scholarly journals On the Root Causes of the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster from the Perspective of High Complexity and Tight Coupling in Large-Scale Systems

Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 414
Author(s):  
Atsuo Murata ◽  
Waldemar Karwowski
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
High Complexity ◽  
Tight Coupling ◽  
Large Scale Systems ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Loss Of Coolant ◽  
Station Blackout ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

This study explores the root causes of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster and discusses how the complexity and tight coupling in large-scale systems should be reduced under emergencies such as station blackout (SBO) to prevent future disasters. First, on the basis of a summary of the published literature on the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, we found that the direct causes (i.e., malfunctions and problems) included overlooking the loss of coolant and the nuclear reactor’s failure to cool down. Second, we verified that two characteristics proposed in “normal accident” theory—high complexity and tight coupling—underlay each of the direct causes. These two characteristics were found to have made emergency management more challenging. We discuss how such disasters in large-scale systems with high complexity and tight coupling could be prevented through an organizational and managerial approach that can remove asymmetry of authority and information and foster a climate of openly discussing critical safety issues in nuclear power plants.

Severe Accident Context Quantification for Long-Term Station Blackout in Boiling Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plants

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gueorgui I. Petkov ◽  
Monica Vela-Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Boiling Water ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Boiling Water Reactor ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Accident Scenario ◽  
Station Blackout ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

The realistic study of dynamic accident context is an invaluable tool to address the uncertainties and their impact on safety assessment and management. The capacities of the performance evaluation of teamwork (PET) procedure for dynamic context quantification and determination of alternatives, coordination, and monitoring of human performance and decision-making are discussed in this paper. The procedure is based on a thorough description of symptoms during the accident scenario progressions with the use of thermo-hydraulic (TH) model and severe accident (SA) codes (melcor and maap). The opportunities of PET procedure for context quantification are exemplified for the long-term station blackout (LT SBO) accident scenario at Fukushima Daiichi #1 and a hypothetic unmitigated LT SBO at peach bottom #1 boiling water reactor (BWR) reactor nuclear power plants (NPPs). The context quantification of these LT SBO scenarios is based on the IAEA Fukushima Daiichi accident report, “State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analysis” and TH calculations made by using maap code at the EC Joint Research Centre.

The Development of a Mechanistic Model of MCCI Under Severe Accidents

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Wei ◽  
Kelin Qi ◽  
Fuchang Shan ◽  
Yanfang Chen ◽  
Fude Guo
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Severe Accidents ◽  
Large Scale Analysis ◽  
Loss Of Coolant ◽  
Calculation Results ◽  
Station Blackout ◽  
Core Concrete

This paper describes a mechanistic model of the molten core-concrete interaction (MCCI) process under severe accidents, and selects the Daya-Bay nuclear power plant as the research object to calculate and analyze the process of the MCCI when the station blackout (SBO), or loss of coolant (LOCA) severe accident serial is happened. The calculation results of this procedure are compared with the large-scale analysis programs MELCOR to verify the reasonableness and correctness of the model. The results indicate that the model present in this paper can simulate the MCCI process correctly and reasonably under multi-serial severe accidents.

Evaluation of IET Facility Applicability on Simulating SBLOCA in Large-Scale Passive PWR Plant

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haozheng Kong ◽  
Bo Kuang ◽  
Pengfei Liu ◽  
Xia Lu ◽  
Yi Yao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Rate ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Scaling Analysis ◽  
Flow Area ◽  
Injection Flow ◽  
Parameter Evaluation ◽  
Loss Of Coolant Accident ◽  
Loss Of Coolant

Focused on the overall experimental verification of important phenomena in small break loss of coolant accident (SBLOCA) of large-scale passive PWR plants, this paper put forward a top-down and bottom-up scaling analysis of SBLOCA process based on H2TS method, by which the scaling conditions of IET facility would be figured out to match with the conditions in real nuclear power plants. Meanwhile, parameter evaluation was conducted between IET facility and real power plants, and finally the results proved that the IET facility could, to a certain degree, represent the conditions in real plants in terms of scaling analysis, and the test data of facility could be applicable for the SBLOCA of real plants. Further, in this paper, scenarios of SBLOCA were simulated and compared between IET facility and AP1000 nuclear power plant by the use of Relap5/MOD3 program. Then, after the conversion of flow area and time ratio, the comparison of results between those two systems was conducted in terms of pressure of reactor coolant system (RCS), injection flow rate of CMT and steam flow rate through ADS-1/2/3/4 valves, which also proved that the IET facility could simulate the SBLOCA of real plants well.

Agricultural Land Management Options Following Large-Scale Environmental Contamination: Evaluation for Fukushima Affected Agricultural Land

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hildegarde Vandenhove
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Management Option ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi ◽  
Agricultural Land Management

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has raised questions about the accumulation of radionuclides in soils, the transfer in the foodchain and the possibility of continued restricted future land use. This paper summarizes what is generally understood about the application of agricultural countermeasures as a land management option to reduce the radionuclides transfer in the food chain and to facilitate the return of potentially affected soils to agricultural practices in areas impacted by a nuclear accident.

