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Nuclear Disasters: Three Mile Island

Nuclear disasters can cause significant harm to people and the environment. There have been 99 accidents at nuclear power plants worldwide since Chernobyl, the worst nuclear accident which released 200 times more radiation than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing thousands. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was the worst in the US, caused by simple human error when a valve failed which reduced cooling to the reactor core, increasing temperatures and damaging the fuel rods. Proper preparation for a nuclear event includes stockpiling at least two weeks of essential supplies like food and water, medical supplies, and battery-powered radios in an emergency kit stored separately.

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289 views5 pages

Nuclear Disasters: Three Mile Island

Nuclear disasters can cause significant harm to people and the environment. There have been 99 accidents at nuclear power plants worldwide since Chernobyl, the worst nuclear accident which released 200 times more radiation than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing thousands. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was the worst in the US, caused by simple human error when a valve failed which reduced cooling to the reactor core, increasing temperatures and damaging the fuel rods. Proper preparation for a nuclear event includes stockpiling at least two weeks of essential supplies like food and water, medical supplies, and battery-powered radios in an emergency kit stored separately.

Uploaded by

Sekhar Velampalli
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Nuclear disasters

A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International


Atomic Energy Agency as "an event that has led to significant
consequences to people, the environment or the facility  The prime
example of a "major nuclear accident" is the Chernobyl Disasterin
1986.
Benjamin K. Sovacool has reported that worldwide there have been
99 accidents at nuclear power plants. Fifty-seven accidents have
occurred since the Chernobyl disaster, and almost two-thirds (56 out
of 99) of all nuclear-related accidents have occurred in the USA.
Relatively few accidents involved fatalities. Serious radiation
accidents include the radiotherapy accident in Costa Rica,
radiotherapy accident in Zaragoza, radiation accident in
Morocco, Goiania accident, radiation accident in Mexico City,
radiotherapy unit accident in Thailand, and the Mayapuri radiological
accident.
THREE MILE
ISLAND; Outside View of the Three Mile Island
Nuclear Power Plant

On an island 10 miles from


Harrisburg Pennsylvania
resides the Three Mile Island
Nuclear Power Station.
There are two reactors at the
plant, dubbed Unit 1 and
Unit 2. Unit 2 experienced a
partial reactor meltdown on
Photo Courtesy Nuclear Regulatory Commission
March 28, 1979. The
accident occurred at Unit 2
is considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in US history. Why did
it happen? There are many reasons for the accident, but the two main
ones are simple human error and the failure of a rather minor valve in
the reactor.

The accident at TMI (Three Mile Island) began at about four in the
morning with the failure of one of the valves that controlled coolant
flow into the reactor as of this, the amount of cool water entering the
reactor decreased, and the core temperature rose. When this happened,
automatic computerized systems engaged, and the reactor was
automatically SCRAMmed. The nuclear chain reaction then stopped.
But the core temperature was increasing, however, the temperature
was still rising and energy released from the decaying fission products
in the fuel rods.

A valve that controlled the cool water entering the core failed, water
was leaving the core, but not coming in. This reduced the amount of
coolant in the core. There wasn't enough coolant in the core and
Emergency Core Cooling System automatically turned on.

There still wasn't enough coolant, so the core's temperature kept


increasing. The steam continued to vent from the reactor, further
reducing the coolant level. A few minutes later the core temperature
began to rise again, and the Emergency Core Cooling System
automatically switched on. Once again, an operator de-activated it,
thinking the situation was under control, but it was not.

The core temperature began to rise again. At this point the fuel rods
started to collapse from the intense heat inside the core. The operators
knew something was wrong, but didn't understand what it was. This
was about 5 minutes after the initial valve failure. It took almost 2
hours for someone to figure out that the valve releasing steam at the
top of reactor hadn't closed properly. At approximately 6AM, an
operator discovered the valve at the top of the core was open and
closed it.

During the day hydrogen gas began to accumulate inside the reactor
and caused an explosion later in the afternoon. Two days later, the
core was still not under operator control. The group figured out that a
lot of hydrogen gas had accumulated at the top of the core. Two
weeks later the reactor was brought to a cold shutdown and the
accident was over.

No one was directly injured as a result of the accident. However,


some radioactive gas and water were vented to the environment
around the reactor. At one point, radioactive water was released into
the Susquehanna river, which is a source of drinking water for nearby
communities. No one is really sure what effects these radioactive
releases might have had on people living near the power plant.

Chernobyl:
About 80 miles (130 km) north of Kiev, in what is now the Ukraine,
is located the Chernobyl nuclear power plant The worst reactor
disaster to ever occur took place on April 26, 1986

Early in the day, , the power output of the reactor was dropped in
preparation for the upcoming test. Unexpectedly, the reactor's power
output dropped way too much, almost to zero. Because of this, some
control rods were removed to bring the power back up. The reactor's
power output raised up, and all appeared to be normal.

For the test began later when two pumps were switched on in the
cooling system. They increased water flow out of the reactor, and thus
removed heat more quickly. It also caused the water level to lower in
a component of the reactor called the steam separator more control
rods were taken out of the reactor to raise internal reactor temperature
and pressure. The water level in the steam separator began to rise.
This decreased the amount of heat being removed from the reactor
core.

As many control rods had been removed from the core by the coolant
had been reduced and began to get very hot.

With the surplus of steam, the reactor's power output increased. Soon,
even more steam was being produced. As it was too late. The
temperature and pressure inside the reactor had already risen
dramatically, and the fuel rods had begun to shatter.
After the fuel rods shattered, two explosions occurred as a result of
liquid uranium reacting with steam and from fuel vapor expansion
Graphite just as carbon, from the air chemically combined with the
carbon to form CO (carbon monoxide). Carbon monoxide is
flammable and soon caught fire. The fire emitted extremely
radioactive smoke into the area surrounding the reactor. Additionally,
the explosion ejected a portion of the reactor fuel into the surrounding
atmosphere and countryside.

The days following the accident, hundreds of people worked to quell


the reactor fire and the escape of radioactive materials. Liquid
nitrogen was pumped into the reactor core to cool it down.
Helicopters dumped neutron-absorbing materials Sand and other fire-
fighting materials were also dropped into the core to help stop the
graphite fire. All in all, over 5000(metric) tons of material were
dropped into the core.

The effects of the disaster at Chernobyl were very widespread. The


radiation release from the Chernobyl accident was 200 times that of
the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs combined. 30 lives were
directly lost during the accident. According to the Ukrainian
Radiological Institute over 2500 deaths resulted from the Chernobyl
incident.

PRECATIONS :
1. The first step to preparing for this disaster is to start stocking up
on the
essentials: food, water, shelter, light, first aid, and other
necessities like batteries or crucial medication
2. Have an emergency kit and know where it is. Be sure to
stockpile nonperishablefood and water
3. Store food and water separate from these kits. FEMA (Federal
Emergency
Management Agency) suggests that in times of increased nuclear
risk, each person should have at least two weeks worth of food
and water for themselves.
4. Battery-powered radiosare the best way to do this, since there is
no electricity will be available after a blast.
5. Just as a greater distance between the blast and someone will
help ensure their survival, so if there is a basement or a shelter,
make sure to get to it.
6. There are some ways to keep it from taking effect.
 First, remove any clothes worn at the time of the exposure
and wash thoroughly.
 Stop usage of any sort of medicines

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