Lecture

Introduction to Nuclear Engineering: Fukushima and TMI Accidents

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In course

ME-464: Introduction to nuclear engineering

This course is intended to understand the engineering design of nuclear power plants using the basic principles of reactor physics, fluid flow and heat transfer. This course includes the following: Reactor designs, Thermal analysis of nuclear fuel, Nuclear ...

Description

This lecture covers the Fukushima and TMI nuclear accidents, discussing key factors, safety systems, accident progression, core melt status, and consequences. It analyzes reactor designs, safety features, and the impact on workers and the environment.

Instructors (3)

Andreas Pautz

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Sofia Portolan, Michel Saliba, Bishal Torrente, Alexis Paul Boris Claude Dupont-Bembinoff, Cynthia Camila Güttlein Past EPFL PhD Students Ting Zhu, Vladimir Vladimirov Brankov, Boris Aviv Hombourger, Damar Canggih Wicaksono, Petra Mala, Adolfo Rais, Valentyn Bykov, Daniel Jerôme Siefman, Evgeny Nikitin, Dionysios Chionis, Oskari Ville Pakari, Friederike Bostelmann, Jiani Gao, Efstathios Vlassopoulos, Alessandro Scolaro, Stefan Radman, Alexander Aures, Lubomír Bures, Ahmed Salah

Alessandro Scolaro

Carlo Fiorina

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Energy engineering

Nuclear power: Topics in nuclear power

Related concepts (32)

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid (water or gas), which in turn runs through steam turbines. These either drive a ship's propellers or turn electrical generators' shafts. Nuclear generated steam in principle can be used for industrial process heat or for district heating.

Nuclear meltdown

A nuclear meltdown (core meltdown, core melt accident, meltdown or partial core melt) is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term nuclear meltdown is not officially defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency or by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It has been defined to mean the accidental melting of the core of a nuclear reactor, however, and is in common usage a reference to the core's either complete or partial collapse.

Boiling water reactor

A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR), which is also a type of light water nuclear reactor. The main difference between a BWR and PWR is that in a BWR, the reactor core heats water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine. In a PWR, the reactor core heats water, which does not boil.

Generation IV reactor

Generation IV reactors (Gen IV) are nuclear reactor design technologies that are envisioned as successors of generation III reactors. The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) - an international organization that coordinates the development of generation IV reactors - specifically selected six reactor technologies as candidates for generation IV reactors. The designs target improved safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost.

Fukushima nuclear disaster

On 11 March 2011, a nuclear accident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which remains the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan. The earthquake triggered a powerful tsunami, with 13- to 14-meter-high waves damaging the nuclear power plant's emergency diesel generators, leading to a loss of electric power.

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