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Nuclear Reactor Safety Design and Analysis
Institution
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Nuclear Reactor Safety Design and Analysis
Contents
Introduction
Overview
Hazards from nuclear plants
Safety design goals and risk assessment
Recommendation and conclusion
Introduction
Radioactivity is a natural phenomenon in addition to radiations which are environmental features. These radioactive substances and radiation, in general, have a wide range of beneficial applications which range from power generation to use in agriculture and the medical industry. There is a great need to assess and control the radiation risk these applications may have to workers, the public, and the environment. These activities from the operation of the nuclear installations, production, use of the radioactive material and their transportation ought to be subject to high safety standards.
Regulation of nuclear reactor safety is a national responsibility. However, the risks by radiation may transcend the national borders, and thus there is international cooperation which serves the task to promote and enhance safety globally through exchanging of experiences and controlling hazards with the aim of preventing accidents besides responding to emergencies and mitigating harmful consequences. Safety fundamentals are critical since they present the fundamental objective of safety and principles of security and protection providing the basis for safety requirements.
Overview
An overall safety assessment of the reactor facility design includes hazards analysis, deterministic safety analysis and probabilistic, safety assessment (PSA) techniques.

Implementation of the safety functions is achieved in five levels of protection which are successive. The first and second standards are meant to prevent accidents while the remaining levels of succession are intended to avoid the environment and operators from the adverse effects of a crash. During the construction of a nuclear energy facility, the priority which ought to be taken into consideration is the safety of the plant (Luyben, 2012). Qualification of the system, the structures, and the critical safety components are vital. This process of skill is meant to demonstrate that a given system satisfies safety requirements in addition to achieving its intended purpose.
Hazards from a nuclear power plant
Despite the capability of nuclear power generating electricity without emission of greenhouse gases, there is a great concern for its safety. There is need to know about the safety and the health concerns which are related to the risk of a meltdown of nuclear as well as the challenge which is associated with storing radioactive waste.
Meltdown is a significant risk which could be experienced in a nuclear power plant. It is an accident which occurs when there is severe overheating of the nuclear reactor which as a result melts the core of the reactor. This hazard occurs when there is a defect in the Colling system of the reactor which as a result allow one or more of the nuclear fuels to exceed their melting point. Peradventure a meltdown occurs, there is the possibility of the nuclear power plant releasing radiations to the environment.
The most significant concern associated with an accident in the nuclear power plant is the adverse effect associated with the exposure to the radiations which is often in the human body. Despite having exposure to emissions in the environment and medical procedures, the low-level radiations have no health-related problems which are detectable (Boy & Schmitt, 2013). However, exposure to significant amounts of radiation and over considerable periods of time is hazardous to body cells which could lead to cancer. Radiation sickness is another illness caused by exposure to a significant amount of radiations over a short period.
Besides personal health concern, there are other environmental health-related concerns which are associated with the generation of nuclear power. Colling of the reactors is by water which is from local water bodies like rivers and lakes. Whenever there is excess water, it is released back to the water body. This lead to the pollution of the water with heavy metals and salts and the extreme temperatures in addition to other pollutants which often disrupt the marine life.
Safety design goal and risk assessment
Currently, the design of not only the existing nuclear plants but also the new ones has been enhanced to include additional safety measures meant to mitigate the accidents which could occur be it sophisticated or multiple failures in nuclear power plants. There are parallel systems which are back fitted to the existing facilities with the aim of preventing severe accidents and mitigating the consequences they may have. Nuclear power plant design includes the consideration of severe accidents scenarios and the different strategies applicable to their management explicitly. There are requirements about state system of accounting for and the control of nuclear material and other security-related needs which are taken into account during the design of nuclear power plants. The integration of the safety and security measures help to ensure that there is no from compromising from the design (Graham, 2012).
Recommendation
Due to the rise in the number of accidents witnessed, high-level aspects of safety in operation is not an option but mandatory. To ensure that these standards are met, I recommend the setting up of a safety culture in any nuclear reactor plant. By so doing, there is a dual mandate whereby if a nation avoids such a path, developed countries will help enhancing civilian’s safety.
In conclusion, the essential element of safety assessment is safety analysis. It is the analytical study which is used to demonstrate the various ways in which safety requirements are to be met. It is generally for a broad range of different conditions for operation and other initiating events (Qvist & Greenspan, 2014). Analysis of safety involves probabilistic and deterministic analyses on the support of the design, sitting, commissioning or decommissioning and operation of a nuclear power plant.References
Boy, G. A., & Schmitt, K. A. (2013). Design for safety: A cognitive engineering approach to the control and management of nuclear power plants. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 52, 125-136.
Graham, J. (Ed.). (2012). Fast reactor safety. Elsevier.
Luyben, W. L. (2012). Use of dynamic simulation for reactor safety analysis. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 40, 97-109.
Qvist, S., & Greenspan, E. (2014). An autonomous reactivity control system for improved fast reactor safety. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 77, 32-47.