Nuclear reactor safety system

This article covers the technical aspects of active nuclear safety systems in the United States.
For a general approach to nuclear safety, see
nuclear safety.

Pressurized water reactors on the other hand have to use

boron solution in addition to the control rods to shut down
the reactor. In the case of problems with the control
rods, they are able to increase the normal concentration
of boron in the coolant water rapidly, with the help of
The three primary objectives of nuclear reactor safety emergency boric acid tanks (SLC). In the case of LOCA,
systems as dened by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Com- PWRs ood the core with water that auxiliarily contains
mission are to shut down the reactor, maintain it in a further boron.
shutdown condition and prevent the release of radioactive material.[1]

2 Essential service water system

Reactor protection system (RPS)

A reactor protection system is designed to immediately

terminate the nuclear reaction. By breaking the chain reaction, the source of heat is eliminated. Other systems
can then be used to remove decay heat from the core. All
nuclear plants have some form of reactor protection system.

1.1

Control rods

Control rods are a series of rods that can be quickly inserted into the reactor core to absorb neutrons and rapidly
terminate the nuclear reaction. They are typically composed of actinides, lanthanides, transition metals, and
boron, in various alloys with structural backing such as
steel. In addition to being neutron absorbent, the alloys
used also have to have at least a low coecient of thermal
expansion so that they do not jam under high temperatures, and they have to be self-lubricating metal on metal,
because at the temperatures experienced by nuclear reactor cores oil lubrication would foul too quickly.

1.2

Cooling tower at the Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant, Germany

The essential service water system (ESWS) circulates the

water that cools the plants heat exchangers and other
components before dissipating the heat into the environment. Because this includes cooling the systems that remove decay heat from both the primary system and the
spent fuel rod cooling ponds, the ESWS is a safety-critical
system.[2] Since the water is frequently drawn from an
adjacent river, the sea, or other large body of water, the
system can be fouled by seaweed, marine organisms, oil
pollution, ice and debris.[2][3] In locations without a large
body of water in which to dissipate the heat, water is recirculated via a cooling tower.

Safety injection / standby liquid control

Boiling water reactors are able to scram the reactor completely with the help of their control rods. In the case of a
LOCA, the water-loss of the primary cooling system can
be compensated with normal water pumped into the cooling circuit. On the other hand, the standby liquid control
system (SLC) consists of a solution containing boric acid,
which acts as a neutron poison and rapidly oods the core
in case of problems with the stopping of the chain reaction.

The failure of half of the ESWS pumps was one of the

factors that endangered safety in the 1999 Blayais Nuclear
Power Plant ood,[4][5] while a total loss occurred during
the Fukushima I and Fukushima II nuclear accidents in
2011.[5][6]
1

4
9
A

B
5
3

6
7

HPCI and LPCI as a part of active ECCS

EMERGENCY ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS

large capacities in comparison to high pressure systems.

Some depressurization systems are automatic in function
but can be inhibited, some are manual and operators may
activate if necessary. In Pressurized water reactors with
large dry or ice condenser containments, the valves of the
system are called Pilot operated release valves.

3.3 Low pressure coolant injection system

Emergency core cooling system

LPCI consists of a pump or pumps that inject coolant

into the reactor vessel once it has been depressurized. In
Emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) are designed to some nuclear power plants, LPCI is a mode of operation
safely shut down a nuclear reactor during accident con- of a residual heat removal system (RHR or RHS). LPCI
ditions. The ECCS allows the plant to respond to a vari- is generally not a stand-alone system.
ety of accident conditions (e.g. LOCAs) and additionally
introduce redundancy so that the plant can be shut down
3.4 Corespray system (only in BWRs)
even with one or more subsystem failures. In most plants,
ECCS is composed of the following systems:
This system uses spargers (special spray nozzles) within
the reactor pressure vessel to spray water directly onto the
3.1 High pressure coolant injection system fuel rods, suppressing the generation of steam. Reactor
designs can include corespray in high-pressure and lowpressure modes.
HPCI consists of a pump or pumps that have sucient
pressure to inject coolant into the reactor vessel while it is
pressurized. It is designed to monitor the level of coolant 3.5 Containment spray system
in the reactor vessel and automatically inject coolant when
the level drops below a threshold. This system is normally This system consists of a series of pumps and spargers
the rst line of defense for a reactor since it can be used that spray coolant into the primary containment structure.
while the reactor vessel is still highly pressurized.
It is designed to condense the steam into liquid within the

3.2

Automatic Depressurization system

2

primary containment structure to prevent overpressure,

which could lead to leakage, followed by involuntary depressurization.

3.6 Isolation cooling system

10

11

12

Passive ECCS

ADS consists in the case of Boiling water reactors of a

series of valves which open to vent steam several feet under the surface of a large pool of liquid water (known as
the wetwell or torus) in pressure suppression type containments, or directly into the primary containment structure
in other types of containments, such as large-dry or icecondenser containments. The actuation of these valves
depressurizes the reactor vessel and allows lower pressure
coolant injection systems to function, which have very

This system is often driven by a steam turbine to provide enough water to safely cool the reactor if the reactor
building is isolated from the control and turbine buildings. Steam turbine driven cooling pumps with pneumatic
controls can run at mechanically controlled adjustable
speeds, without battery power, emergency generator, or
o-site electrical power. The Isolation cooling system is
a defensive system against a condition known as station
blackout. It should be noted this system in not part of
the ECCS and does not have a low coolant accident function. For Pressurized water reactors, this system acts in
the secondary cooling circuit and is called Turbine driven
auxiliary feedwater system.

