[ RadSafe ] Risk Communication

Fri May 10 18:28:57 CDT 2013

Hi Steve,

You don't seriously believe *any* of the BS spread by the Natural Resources
Defense Council ?

Having been involved in preparing licensing-related documentation for PARs
installation in Canada, I would like to share some basic information that I
reviewed & used in my documents, referenced from numerous development & test
reports written by the folks who developed the Canadian version of PARs, in
Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories.

First of all, PARs can NOT increase the likelihood of a hydrogen explosion
in a beyond design basis accident, because they self-start at a hydrogen
concentration that is well below that required for an explosion.
Once PARs self-start, they have a high capacity for hydrogen recombination,
which heats them up to roughly the same temperature as a barbecue.

A plant-specific analysis is prepared by the licensee for the regulator, to
indicate how many PARs need to be installed, and in which specific
locations, to ensure that adequate recombination capacity is available under
all circumstances.

Secondly, US NPPs already have electric-powered hydrogen "igniters".
The problem with those is not that they will blow up the pant, but that they
don't work in a total station blackout situation, like Fukushima.

Regarding the issue of containment vent filter clogging, sure, a poorly
designed filter can clog.
A similar issue arose in past years regarding containment cooling water
recirculation: New pump intake filters had to be designed, built and
installed at nuclear plants, to ensure that even under the worst conceivable
circumstances adequate water could be circulated from the containment sump,
to maintain cooling.

Ignoring appropriate solutions is simply another way of saying dragging your
feet.....

 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Steve Schulin
Sent: May-10-13 6:43 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Risk Communication

Hi Jaro, and all. One reason I don't support use of PARS is because such
devices can actually increase the likelihood of a hydrogen explosion in a
beyond design basis accident. See "passive autocatalytic recombiners could
act as hydrogen igniters in beyond design basis accident" at
http://news.nuclear.com/blog7.php/indian-point-2-passive-autocatalytic

I'm also not so keen to put filters on the hardened vents. The safety
function of the vents is so important that it seems unwise to risk clogging
up the vent path. I'm no engineer, but as a radiation protection technician,
and as a homeowner, it it has been my experience that filters clog.This
concern about filter-clogging was raised in at least one of the
post-Fukushima ACRS meetings (NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards) where the filtered vent issue was discussed, but I haven't
noticed any studies or reports on the subject.

As to contributors to public outrage, I'd rank several items as of much
greater significance than the explosions. The admission by TEPCO that they
purposefully did not improve tsunami protection to guard against increased
max credible tsunami height is one example. That the reasoning included not
wanting to alarm the public was an especially egregious aspect of this, and
I see this raised in many more recent newspaper pieces than the explosions.

Very truly yours,

NUCLEAR.COM

Steve Schulin, Founding Editor
http://www.nuclear.com
info at nuclear.com
301-433-4211

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nuclearcom
http://twitter.com/nuclearcom
http://facebook.com/nuclearcom

On May 10, 2013, at 5:36 PM, Jaro Franta wrote:

> Thanks for the link.
> 
> It seems to me that a very big part of the "Outrage" following 
> Fukushima came from the public seeing images of one reactor after another
blowing up.
> 
> Does anyone dispute that assertion ?
> 
> Anyway, a fairly easy and relatively inexpensive way to combat that 
> specific outrage is to make sure that NPPs subject to total station 
> blackout do not blow up, because of hydrogen accumulation.
> Now why on earth is the US nuclear industry dragging its feet on 
> installation of Passive Autocatalytic hydrogen Recombiners (PARs), 
> while everyone else around the world is installing them, is totally beyond
me.
> 
> Similarly for containment venting filters.
> 
> How about some leadership for a change ?
> 
> 
> Jaro Franta
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Miller, Mark 
> L
> Sent: May-10-13 12:59 PM
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> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Risk Communication
> 
> 
> http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2013/05/07/outrage-management-calming-people
> -conce
> rned-about-low-risks/
> 
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