| ๅรF | ๊สะc@l@ฮ๒w๏ |
| uาF | ฤJtHjAHศๅwๅw@คศท Joseph E. Shepherd ณ๖ |
| iC.L. gKellyh Johnson Professor of Aeronautics and Professor of Mechanical Engineeringj | |
| uฺ่F | Hydrogen Explosions and Nuclear PowerF From Three Mile Island to Fukushima Daiichi |
| uเeF | |
| The great east Japan Earthquake and associated tsunamis on March 11, 2011 initiated a sequence of events that eventually resulted in the loss of cooling water and severe core damage to three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with long term consequences for the immediate community as well as the country of Japan. The loss of cooling water also resulted in the generation of large amounts of hydrogen which accumulated, ignited and caused extensive damage to three of the reactor buildings, greatly complicating the efforts to respond to the accident and decommission the plant. Thirty-two years earlier at the Three-Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant, a loss of coolant accident and hydrogen explosion occurred with a less dramatic immediate outcome but a very significant effect on nuclear safety efforts in the USA and the world. The research carried out in the decades after TMI can be drawn on to understand the accident progression and the ultimate consequences at Fukushima. In this talk I will I will give some background on hydrogen explosions, describe the two accidents, discuss research on hydrogen explosions and nuclear safety that has been carried out over the last three decades, and present some new issues that have been identified following the Fukushima Daiichi accident. | |