Nuclear Power Plant Fires and Explosions: Part IV — Water Hammer Explosion Mechanisms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Leishear
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Water Hammer ◽  
Compression Process ◽  
Flammable Gas ◽  
Piping Systems ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi ◽  
Accident Conditions

Water hammers, or fluid transients, compress flammable gasses to their autognition temperatures in piping systems to cause fires or explosions. While this statement may be true for many industrial systems, the focus of this research are reactor coolant water systems (RCW) in nuclear power plants, which generate flammable gasses during normal operations and during accident conditions, such as loss of coolant accidents (LOCA’s) or reactor meltdowns. When combustion occurs, the gas will either burn (deflagrate) or explode, depending on the system geometry and the quantity of the flammable gas and oxygen. If there is sufficient oxygen inside the pipe during the compression process, an explosion can ignite immediately. If there is insufficient oxygen to initiate combustion inside the pipe, the flammable gas can only ignite if released to air, an oxygen rich environment. This presentation considers the fundamentals of gas compression and causes of ignition in nuclear reactor systems. In addition to these ignition mechanisms, specific applications are briefly considered. Those applications include a hydrogen fire following the Three Mile Island meltdown, hydrogen explosions following Fukushima Daiichi explosions, and on-going fires and explosions in U.S nuclear power plants. Novel conclusions are presented here as follows. 1. A hydrogen fire was ignited by water hammer at Three Mile Island. 2. Hydrogen explosions were ignited by water hammer at Fukushima Daiichi. 3. Piping damages in U.S. commercial nuclear reactor systems have occurred since reactors were first built. These damages were not caused by water hammer alone, but were caused by water hammer compression of flammable hydrogen and resultant deflagration or detonation inside of the piping.

Development of 1500-r/min 75-Inch Ultra-Long Last Stage Blades for Nuclear Steam Turbine

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deqi Yu ◽  
Jiandao Yang ◽  
Wei Lu ◽  
Daiwei Zhou ◽  
Kai Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vibration Monitoring ◽  
Steam Turbines ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Rotating Blade ◽  
Lifetime Analysis ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽  
Last Stage

The 1500-r/min 1905mm (75inch) ultra-long last three stage blades for half-speed large-scale nuclear steam turbines of 3rd generation nuclear power plants have been developed with the application of new design features and Computer-Aided-Engineering (CAE) technologies. The last stage rotating blade was designed with an integral shroud, snubber and fir-tree root. During operation, the adjacent blades are continuously coupled by the centrifugal force. It is designed that the adjacent shrouds and snubbers of each blade can provide additional structural damping to minimize the dynamic stress of the blade. In order to meet the blade development requirements, the quasi-3D aerodynamic method was used to obtain the preliminary flow path design for the last three stages in LP (Low-pressure) casing and the airfoil of last stage rotating blade was optimized as well to minimize its centrifugal stress. The latest CAE technologies and approaches of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Fatigue Lifetime Analysis (FLA) were applied to analyze and optimize the aerodynamic performance and reliability behavior of the blade structure. The blade was well tuned to avoid any possible excitation and resonant vibration. The blades and test rotor have been manufactured and the rotating vibration test with the vibration monitoring had been carried out in the verification tests.

scholarly journals Spreading of Excellence in SARNET Network on Severe Accidents: The Education and Training Programme

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Paci ◽  
Jean-Pierre Van Dorsselaere
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Training Programme ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Safety Issues ◽  
Severe Accidents ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
And Training

The SARNET2 (severe accidents Research NETwork of Excellence) project started in April 2009 for 4 years in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Commission (EC), following a similar first project in FP6. Forty-seven organisations from 24 countries network their capacities of research in the severe accident (SA) field inside SARNET to resolve the most important remaining uncertainties and safety issues on SA in water-cooled nuclear power plants (NPPs). The network includes a large majority of the European actors involved in SA research plus a few non-European relevant ones. The “Education and Training” programme in SARNET is a series of actions foreseen in this network for the “spreading of excellence.” It is focused on raising the competence level of Master and Ph.D. students and young researchers engaged in SA research and on organizing information/training courses for NPP staff or regulatory authorities (but also for researchers) interested in SA management procedures.

A Simulation of Small Break Loss of Coolant Accident (SB-LOCA) in AP1000 Nuclear Power Plant Using RELAP5-MV

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eltayeb Yousif ◽  
Zhang Zhijian ◽  
Tian Zhao-fei ◽  
A. M. Mustafa
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Power Systems ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Computational Simulation ◽  
Primary System ◽  
Transient Time ◽  
Loss Of Coolant Accident ◽  
Loss Of Coolant

To ensure effective operation of nuclear power plants, it is very important to evaluate different accident scenarios in actual plant conditions with different codes. In the field of nuclear safety, Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) is one of the main accidents. RELAP-MV Visualized Modularization software technology is recognized as one of the best estimated transient simulation programs of light water reactors, and also has the options for improved modeling methods, advanced programming, computational simulation techniques and integrated graphics displays. In this study, transient analysis of the primary system variation of thermo-hydraulics parameters in primary loop under SB-LOCA accident in AP1000 nuclear power plant (NPP) is carried out by Relap5-MV thermo-hydraulics code. While focusing on LOCA analysis in this study, effort was also made to test the effectiveness of the RELAP5-MV software already developed. The accuracy and reliability of RELAP5-MV have been successfully confirmed by simulating LOCA. The calculation was performed up to a transient time of 4,500.0s. RELAP5-MV is able to simulate a nuclear power system accurately and reliably using this modular modeling method. The results obtained from RELAP5 and RELAP5-MV are in agreement as they are based on the same models though in comparison with RELAP5, RELAP5-MV makes simulation of nuclear power systems easier and convenient for users most especially for the beginners.

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