Technology Failures
As the population on the world increases, so does the demand for energy to power the everyday things that many of us take for granted. For many, this power comes from a power plant that is fueled from nuclear power. With many looking to replace coal and gas power plants and looking to find a cleaner fuel, many look to alternative fuel types such as nuclear power. With a recent nuclear power plant accident and other many have begun to question is it really safe.
On March 28, 1979 the United States experienced it worst nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. This accident began at 4 a.m. on the 28 of March. Failures in the non-nuclear secondary system, followed by a stuck open pilot-operated relief valve in the primary system, which allowed large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape, compounded the overall failure. These mechanical failures were also compounded by the initial failure of the plants operators to recognize the situation as a loss of coolant accident due to inadequate training and working with the systems. Also design oversights relating to ambiguous control room indicators in the power plants user interface.
Due to this nuclear accident and others has brought many changes to this technology by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC governs all federal regulations and overseas all nuclear plants and materials used in them. To continue to bring a safer system and procedures to this fueling technology, the NRC makes continual safety recommendations. As recently as October 2011, the NRC moved forward on 7 of the 12 safety recommendations put forward by this agency. These new standards are aimed at strengthening operator’s ability to deal with a complete loss of power; ensuring plants can withstand many different types of disasters such as floods and earthquakes and other types of attacks that are used to cause a disruption in the system.
To help in creating a power system that will give a continual supply...