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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 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 closest brush with disaster" ... [...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 is a corporate group composed of Seiko, Seiko Group Corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates. It used to be recognized as a corporate group consisting of three core companies Seiko, Seiko Holdings Corp. (Seiko; f/k/a K. Hattori & Co., Ha ..., 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 Inst ... [...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 easily becomes volatile 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 30.04 year ... [...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 W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the years, the company had multiple divisions, including GE Aerospace, aerospace, GE Power, energy, GE HealthCare, healthcare, lighting, locomotives, appliances, and GE Capital, finance. In 2020, GE ranked among the Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 as the 33rd largest firm in the United States by gross revenue. In 2023, the company was ranked 64th in the Forbes Global 2000, ''Forbes'' Global 2000. 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. From 1986 until 2013, GE was the owner of the NBC television network through its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boiling Water Reactor
A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR). BWR are thermal neutron reactors, where water is thus used both as a coolant and as a moderator, slowing down neutrons. As opposed to PWR, there is no separation between the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and the steam turbine in BWR. Water is allowed to vaporize directly inside of the reactor core (at a pressure of approximately 70 bars) before being directed to the turbine which drives the electric generator. Immediately after the turbine, a heat exchanger called a condenser brings the outgoing fluid back into liquid form before it is sent back into the reactor. The cold side of the condenser is made up of the plant's secondary coolant cycle which is fed by the power plant's cold source (generally the sea or a river, more rarely air). The BWR was developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Proliferation
Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries, particularly those not recognized as List of states with nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon states by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the ''Non-Proliferation Treaty'' or ''NPT''. Nuclear proliferation occurs through the spread of fissile material, and the technology and capabilities needed to produce it and to Nuclear weapon design, design and manufacture nuclear weapons. In a modern context, it also includes the spread of nuclear weapons to non-state actors. 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 (including the so-called countervalue targeting of civilians), de-stabilize international relations, or infringe upon the principle of Sovereign state, state sovereignty. Conversely, supporters of deterrence theory arg ... [...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 US President Barack Obama to look into future options for existing and future High-level radioactive waste management, nuclear waste, following the ending of work on the incomplete Yucca Mountain Repository. In 2012, there were 70 nuclear power plant sites where of spent fuel is stored in the US. Each year, more than 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 will have different isotopic constituents than when it started. Nuclear fuel rods become progressively more radioactive (and less thermally useful) due to neutron activation as they are fissioned, or "burnt", in the reactor. A fresh rod of low enriched uranium pellets (which can be safely handled with gloved hands) will become a highly lethal gamma emitter after 1–2 years of core irradiation, unsafe to approach unless under many feet of water shielding. This makes their invariable accumulation and safe temporary storage in spent fuel pools a prime source of high level radioactive waste and a major ongoing issue for future permanent disposal. Nature of spent fuel Nanomaterial pro ... [...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. The term emerged in a context brought about by a worldwide slowdown in the rollout of new nuclear projects. The quantity of nuclear electricity generated worldwide had previously had a marked increase in the period from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s. This was brought about by massive nuclear programs in countries such as the US and France (see graph). With spiralling costs and a decline in the public acceptability of nuclear projects brought about in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, the speed of the rollout dwindled rapidly, leading to growing questions about the future of the industry. In the 2000s, the principal vehicle of industry growth was thought to be the project then known as the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR), led jointly b ... [...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 was on Connecticut River near the East Haddam 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 was a prototype for the Westinghouse 4-loop design (usually 1150 MWe), with a capacity of 582MWe. Demolition of the containment dome was completed the week of July 17, 2006. Kenneth Nichols, the deputy to Leslie Groves on the Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ..., was a consultant for the Connecticut Yankee and Yankee Rowe nuclear power plants ... [...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. Maine Yankee was the subject of heated political debate around Maine's 1986 gubernatorial election. Democrat James E. Tierney and independent Sherry Huber called to close the plant by 1988, while Republican John R. McKernan Jr. and another independent, John Menario, wanted to keep it open. McKernan ultimately won the election. Construction of the $231 million ($ today) plant ran from 1968 to 1972, whereupon the plant became Maine's sole ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
