Report to the American Physical Society of the Study Group on Radionuclide Release From Severe Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

The release of radioiodine during the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident was more than an order of magnitude smaller than what had been predicted from analyses of hypothetical nuclear accidents. The Reactor Safety Study of 1975 (RSS), which carried out the analyses, is a fundamental factor in formulating regulations concerned with such accidents. This American Physical Society (APS) study group report is a result of the obvious need to reevaluate the RSS analysis of the “source term,” that is, the amount of various radionuclides that are predicted to be emitted under various reactor failure scenarios.The report includes an introductory background to the history of nuclear reactor accidents and accident studies and to the health aspects of radionuclide releases. It then describes nuclear reactors and reactor failure modes, including reasonably detailed descriptions of particular modes thought to be especially critical. The most extensive discussion concerns the chemical and physical processes important in the generation, transport, and release of radionuclides. The large computer codes used to model these processes are considered and evaluated. The results of some of the computer runs are examined in the light of a simplified but informative model to evaluate those features of an accident that are most likely to affect the source term. A review of the research programs currently underway precedes both the study group conclusions about the need to revise the source terms from those in the RSS and recommendations for further studies that are necessary to better evaluate the source term.