4 Emergency electrical systems

Under normal conditions, nuclear power plants receive
power from o-site. However, during an accident a plant
may lose access to this power supply and thus may be required to generate its own power to supply its emergency

5.2

Reactor vessel

systems. These electrical systems usually consist of diesel 5.2 Reactor vessel
generators and batteries.
The reactor vessel is the rst layer of shielding around the
nuclear fuel and usually is designed to trap most of the
radiation released during a nuclear reaction. The reactor
4.1 Diesel generators
vessel is also designed to withstand high pressures.
Diesel generators are employed to power the site during
emergency situations. They are usually sized such that a
single one can provide all the required power for a facility
to shut down during an emergency. Facilities have multiple generators for redundancy. Additionally, systems that
are required to shut down the reactor have separate electrical sources (often separate generators) so that they do
not aect shutdown capability.

4.2

5.3 Primary containment

The primary containment system usually consists of a
large metal and concrete structure (often cylindrical or
bulb shaped) that contains the reactor vessel. In most
reactors it also contains the radioactively contaminated
systems. The primary containment system is designed to
withstand strong internal pressures resulting from a leak
or intentional depressurization of the reactor vessel.

Motor generator ywheels

Loss of electrical power can occur suddenly and can damage or undermine equipment. To prevent damage, motorgenerators can be tied to ywheels that can provide uninterrupted electrical power to equipment for a brief period. Often they are used to provide electrical power until
the plant electrical supply can be switched to the batteries
and/or diesel generators.

5.4 Secondary containment

Some plants have a secondary containment system that
encompasses the primary system. This is very common
in BWRs because most of the steam systems, including
the turbine, contain radioactive materials.

5.5 Core catching

In case of a full melt-down, the fuel would most likely
end up on the concrete oor of the primary containment
building. Concrete can withstand a great deal of heat, so
Batteries often form the nal redundant backup electrical the thick at concrete oor in the primary containment
system and are also capable of providing sucient elec- will often be sucient protection against the so-called
trical power to shut down a plant.
China Syndrome. The Chernobyl plant didn't have a containment building, but the core was eventually stopped by
the concrete foundation. Due to concerns that the core
would melt its way through the concrete, a "core catching
5 Containment systems
device" was invented, and a mine was quickly dug under the plant with the intention to install such a device.
Containment systems are designed to prevent the release The device contains a quantity of metal designed to melt,
diluting the corium and increasing its heat conductivity;
of radioactive material into the environment.
the diluted metallic mass could then be cooled by water
circulating in the oor. Today, all new Russian-designed
reactors are equipped with core-catchers in the bottom of
5.1 Fuel cladding
the containment building.[7]

4.3

Batteries

The fuel cladding is the rst layer of protection around

the nuclear fuel and is designed to protect the fuel from
corrosion that would spread fuel material throughout the
reactor coolant circuit. In most reactors it takes the form
of a sealed metallic or ceramic layer. It also serves to trap
ssion products, especially those that are gaseous at the
reactors operating temperature, such as krypton, xenon
and iodine. Cladding does not constitute shielding, and
must be developed such that it absorbs as little radiation
as possible. For this reason, materials such as magnesium
and zirconium are used for their low neutron capture cross
sections.

The AREVA EPR, SNR-300, SWR1000, ESBWR, and

Atmea I reactors have core catchers.

6 Standby gas treatment

A standby gas treatment (SBGT) system is part of the
secondary containment system. The SBGT system lters
and pumps air from secondary containment to the environment and maintains a negative pressure within the
secondary containment to limit the release of radioactive
material.

REFERENCES

Each SBGT train generally consists of a mist elimina- [7] Nuclear Industry in Russia Sells Safety, Taught by Chernobyl
tor/roughing lter; an electric heater; a prelter; two
absolute (HEPA) lters; an activated charcoal lter; an
exhaust fan; and associated valves, ductwork, dampers,
instrumentation and controls. The signals that trip the 9.1 Standards
SBGT system are plant-specic; however, automatic trips
American National Standard, ANSI N18.2, Nuare generally associated with the electric heaters and a
clear Safety Criteria for the Design of Stationary
high temperature condition in the charcoal lters.
Pressurized Water Reactor Plants, August 1973.

Ventilation and radiation protection

In case of a radioactive release, most plants have a system

designed to remove radioactivity from the air to reduce
the eects of the radioactivity release on the employees
and public. This system usually consists of containment
ventilation that removes radioactivity and steam from primary containment. Control room ventilation ensures that
plant operators are protected. This system often consists
of activated charcoal lters that remove radioactive isotopes from the air.

See also
Boiling water reactor safety systems
Nuclear accidents in the United States
Nuclear safety in the U.S.
Passive nuclear safety
World Association of Nuclear Operators

References

[1] Glossary: Safety-related. Retrieved 2011-03-20.

[2] Pre-construction safety report - Sub-chapter 9.2 Water
Systems AREVA NP / EDF, published 2009-06-29, accessed 2011-03-23
[3] Got Water? Union of Concerned Scientists, published
October 2007, accessed 2011-03-23
[4] Generic Results and Conclusions of Re-evaluating the
Flooding in French and German Nuclear Power Plants
J. M. Matti, E. Vial, V. Rebour, H. Liemersdorf, M.
Trschmann, Eurosafe Forum 2001, published 2001, accessed 2011-03-21
[5] The great lesson France has to learn from Fukushima
Deciphering Fukushima, published 2011-03-08, accessed
2012-05-08
[6] Insight to Fukushima engineering challenges. World
Nuclear News. March 18, 2011. Retrieved March 19,
2011.

IEEE 279, Criteria for Protection Systems for Nuclear Power Generating Stations.

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10.1

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