Some Implications of the Three Mile Island Accident for LMFBR Safety and Licensing: The Design Basis Issue

Abstract

The 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island-Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear generating plant prompted numerous studies identifying relevant safety issues and recommending both short-term and long-term fixes to improve the general safety of the light water reactor (LWR). One of the major safety issues which has evolved from the Action Plan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Task Force investigations concerns the use of the design basis accident (DBA) in the licensing process. The DBA is an artificial "boundary" separating those "credible" accidents which are considered in the licensing process from those "incredible" ones which are not. While these recommendations focus on current light water reactors, they also will affect the design and operation of the liquid metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR). This Note assesses the impact of the TMI-2 accident on the LMFBR. Specifically, it reviews the DBA concept and its use in the licensing process, assesses the impact of the TMI-2 accident on the DBA concept in general and the LMFBR licensing process in particular, considers how the concept of risk can be used in setting the DBA criteria, and discusses key implications of the TMI-2 accident on other issues in addition to the DBA concept. There will be many significant similarities in the licensing approach for LWRs and LMFBRs; specifically, the range of accident initiating events considered, and their frequency of occurrence will be similar. I suggest that many of the changes required by the NRC Action Plan will apply directly or indirectly to the LMFBR. Further, the TMI-2 accident may have a significant impact not only on the design of the future LWR Safety Program, but equally important, on the design of the future LMFBR Safety Program. One of the major lessons of TMI is that more attention needs to be focused on higher probability (or even anticipated) events that could potentially propagate to large consequences, either through design failures or operator errors.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1980
Accession Number
ADA511975

Entities

People

  • Kenneth A. Solomon

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accidents
  • Breeder Reactors
  • Control Systems
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Environmental Protection
  • Hazards
  • Lessons Learned
  • Light Water Reactors
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Nuclear Power Plants
  • Nuclear Reactors
  • Risk
  • Risk Analysis
  • Safety Analysis
  • Task Forces
  • Test Facilities

Readers

  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Urban Planning and Geography.