Publication Laka-library:
Science and global security Ch.4-Indias-fastbreeder (2008)
| Author | S.P.Udayakumar, Ramana, EPP, CICED |
 | - |
| Date | September 2008 |
| Classification | 4.03.8.10/01 (INDIA - KALPAKKAM FAST BREEDER REACTOR) |
| Front | 
|
From the publication:
Compromising Safety: Design Choices and Severe Accident Possibilities in India’s Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor Ashwin Kumar (1) and M. V. Ramana (2) 1 Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA 2 Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment and Development, Bangalore, India This article explores the safety capabilities of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor that is under construction in India, and which is to be the first of several similar reactors that are proposed to be built over the next few decades, to withstand severe accidents. Such accidents could potentially breach the reactor containment and disperse radioactivity to the environment. The potential for such accidents results from the reactor core not being in its most reactive configuration; further, when there is a loss of the coolant, the reactivity increases rather then decreasing as in the case of water-cooled reactors. The analysis demonstrates that the official safety assessments are based on assumptions about the course of accidents that are not justifiable empirically and the safety features incorporated in the current design are not adequate to deal with the range of accidents that are possible
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