One of the aims when managing a reactor accident is to minimize the release of radioactive fission products from the fuel, both into the containment and ultimately to the environment. It has frequently been assumed that the major factor controlling fission-product release kinetics is the temperature and thus the first remedial reaction is to bring the reactor temperature down. This may not necessarily be the best strategy. Consideration must also be given to how the temperature is reduced, as is shown by examples taken from the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents.

The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear incidents emphasized the need for the world-wide nuclear community to cooperate further and exchange the results of research in this field in the most open and effective manner. Recognizing the roles of heat and mass transfer in all aspects of fission-product behavior in sever reactor accidents, the Executive Committee of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer organized a Seminar on Fission Product Transport Processes in Reactor Accidents. This book contains the eleven of the lectures and all the papers presented at the seminar along with four invited papers that were not presented and a summary of the closing session.

La 4e de couverture indique : Organizes and presents all the latest thought on LWR nuclear safety in one consolidated volume, provided by the top experts in the field, ensuring high-quality, credible and easily accessible information.

An analysis of fission product release during the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident has been initiated to provide an understanding of fission product behavior that is consistent with both the best estimate accident scenario and fission product results from the ongoing sample acquisition and examination efforts. ''First principles'' fission product release models are used to describe release from intact, disrupted, and molten fuel. Conclusions relating to fission product release, transport, and chemical form are drawn. 35 refs., 12 figs., 7 tabs.

Nuclear Reactor Safety aims to put the nuclear hazard in perspective by providing an objective overall technical review of the field. It focuses on reactor accidents and their consequences. The technical arguments will be concerned broadly with reactor accident conditions and will deal with both the arrangements necessary to prevent any dangerous diversion from normal operation and to ameliorate the consequences if such a diversion should occur. The book is organized into three parts. Part I describes the nature of fission products and the hazards to man and his environment resulting from the uncontrolled release of fission products in accident conditions. Part II discusses a quantitative approach to reactor safety assessment and the quantification of vessel integrity. Part III deals with the basic principles of analysis and assessment of reactor safety, and then considers the specific safety problems of thermal and fast reactors in detail. This book is intended for two types of readers. First are technicians, those engaged in nuclear engineering: designers, constructors, and operators of nuclear stations, as well as those who would make a career in nuclear safety. Second are those (not necessarily scientists) who are tasked with making decisions in the field of energy use and allocation, or are concerned with environmental matters.