
V. A. Khrustalev ◽  
M. V. Garievskii
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Steam Turbine ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Normal Operation ◽  
Heat Output ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
System Effect ◽  
Industrial Enterprises

The article presents the technique of an estimation of efficiency of use of potential heat output of an auxiliary boiler (AB) to improve electric capacity and manoeuvrability of a steam turbine unit of a power unit of a nuclear power plant (NPP) equipped with a water-cooled water-moderated power reactor (WWER). An analysis of the technical characteristics of the AB of Balakovo NPP (of Saratov oblast) was carried out and hydrocarbon deposits near the NPP were determined. It is shown that in WWER nuclear power plants in Russia, auxiliary boilers are mainly used only until the normal operation after start-up whereas auxiliary boiler equipment is maintained in cold standby mode and does not participate in the generation process at power plants. The results of research aimed to improve the systems of regulation and power management of power units; general principles of increasing the efficiency of production, transmission and distribution of electric energy, as well as the issues of attracting the potential of energy technology sources of industrial enterprises to provide load schedules have been analyzed. The possibility of using the power complex NPP and the AB as a single object of regulation is substantiated. The authors’ priority scheme-parametric developments on the possibility of using the thermal power of the auxiliary boilers to increase the power of the steam turbine of a nuclear power plant unit equipped with WWER reactors unit during peak periods, as well as the enthalpy balance method for calculating heat flows, were applied. The surface area of the additional heater of the regeneration “deaerator – high pressure heaters” system and its cost were calculated. On the basis of calculations, it was shown that the additional power that can be obtained in the steam turbine of the NPP with a capacity of 1200 MW due to the use of heat of the modernized auxiliary boiler in the additional heat exchanger is 40.5 MW. The additional costs for the implementation of the heat recovery scheme of the auxiliary boiler at different prices for gas fuel and the resulting system effect were estimated in an enlarged way. Calculations have shown the acceptability of the payback period of the proposed modernization.

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