Three Mile Island Accident

The accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI 2) atomic fountain industrial plant near Middletown, Pa., on inch 28, 1979, was the most serious in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, even though it guide to no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of the nearby community. But it brought around sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, world factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. It also caused the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to tighten and turn out its regulatory oversight. Resultant changes in the nuclear power manufacture and at the NRC had the effect of enhancing safety.
The sequence of certain events equipment malfunctions, design-related problems and worker errors led to a partial meltdown of the TMI 2 reactor nerve centre but only very small off set releases of radioactivity.
Summary of Events
The accident began about 4:00 a.m. on litigate 28, 1979, when the plant experienced a failure in the secondary, non nuclear section of the plant. The main feedwater pumps s surpassped running, caused by either a mechanical or electrical failure, which anticipateed the steam generators from removing heat. First the turbine, consequently the reactor automatically shut down.



Immediately, the pressure in the primary feather system (the nuclear portion of the plant) began to increase. In order to prevent that pressure from becoming excessive, the pilot-operated relief valve (a valve located at the top of the pressurizer) opened. The valve should have closed when the pressure decreased by a certain amount, but it did not. Signals available to the operator failed to show that the valve was understood open. As a result, cooling water poured out of the stuck-open valve and caused the mettle of the reactor to overheat.
As coolant flowed from the core through the pressurizer, the instruments available to reactor operators provided confusing information. There was no instrument that showed the...If you want to sustain a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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