Nuclear Safety

Nuclear Safety provides the methods and data needed to evaluate and manage the safety of nuclear facilities and related processes using risk-based safety analysis, and provides readers with the techniques to assess the consequences of radioactive releases.

The book covers relevant international and regional safety criteria (US, IAEA, EUR, PUN, URD, INI). The contents deal with each of the critical components of a nuclear plant, and provide an analysis of the risks arising from a variety of sources, including earthquakes, tornadoes, external impact and human factors. It also deals with the safety of underground nuclear testing and the handling of radioactive waste.

Covers all plant components and potential sources of risk including human, technical and natural factors.Brings together information on nuclear safety for which the reader would previously have to consult many different and expensive sources.Provides international design and safety criteria and an overview of regulatory regimes.

Introduction.
Objectives of nuclear safety.
Short history of nuclear safety technology.
Inventory and localisation of radioactive products in the plant.
Safety systems and their functions.
Classification of accidents and description of some examples: Classification; Design basis accidents; Beyond design basis accidents.
Severe accidents.
Dispersion of radioactive releases.
Health consequences of releases.
The general approach to the safety of the plant and of the site.
Defence in depth.
Quality assurance.
Safety analysis: Deterministic safety analysis; Probabilistic safety analysis.
Safety analysis review.
Classification of plant components.
Notes on some plant components: The reactor pressure vessel; Piping; Valves; Containers.
Resistance of plants to earthquakes.
Resistance of plants to tornadoes.
Resistance to external impacts.
Nuclear safety criteria: General characteristics; The U.S. General design criteria; IAEA criteria; EUR criteria; Other sets of general design criteria.
Nuclear safety research.
Operating experience: Principal sources; Some notable events; The International Nuclear Event Scale.
Underground location of nuclear power plants.
Underground nuclear tests.
Effects of nuclear explosions.
Radioactive waste.
Safety of fusion reactors.
Safety of specific plants and of other activities.
Nuclear plants on satellites.
Erroneous beliefs in nuclear safety.
When can we say that a particular plant is safe?
The limits of nuclear safety: the residual risk.

Appendices:
Glossary.
Web sites.
Index.