Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Cost-Benefit Analysis : Proposed Safety Upgrades to Currently Operating Nuclear Power Plants

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/b8515s15s

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  • In the wake of nuclear accidents such as Three Mile Island Unit 2 and Fukushima, the nuclear power industry’s safety record is scrutinized. Today the main concerns lies with hydrogen production in a nuclear reactor core when the zirconium fuel cladding reacts with the water coolant during an accident, creating combustible hydrogen gas. This concern is being addressed with new technologies for new nuclear power plants and the development of hydrogen mitigation techniques for currently operating plants. This study looks at a few potential safety upgrades including hydrogen mitigation upgrades such as hydrogen ignitors and Passive Autocatalytic Recombiners (PARs). As well as some radionuclide release mitigation safety upgrades, filtered vents and hardened vents. Using event tree/fault tree analysis to obtain probabilities and consequences of accidents and a newly developed “Economic Safety Factor (ESF)” has been proposed. The ESF is a metric that is aimed at helping utilities and regulators decide whether a particular safety upgrade is beneficial for the cost. While the ESF is not the only mechanism a utility or regulator will consider when evaluating plant changes, it can give a good indication of whether or not a safety upgrade, or another type of upgrade is a good idea. It was found that hydrogen ignitors and PAR should be implemented. The addition of filtered vents is dependent on their cost based on the results of an ESF cost-benefit analysis method. As a response to the accidents at Fukushima, hardened vents have been required on all Mk. I and Mk. II Boiling Water Reactors by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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