Safety protocols for setting up a nuclear power plant in India

Nuclear energy is an efficient way to generate electricity through a power plant. The operation of a nuclear power plant should be very efficient and safe. But what happens when an emergency situation occurs? What guidelines and safety precautions they follow in order to minimize the disaster? There is a safety protocol for setting up a nuclear power plant to achieve fundamental safety objectives.

However a nuclear core meltdown does not happen often, but when it happens it is very dangerous. Throughout history, we have seen disasters such as Fukushima and Chernobyl. Though the inside of production can be running very safely, some outside factors can cause destruction. If a terrorist gets control over a nuclear reactor by security attack, so there will be a possibility to use it wrongly.

Reason for safety

During the conduction of activities in a nuclear power plant, they should apply the standard level of safety to achieve the safety fundamental objectives. The measurement is mandatory to achieve the following reasons:

1. To control the exposure of radioactivity to human and environment.
2. For control the factor that leads to losing control over the nuclear reactor, radioactivity source, nuclear chain reaction, nuclear fuel, nuclear waste and any other vital factors.
3. To control the consequences of those events.
4. Properly maintain normal operations of the plant.

Emergency levels

The United state Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) declare four levels of emergency. Nuclear power plants should follow the level of emergency to implement safety. They are:

Notification of Unusual Events:

When a possible threat to safety is indicated then this is the first step for reporting the threat.

Alert

This is the level where they deal with a possible "substantial degradation in the level of safety for the plant facilities.

Site area emergency

This emergency level is reserved for when there is a possibility of nuclear reactor failure.

General emergency

A nuclear plant use this high level of emergency when serious or actual damage occurs on the reactor.

Safety protocol for Nuclear power plant

Fundamental of safety:

1. Control of radioactivity
2. removal of heat from the reactor and from the fuel store
3. confinement of radioactive material, shielding against radiation and control of radioactive releases

-these plant states, the fundamental safety should be fulfilled.

Radiation protection:

The design of a nuclear power plant shall be such that the nuclear radioactivity exposes to workers and people nearby and environment, does not exceed the dose limit. So, they should keep it as low as reasonably achievable in the operating state.

1. should provide multiple shield barriers to the reactor materials
2. the construction should be high quality and conservative
3. should provide for supplementing the control of the power plant by means of the automatic safety system, by which if any failure or deviation from normal operation exceed, the high level of confidence can control the control system.

Defence in depth

There should be an Incorporate defence in depth of a nuclear power plant. It is sounded by barbed wire fences as well as armed security officers.

They should set various levels of defence to the core to prevent consequences of accidents that lead to dangerous effects on people and the environment.

The armed security can cover the physical materials, but what about cybersecurity? This is a valuable prospect to follow to prevent an attack from hackers. So every nuclear power plant licensed by NRC should isolate their reactor from the internet.

Features to Waste management:

Nuclear power plant should take special considerations to the design of the waste management department.

1. shall take due account of the choice of materials by which the waste will be minimized.
2. access capability and the proper that is necessary.

Till now we have discussed ways to prevent theft. But what happened if a "General Emergency" situation occur? At first, the authority should evacuate people from inside immediately. At that time stay close to the reactor is very risky.

To reduce the radiation absorbed into the thyroid they sometimes use Potassium Iodide.