What features might make nuclear power plants safer?
What will be an ideal response?
A passive safety system might make a power plant safer. This "involves engineering devices and structures that make it virtually impossible for the reactor to go beyond acceptable levels of power, temperature, and radioactive emission; their operation depends only on standard physical phenomena, such as gravity and resistance to high temperatures."
Terrorism is a potential threat. "General consensus is that a jetliner could not penetrate the very thick walls of the containment vessel protecting the reactor. It could, however, destroy the control building and bring on a" loss-of-coolant accident. "Even worse, every power plant has a spent-fuel storage pool containing at least as much highly radioactive material as the nuclear core. These pools are not at all as heavily protected as the reactor vessel. If a pool lost its water, the fuel could heat up and cause a fire that could release greater amounts of cesium-137 than the Chernobyl accident, according to an NRC report."
You might also like to view...
Tidal friction is gradually slowing Earth's rotation
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
How do slumps and translational slides differ?
A) translational slides are more damaging B) slumps are more damaging C) slumps are rotational, while translational slides are planar D) slumps create debris flows, while translational slides do not
On Earth today, mountains such as the Himalayas are rising because of
A) extensive erosion caused by increases in rainfall in those regions. B) subterranean pockets of natural gas forcing their way to the surface. C) low density rocks that are being forced upward through high density rocks. D) collisions between tectonic plates.
Which of the following radioisotopes, which is an a emitter used in the treatment of prostate cancer, is implanted in the prostate as seeds?
A) Ac-225 B) Co-60 C) I-125 D) P-32