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Nuclear Safety In The United States
Nuclear safety in the United States is governed by federal regulations issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC regulates all nuclear plants and materials in the United States except for nuclear plants and materials controlled by the U.S. government, as well those powering naval vessels. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident was a pivotal event that led to questions about U.S. nuclear safety. Earlier events had a similar effect, including a 1975 fire at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant, Browns Ferry and the 1976 testimonials of three concerned GE nuclear engineers, the GE Three. In 1981, workers inadvertently reversed pipe restraints at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant reactors, compromising seismic protection systems, which further undermined confidence in nuclear safety. All of these well-publicised events, undermined public support for the U.S. nuclear industry in the 1970s and the 1980s. In 2002, the USA had what former NRC Commissioner Victor Gilinsky termed "its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TMI Cleanup-2
TMI may refer to: Organizations * TMI Associates, a Japanese law firm * TMI Episcopal, formerly Texas Military Institute, a preparatory school affiliated with the Episcopal Church * Taiwan Music Institute, a musical institute` in Taiwan * Teen Missions International, an interdenominational mission organization based in Florida * Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power station in Pennsylvania, USA * Time Module (TMI), a member of the Seiko Group, manufacturer of watch movements * Toastmasters International, an international public speaking organization * Tolani Maritime Institute, a Merchant Navy training institute * The Monroe Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization * Thomas More Institute, a secular academic institution located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada Science * Trans-Mars injection, a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory which will cause it to arrive to Mars * Transmarginal inhibition, a mental response to extre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cesium-137
Caesium-137 (), cesium-137 (US), or radiocaesium, is a radioactive isotope of caesium that is formed as one of the more common fission products by the nuclear fission of uranium-235 and other fissionable isotopes in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Trace quantities also originate from spontaneous fission of uranium-238. It is among the most problematic of the short-to-medium-lifetime fission products. Caesium-137 has a relatively low boiling point of and is volatilized easily when released suddenly at high temperature, as in the case of the Chernobyl nuclear accident and with atomic explosions, and can travel very long distances in the air. After being deposited onto the soil as radioactive fallout, it moves and spreads easily in the environment because of the high water solubility of caesium's most common chemical compounds, which are salts. Caesium-137 was discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg and Margaret Melhase. Decay Caesium-137 has a half-life of about 30.05 years.Bé, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Lochbaum
David A. Lochbaum was the Director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). A nuclear engineer by training, he worked in nuclear power plants for nearly two decades. Lochbaum has written numerous articles and reports on various aspects of nuclear safety and published two books. Work with UCS David Lochbaum was the Director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists. He led UCS’s efforts to "ensure the safety of nuclear power in the United States by monitoring licensed commercial nuclear plants to identify and publicize safety risks". David Lochbaum has more than seventeen years of experience in commercial nuclear power plant start-up testing, operations, licensing, software development, training, and design engineering. Lochbaum has written numerous articles and reports on various aspects of nuclear safety and published books entitled ''Nuclear Waste Disposal Crisis'' and ''Fission Stories''. In his 1996 book ''Nuclear Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing and venture capital and finance, but has since divested from several areas, now primarily consisting of the first four segments. In 2020, GE ranked among the Fortune 500 as the 33rd largest firm in the United States by gross revenue. In 2011, GE ranked among the Fortune 20 as the 14th most profitable company, but later very severely underperformed the market (by about 75%) as its profitability collapsed. Two employees of GE – Irving Langmuir (1932) and Ivar Giaever (1973) – have been awarded the Nobel Prize. On November 9, 2021, the company announced it would divide itself into three investment-grade public companies. On July 18, 2022, GE unveiled the brand names of the companies it will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boiling Water Reactor
A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is a design different from a Soviet graphite-moderated RBMK. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR), which is also a type of light water nuclear reactor. The main difference between a BWR and PWR is that in a BWR, the reactor core heats water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine. In a PWR, the reactor core heats water, which does not boil. This hot water then exchanges heat with a lower pressure system, which turns water into steam that drives the turbine. The BWR was developed by the Argonne National Laboratory and General Electric (GE) in the mid-1950s. The main present manufacturer is GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, which specializes in the design and construction of this type of reactor. Overview A boiling water reactor uses demineralized water as a coolant and neu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the ''Non-Proliferation Treaty'' or ''NPT''. Proliferation has been opposed by many nations with and without nuclear weapons, as governments fear that more countries with nuclear weapons will increase the possibility of nuclear warfare (up to and including the so-called countervalue targeting of civilians with nuclear weapons), de-stabilize international or regional relations, or infringe upon the national sovereignty of nation states. Four countries besides the five recognized Nuclear Weapons States have acquired, or are presumed to have acquired, nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. None of these four is a party to the NPT, although North Korea acceded to the NPT in 1985, then withdrew in 200 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Ribbon Commission On America's Nuclear Future
A Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future was appointed by President Obama to look into future options for existing and future nuclear waste, following the ending of work on the incomplete Yucca Mountain Repository. At present, there are 70 nuclear power plant sites where 65,000 tons of spent fuel is stored in the USA. Each year, more than 2,000 tons are added to this total.Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future Issues Final Report to Secretary of Energy, Jan 26, 2012. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spent Nuclear Fuel
Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle, it may have considerably different isotopic constituents. The term "fuel" is slightly confusing, as it implies a combustion of some type, which does not occur in a nuclear power plant. Nevertheless, this term is generally accepted. Nature of spent fuel Nanomaterial properties In the oxide fuel, intense temperature gradients exist that cause fission products to migrate. The zirconium tends to move to the centre of the fuel pellet where the temperature is highest, while the lower-boiling fission products move to the edge of the pellet. The pellet is likely to contain many small bubble-like pores that form during use; the fission product xenon migrates to these voids. Some of this xeno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Renaissance
Since about 2001 the term nuclear renaissance has been used to refer to a possible nuclear power industry revival, driven by rising fossil fuel prices and new concerns about meeting greenhouse gas emission limits. In the 2009 ''World Energy Outlook'', the International Energy Agency stated that: A nuclear renaissance is possible but cannot occur overnight. Nuclear projects face significant hurdles, including extended construction periods and related risks, long licensing processes and manpower shortages, plus long‐standing issues related to waste disposal, proliferation and local opposition. The financing of new nuclear power plants, especially in liberalized markets, has always been difficult and the financial crisis seems almost certain to have made it even more so. The huge capital requirements, combined with risks of cost overruns and regulatory uncertainties, make investors and lenders very cautious, even when demand growth is robust.International Energy Agency, ''Wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rancho Seco
The Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant built by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in Herald, California. History In 1966, SMUD purchased in southeast Sacramento County for a nuclear power plant, which was built in Herald, south-east of downtown Sacramento. In the early 1970s, a small pond was expanded to a lake to serve as an emergency backup water supply for the station. The lake has always received its water from the Folsom South Canal and has no relationship with the power plant's daily water supply. Surrounding the lake is of recreational area originally operated by the County of Sacramento for day-use activities. The 2,772 MWt Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor (913 MWe) achieved initial criticality on September 16, 1974, and entered commercial operation on April 17, 1975. On March 20, 1978, a power supply failure for the plant's non-nuclear instrumentation system led to steam generator dryout ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant
Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant (CY) was a nuclear power plant located in Haddam Neck, Connecticut. The power plant is on the Connecticut River near the Haddam Neck swing bridge. The plant was commissioned in 1968, ceased electricity production in 1996, and was decommissioned by 2004. The reason for the closure was because operation of the nuclear power station was no longer cost effective. The plant had a capacity of 582MW. Demolition of the containment dome was completed the week of July 17, 2006. Kenneth Nichols, the deputy to Leslie Groves on the Manhattan Project, was a consultant for the Connecticut Yankee and Yankee Rowe Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station (Nuclear decommissioning, decommissioned) was a nuclear power plant in Rowe, Massachusetts, that operated from 1960 to 1992. The 185-megawatt electric pressurized water reactor, pressurized-water plant, located on ... nuclear power plants. He said that while the plants were considered "experimental" and were not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant
Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant built at an 820-acre site on Bailey Peninsula of Wiscasset, Maine, in the United States. It operated from 1972 until 1996, when problems at the plant became too expensive to fix. It was decommissioned and dismantled between 1997 and 2005, though some of the plant's nuclear waste is still stored on site, pending final disposal. History The Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company formed in 1966 with plans for a pressurized water reactor in Wiscasset, Maine, and a 40-year operating license. Construction of the $231 million ($ today) plant ran from 1968 to 1972, whereupon the plant became Maine's sole operating nuclear power plant. From then until 1996, the 900 megawatt reactor produced about 119 terawatt-hours of electricity, most of the state's energy. In Maine Yankee's most productive year, 1989, it produced 6,900 gigawatt-hours of electricity. Opposition Initial opposition for constructing the plant was led by Citizens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
