Nuclear reactors lessons learned

POLUNICHEV V.I., Operational experience on propulsion nuclear plants, lessons learned from experience. Propulsion Reactor Technology for Civilian Applications, IAEA-AG-1021, IWGFR/97, p.1-6. 

This facility design concept was not considered in White House reviews of reprocessing during the Ford and Carter Administrations, nor as an option for support by President Reagan, who had been elected on a platform to support reprocessing of commercial spent firel. The ERDA and the DOE had reassigned responsibilities for commercial fuel cycle to its Division of Reactor Development (later Office of Nuclear Energy) which supported pilot plant concepts of its national laboratories and rejected concepts based on successful experience and lessons learned from that experience. 

It should also be remembered that most evolving technologies, whether boilers during the 19th century, airplanes in this century, or nuclear plants, entail some accidents from which lessons are learned. Both the Three Mile Island accident, from which only limited radioactivity escaped to the environment, and the Chernobyl disaster, have led to the introduction of new safety features in nuclear reactors, in plant operating procedures, and in regulations. 

Well-trained, safety-conscious workers are essential for safe operation of a nuclear power plant. Under the Soviet system, reactor personnel often worked in isolation from their counterparts at other plants and from the international nuclear community, hindering the exchange of information, skills, and lessons learned. 

Proposals for a convention on nuclear safety have been made for many years. In 1980, in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident, some saw the need for such an instrument. TMI had demonstrated that improvements should be made to the design and operation of what were until then thought to be very safe reactors. The objective would be to ensure that all cotmtries applied the lessons learned from TMI and brought their safety practices up to an acceptable international standard. At that time, however, the proposal for a convention found litde support. 

Forester, J.A. et al. 2013. The International HRA Empirical Study—Final Report—Lessons Learned from Comparing HRA Methods Predictions to HAMMLAB Simulator Data, OECD Halden Reactor Project, HPR-373, March 2013, Halden, Norway (An edited version will be published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as NUREG-2127). 

Western European Nuclear Regulators Association WENRA. 2013. WENRA safety reference levels for existing reactors, update in relation to lessons learned from TEPCO Fukushima-Daiichi accident, November 20, 2013. 

Ambrosini, W., 2008. Lesson learned from the adoption of numerical techniques in the analysis of nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulic phenomena. Progress in Nuclear Energy 50, 866-876. 

The safety of the current generation of nuclear power plants (NPPs), designed and operated to existing safety principles, is in general alreacty very high. Nevertheless, progress in safety research and development, improved risk assessment methods, and implementation of lessons learned from the many accumulated reactor-years of operational experience from current plants, will enhance the safety of the next generation of NPPs even further. 

A majority of the President s Commission supported a moratorium on the licensing of new nuclear power plants however, such a moratorium was not recommended in the Commission s final report due to a lack of consensus on guidelines for lifting the moratorium once it was put into force. A de facto moratorium ensued, however, as the NRC delayed granting reactor licenses pending resolution of relevant issues and lessons learned from TMI-2. 

Cooperative efforts between the United States and nine host countries were initiated in 1992 to improve the safety of Soviet-designed nuclear power plants amid heightened international concern about the safety of Soviet-designed reactors. Since then, many lessons have been learned. 

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