Radionuclide Releases from Severe Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants
DOI: 10.1063/1.880975
Regulations governing siting and evacuation procedures for a nuclear power plant rely heavily on estimates of the quantities and types of radioactive fission products that might be emitted in the most severe accident. These estimates are called source terms. The most conservative approach to analyzing accident consequences is to assume that a severe accident might release the entire inventory of fission products within the core just before refueling. Most current regulations rely on a slight modification of that source term—100% of the noble gases, 50% of the iodine and 1% of the remaining fission products. Recent emergency procedures are based on lower, although still conservative, estimates of iodine releases.
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References
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More about the Authors
Barbara Goss Levi. Physics Today.
