Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
protect the nuclear components within it from missiles such as from aircraft
and errant turbine blades. The issues with the containment include attack
of the concrete by the surrounding environment (for instance, acid rain),
attack of the rebar within the containment causing the concrete to spall off
the outside (or inside), and corrosive attack of the steel liner. Besides the
containment structure, which is the biggest and most obvious component,
there are other components that must also work as designed to control the
spread of fi ssion products outside of the containment. Among these are:
￿
Steam isolation valves that block the main steam lines from the reactor
inside the containment to the turbines outside of the containment.
Various heat exchangers that provide cooling of systems inside the con-
￿
tainment using cooling water from outside of the containment. One
example of these is the aluminum air coolers that remove heat after a
LOCA from the steam/air mixture inside the containment.
Maintaining the integrity of the containment structure and the other com-
ponents that separate the reactor from the environment requires research
and development in the following areas:
￿
Effect on the containment concrete of the external environment (for
instance acid rain, bird feces, thermal cycling, etc.) as well as radiation
over very long periods of time.
Effect of high moisture levels on the containment steel liner, galvanized
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steels, and aluminum components found in the containment.
Effect of age, temperature, erosive fl ow on large valves and piping with
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the associated welds throughout the system for both steam and water.
Corrosion of stainless steel and aluminum heat exchangers both under
￿
normal operating conditions of high humidity, moderate temperatures
and moderate radiation levels.
Non-destructive examination of large structures.
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Methods to repair large concrete and steel structures.
9.5 Other nuclear reactor systems
The remainder of the nuclear plant is similar to any other power plant
whether the steam is generated using coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear fuel.
There will be issues with cooling tower decay, turbine corrosion, generator
moisture, condenser corrosion, buried piping, etc. There are some issues that
will be unique to nuclear power generation, however. For instance, decay of
cable insulation in cable trays due to irradiation and high temperature is an
important issue. Replacement of cabling in a nuclear plant is very expensive
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