Safety of Nuclear Power Plant

The main component of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is nuclear reactor.  Nuclear reactor is an engineering device, in which nuclear fuel and structural materials are arranged such that a self-sustained fission chain reaction can occur in a controlled manner.

In term of nuclear reactor safety, there are two categories consist of :

1. Multiple Barriers
2. Defense-In-Depth.

Multiple Barriers is used to prevent the radioactive materials to the atmosphere where this particular radioactive materials causes radiological hazard to the individual, social, and environmental.

radiological hazard is adverse heath effects of radiation.

Meanwhile, Defense-In-Depth is acting to prevent accidents and mitigate the consequences.  The approaches are Multiple Physical Barriers and Multiple Level Protection.

Multiple Physical Barriers consists of five components which are fuel pellet, fuel cladding, Reactor Containment Structure (RCS) Boundary, Containment, and Exclusion Area Boundary (EAB).

[Figure 1: Multiple Physical Barriers][1]

[Figure 2: Multiple Physical Barriers][1]

Multiple Level Protection consist of five levels where from level 1 till level 5.

[Table 1: Multiple Level Protection of Nuclear Reactor][1]

Reference:

1. Monograph by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nasri A. Hamid.  Reactor Safety. Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN).  Semester 3 2011/2012.