A Designers View of Nuclear Energy - Department of Materials ...

Fukushima – Emerging Design Points• Incident not terminated and hence no yet fully understood – particularly the level of radioactivecontamination;• We will not know the level of core damage until TEPCO can take off the head and examine thecore - views vary between minor fuel/clad damage & major fuel melting;• Reactor design considerations:• Design levels for Tsunami and earthquake resistance level;• Separation/segregation of safeguard systems – not all fail at once;• Design reliance on grid or diesel power for safe shutdown;• Clean-up of fission products if venting is required & Hydrogen recombination to preventexplosion;• Volumes of water available for cooling v time required for action;• Provision of more passive means (less dependence on power) of rejecting heat from:ooReactor;Drywell/containment.18