Safety for nuclear power plants
Nuclear power plants should be located far away from the populated area to avoid the radioactive hazard. A nuclear reactor produces aand bparticles, neutrons and g- quanta which can disturb the normal functioning of living organisms. Nuclear power plants involve radiation leaks, health hazard to workers and community, and negative effect on surrounding forests.
At nuclear power plants there are three main sources of radioactive contamination of air.
1. Fission of nuclei of nuclear fuels.
2. The second source is due to the effect of neutron fluxes on the heat carrier in the primary cooling system and on the ambient air.
3. Third source of air contamination is damage of shells of fuel elements.
This calls for special safety measures for a nuclear power plant. Some of the safety measures are as follows.
1. Nuclear power plant should be located away from human habitation.
2. Quality of construction should be of required standards.
3. Waste water from nuclear power plant should be purified.
The water purification plants must have efficiency of water purification and satisfy rigid requirements as regards the volume of radioactive wastes disposed to burial.
4. An atomic power plant should have an extensive ventilation system. The main purpose of this ventilation system is to maintain the concentration of all radioactive impurities in the air below the permissible concentrations.
5. An exclusion zone of 1.6 km radius around the plant should be provided where no public habitation is permitted.
6. The safety system of the plant should be such as to enable safe shut down of the reactor whenever required.
Wastes are disposed from nuclear power plant
Waste Disposal
Waste disposal problem is common in every industry. Wastes from atomic energy installations are radioactive, create radioactive hazard and require strong control to ensure that radioactivity is not released into the atmosphere to avoid atmospheric pollution.
The wastes produced in a nuclear power plant may be in the form of liquid, gas or solid and each is treated in a different manner:
