Professional Documents
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Accident
Outlines
Lessons learned
TMI-2 analysis
Timeline
References
Description of the Event
Location of the accident
Date of accident
In March 1979, an event occurred at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 that resulted in
the first case of melted fuel in a full scale commercial nuclear power plant. There
had been prior cases of small scale fuel melting, e.g. the Fermi 1 reactor near
Monroe, Michigan. TMI-2 was a Babcock & Wilcox unit with a vertical once-
through steam generator. In the event a valve in the secondary system closed and
initiated the sequence of events.
Schematic diagram of the TMI unit 2
10. Pumps
1. Reactor building 11. Steam A. Primary circuit
2. Reactor core 12. Turbine
3. Reactor vessel 13. Alternator B. Secondary circuit
4. Control rods 14. Transformer
5. Pressurizer 15. Condenser C. Condenser circuit
6. Relief valve 16. Water
7. Block valve 17. Cooling tower
8. Drain tank
9. Steam generator
As shown in the last fig. the type of THI unit 2 is the PWR with initiating
event of LOCA(loss of coolant accident). due to inadequate training and
human factors, such as industrial design errors relating to ambiguous
control room indicators in the power plant's user interface.
The sequence of events (SENARIO) was
3- The reactor continued to heat the reactor coolant. The reactor coolant
pumps continued circulating the water to the steam generators,
however no heat could be removed by the secondary side since there
was no water in the steam generators. The reactor coolant system
started to heat up.
4- Pressure rose in the reactor cooling system until the reactor shutdown.
A power operated relief valve opened in the line between the
pressurizer and the quench tank. This valve failed to reclose when it
was supposed to - after pressure dropped below the setpoint for
closure. This relief valve continued to discharge to the quench tank.
The fact that the valve was open allowed steam to continue
discharging to the quench tank. Pressure dropped in the reactor
cooling system because the valve was still open (however, due to poor
control board design and a failure to indicate the valve position
properly, the operators did not know the valve was open). The quench
tank has a rupture disc that opens at about 10-12 pounds per square
inch. When this happened, the steam was released to the containment.
7- The operators turned off the reactor cooling pumps because they were
concerned about damage due to potential excessive vibration.. This
resulted in a steam void forming in the reactor coolant loop. In
addition, a steam bubble formed in the upper part of the reactor above
the fuel. Eventually as the fuel heated, this void expanded. Eventually,
the fuel cladding material overheated. It is likely that some hydrogen
was produced by a chemical reaction between the zircaloy clad and
the steam in the reactor. In addition, the hydrogen normally present in
the reactor cooling system (used to reduce the presence of oxygen and
subsequent corrosion in the system) was released to the containment
through
9- Water was added to the reactor cooling system and the level raised in
the pressurizer until cooling of the reactor was assured.
1. Reactor
3. Pressurizer
Blue in upper left shows the Quench Tank. Note steam leaving.
4-Control rooms were complex, poorly organized, and did not provide
important information.
Improve design of control room
TMI-2 analysis
Early phase Late phase (corium in core) Late phase (corium in lower head)
Timeline
Date Event
March 1979 TMI operators are falsifying reactor leaks rates.
TMI accident occurred. Containment coolant and unknown
March 1979 amounts of radioactive contamination released into
environment.
Containment steam vented to the atmosphere in order to
April 1979
stabilize the core.
Approximately 1591 TBq (43,000 curies) of krypton were
July 1980
vented from the reactor building.
July 1980 The first manned entry into the reactor building took place.
An Advisory Panel for the Decontamination of TMI-2,
Nov. 1980 composed of citizens, scientists, and State and local officials,
held its first meeting in Harrisburg, PA.
July 1984 The reactor vessel head (top) was removed.
Oct. 1985 Defueling began.
July 1986 The off-site shipment of reactor core debris began.
GPU submitted a request for a proposal to amend the TMI-2
Aug. 1988 license to a "possession-only" license and to allow the
facility to enter long-term monitoring storage.
Jan. 1990 Defueling was completed.
GPU submitted its funding plan for placing $229 million in
July 1990
escrow for radiological decommissioning of the plant.
Jan. 1991 The evaporation of accident-generated water began.
NRC published a notice of opportunity for a hearing on
April 1991
GPU's request for a license amendment.
NRC issued a safety evaluation report and granted the
Feb. 1992
license amendment.
The processing of accident-generated water was completed
Aug. 1993
involving 2.23 million gallons.
Sept. 1993 NRC issued a possession-only license.
The Advisory Panel for Decontamination of TMI-2 held its
Sept. 1993
last meeting.
Dec. 1993 Post-Defueling Monitoring Storage began.
TMI-1 license extended from April 2014 until 2034 without
Oct. 2009
a public hearing
References:
G. Guillard et al., “ASTEC V1 code: DIVA physical modeling,”
Report ASTECV1/DOC/06-17 (2006).
http://www.nucleartourist.com/events/tmi.htm
http://www.efmr.org/edu/nuclear2009.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident#Lessons_learne
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