Normal Accident Theory and Swiss Cheese Model

This research paper discusses the Three Mile Island incident to include what started it, the results in the aftermath, and how it could have been prevented. The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public. Its aftermath brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. It also caused the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to tighten and

Normal accidents are very closely linked to risk society. As our culture takes on new, more advanced technologies and

The electrical failure caused the operator to not know that the valve was still open, which led to cooling water pouring out of the valve and caused the reactor core to overheat. As a result of all of these things, the instruments that the operators read to know what was happening provided confusing information. The operators could not tell how much coolant was in the reactor core because they didn't

his led to the melting of the fuel and a drastic increase in radioactivity within the reactor coolant.This also resulted in leaks in the coolant system, which led to small amounts of radiation escaping into the environment.[7]

As humans we want to have a good life, have a home, maybe a family and feel safe. With the advances in industry such as energy production we can have more luxuries which include heat, lights and running water. However, as technology gets bigger and better there will always be risks that can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Luckily for the United States; we did not have a disastrous outcome with a nuclear power plant such as the 1986’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant catastrophe, making, ”the Chernobyl disaster the only level 7 incident on the International Nuclear Event Scales (INES) making it the biggest man-made disaster of all time” (List 25, 2014) . Three Mile Island power plants is located near Middletown Pennsylvania. On March 28, 1979, the plant had a partial meltdown. Even though the Three Mile Island power plant incident did not have any adverse health effects, Three Mile Island had an impact on the nuclear industry development and politically in the United States.

The basic causes of the meltdown were the damages to backup generators on reactors 1 through 3 by the sea water. This forced the emergency lights and cooling system to shutdown (which resulted in an overheating of the reactors). What made the situation worse is that Japanese officials were in a state of panic after the disaster. This is because they did not realize that the cooling systems were shut off and that the problem was compounded from the lack of response. ("Fukushima Utility")

On March 1979, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Three Mile Island there were misread gauges and poor decision that lead to the melting of the core reactor. But after the core melted

The accident happened when “the operators were conducting a test simulating loss of power at the plant”(Klevans 347). Meanwhile when this test was happening most of the safety systems were shut down. A test of this type would never be sanctioned “in the United States, Western Europe, or Asia”(Klevans 347). As a result a colossal amount of radioactivity was released into Western Europe which had a stupendous impact on the health of many people. Through 1990 to 1998 about 1800 children were repulsed to the radioactivity and had thyroid cancer. These children lived “in the contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine”(Klevans 350). After the accident the “engineers from the former Soviet Union have made changes to all RBMK reactors to eliminate the possibility of repeating this type of accident”(Klevans 350). As a result the radioactivity that was released is now ingrained in Pripyat and in the periphery of some

The two risks will be illustrated using a Fault Tree diagram. Fault tree analysis was first developed by Bell Laboratories in 19621. It provides a structured format for “estimating the likelihood of the top even by tracing back the causes until it has identified simple events or component states for which the likelihood can be estimated2. In the process you continue to look for underlying causes until you have a clear idea of the failure and what may be done to manage or mitigate the failure. When developing the fault tree it is helpful to ask “why” to uncover an underlying cause. These causes are linked in the tree as “and” (where both items are necessary for the tree component to occur) and “or” (where either tree component can occur and contribute to the failure). An illustration presented by the authors of our text can be found on page 217. The top failure is the water is cold. Components that can contribute to this are either “there is no

In my research I found about TMI, my opinion about building a nuclear power plant in East Pennsboro township is a no. Some people want to build a plant in the township. The reason behind my opinion is because TMI could happen all over again. But on the other side of the argument they want to because it was a little mistake from TMI and they would be more careful. Anything could happen like contaminated water leaking out the plant and radioactive energy. Everyone had to evacuate when the TMI happened because people's lives were at risks. Also I wouldn't want to leave my home, because of radioactive energy leaking from the power plant. What happened in TMI was when people went into the plant there was at least 20 grams of radiation in there. Then the problem calmed down and then came back up a few days later and that's when it was worse than before and people started to evacuate. The government wouldn't let certain people leave, so people broke through the barriers to get to safety. The power plant was close to the China Syndrome. China Syndrome is a hypothetical sequence of events following the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, in which the core melts through its containment structure and deep into the earth. TMI could blow up at anytime, they only let pregnant women and children in preschool evacuate everyone else had to stay. When this whole problem was over the core was at least 50% gone.

Countless nuclear power plant accidents have been occurring quite frequently since its invention. Some accidents have even been underestimated,

It has been nearly seven years since the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, Japan. It was on March 11, 2011 when the pacific coast of Honshu, the largest island in Japan, was hit by a forceful earthquake of magnitude of 9.0 and following tsunami. The powerful waves came in all the way up to ten kilometers inland and the result was over twenty thousand people dead or missing and an enormous amount of vital infrastructure damage including the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.1 There were six reactors operating in the region at the time and three of them reached full meltdown due to the failure of the cooling system caused mainly by the tsunami, releasing dozens of radioactive elements into the

The disaster took place on April 1986, and was caused by inexperienced staff. When the power plant had to undergo a special test, to make sure that sufficient amount of cooling water would be supplied to the reactor in case of a power outage. However, the test had been delayed, because the national grid required the power output more than the expected time. Hence, the test was postponed after midnight where the night shift had to come. The night shift had little experience about such a test as most of them were electrical engineers rather than nuclear. On the other hand, the night shift had to perform the test before the grid needed the power again, otherwise they would have all been fined or fired. Consequently, lead to an unnecessary pressure on the personnel, which in turn increased the probability of making incorrect

Many critics argue that due to the Three Mile Island nuclear incident that occurred March 28, 1979, in Pennsylvania resulted in a reactor meltdown, with no casualties due to a combination of equipment failure and a lack of operators understanding what to do to a faulty reactor. This incident has put the majority public to have safety concerns over not only the operators working in the plants but also the civilians in the surrounding area. Yet since the accident, the United States formed the National Academy for Nuclear Training to improve training the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations which reviews and accredits nuclear utilities’ training programs for all key positions at each plant. In addition, nuclear energy plants have proven the ability to produce clean electricity without greenhouse gas emissions and the reliability due to its increased efficiency and increased power output.

In introduction this assignment will contain two individual system failure reports; firstly the report for the India Building Collapse will be dissected thus identifying certain information regarding the failure of this particular system. The second system failure report is of the French Rail Crash and correspondingly to the first incident information regarding the system failure will also be identified.