• Question: What would happen if a nuclear power station was damaged and how would people fix it?

    Asked by ironic to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 14 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 14 Jun 2013:

      If you sent me to a nuclear power station and asked me to fix it it wouldn’t go well at all. Definite Homer Simposon type situation there.

      Nuclear power plants are so complex that there are many ways that things can go wrong, but the people working in these plants are so good and there are so many precautionary measures that only 33 events have occured since the first nuclear incident in 1952 in Canada.

      These events are defined by the International Nuclear Even Scale (INES) which goes from 1-7. 7 being Chernobyl “major release of radioactive material” 1 being an “anomaly”.

      Each even is unique and will require its own damage control measures, too many for me to list here, but if you would like to learn more I found this interesting article in The Guardian which has summary of what nuclear events have occured sice 1952. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/14/nuclear-power-plant-accidents-list-rank

    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 15 Jun 2013:

      Well that depends what was wrong with it!

      The most serious nuclear power planet problem is a runaway nuclear reaction, or meltdown. When this happens the nuclear reaction runs faster and faster and faster, and the reaction gets hotter and hotter and hotter until the nuclear fuel and parts of the reactor melt, like in Chernobyl. (Why it’s called a meltdown).

      When this starts to happen, the only way to fix it or stop it is to slow down or stop the nuclear reaction and cool everything down.

      Nuclear power plants have control rods – rods made from a material that absorbs the neutrons that cause the chain reaction – no neutrons, no nuclear reaction.

      So if the nuclear reaction was running out of control, you’d put all the control rods into the reactor to stop the reaction, and crank the cooling up to maximum to stop it overheating.

      However – if it’s already melted down – there’s not a lot you can do – try and stop any radioactive fuel escaping and just shut everything down and seal it in concrete.

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      As Sam and Dave already explained, it depends on what is the damage. I work at a research nuclear reactor (a much simpler and smaller version of a Power station) and I can tell you that even here the safety measures are outstanding. Everything is checked many times a day, everyday, to make sure that if there is any problem it is fixed safely and way before we get to a scenario of a reaction getting out of control. In case of any doubt the reaction is slowed down so that it can be cooled and that is poses no danger. There are even measures set in place to prevent any leaks in case of an earth quake, or a major flood.
      This is why serious accidents have been so rare. Unfortunately when they do happen the only thing to do is to try and seal it while it cools down, to minimise any leaks. This usually involves a safety distance for long periods of time, which is why we all have to be extremely careful when using any nuclear facility.

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