Remembering the Three Mile Island Accident and Its Impact on the 核能 Industry

大卫Passehl

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2022年6月10日

最近, Netflix released a new docuseries on the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, 2号机组(TMI-2)核电站. 鉴于这部剧引起的兴趣, it seems like an appropriate time to share my perspective of the accident and its outcome, as someone who worked in both the military (Navy nuclear propulsion) and civilian (commercial plant) side of nuclear power. The safety and reliability of today's nuclear power is vastly improved since the days of the Three Mile Island disaster.

是什么导致了三里岛核事故?

3月28日, 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident began with a loss of feedwater to the steam generators. Without adequate feedwater flow to remove the heat generated by the reactor, primary system pressure increased until the reactor automatically shut down. 几秒钟后, a pilot-operated relief valve (PORV) on the pressurizer opened to relieve the high pressure. 然而, 因为阀门没有按预期关闭, primary coolant in the form of steam continued to escape out the open valve and into the containment building. It took about 140 minutes for a Three Mile Island power plant operator to close another" block" valve to stop the outflow.

尽管有无数的警报和警示灯, operators did not realize that a loss-of-coolant accident was in progress. Complicating matters were inadequate and misleading instrumentation readouts which erroneously led operators to believe that the PORV was closed and that the pressurized water level height was enough to properly cover the reactor core with cooling water.

The full extent of the loss-of-coolant accident was not understood until later, including the realization that partial melting of the reactor fuel had occurred. Communications released to the public in the first days about the impact of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident were muddled and ambiguous. It soon became apparent that TMI station and government officials were ill-prepared to deal with nuclear emergencies.

三里岛核事故之后

Although the 1979 nuclear accident caused no deaths or injuries at the time, 这是美国历史上最严重的事件.S. commercial nuclear power history and became the benchmark for evaluating nuclear risk. Public interest in the nuclear industry increased dramatically in the aftermath, and the accident's effects on nuclear safety and regulations are still felt today.

核管理委员会和美国.S Department of Energy (DOE) have intensively studied and documented the 1979 nuclear accident. 三里岛核事故导致美国.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to clamp down its oversight of the nuclear power industry by mandating numerous safety improvements. For its part, the nuclear industry took aggressive action to improve plant safety as well. 该彩宝网改进了应急计划, 反应堆操作员培训, 人因工程, 辐射防护, 以及工厂操作和设计的许多领域.

In 1985, the industry formed the Institute of 核能 Operations (INPO), whose mission is to promote the highest levels of safety and reliability of nuclear plants. 提高培训水平, INPO成立了国家核培训学院, which reviews and accredits nuclear utilities training programs for all key plant positions.

三里岛核电站的现状

今天,TMI-2被永久关闭. 它的燃料已经被移除, 冷却剂系统完全排干了, and the radioactive water has been decontaminated and evaporated. The radioactive waste from the Three Mile Island incident was shipped off-site to an appropriate disposal area, and the reactor fuel and core debris were shipped to the DOE's Idaho National Laboratory.

In 2020, ownership of TMI-2 was transferred to EnergySolutions for completing reactor decommissioning. In-plant and off-site monitoring of TMI-2 continues until the plant it is fully decommissioned. More than a dozen studies conducted since 1981 have found no discernible direct health effects on the population in the vicinity of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Regular reports are made to the NRC, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the public. TMI-1于2019年9月20日永久关闭.

彩宝网平台对安全核能的承诺

Nuclear energy needs to be a part of the global climate change solution. 核能 零排放是清洁能源吗, 占地面积小,产生的废物最少, 哪些可以再加工和回收. Jensen Hughes is committed to providing the highest quality engineering, 研究, 核工业的咨询和管理服务. 彩宝网平台的服务有助于支持保险箱, 经济, continuous and secure delivery of electric power in concert with supply from other carbon-free sources, 比如太阳能和风能.