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Publication Laka-library:
Reassessment of the technical bases for estimating source terms (NUREG-0956) (1986)

AuthorUS NRC
DateJuly 1986
Classification 6.01.3.90/47 (NUCLEAR SAFETY - SOURCETERM)
Front

From the publication:

FOREWORD

This report on the technology of source terms for postulated severe accidents in 
nuclear power plants is being issued in final form after several years of research, 
analysis, peer review, and public comment. It documents the technical basis for 
the scientific tools that the NRC intends to use in its regulatory considerations of 
postulated severe accidents. In the near future we expect to publish other reports 
that describe how these methods have been used to reassess the risk from a sample 
of operating reactors and how this information can be used in the regulatory process.

Although this report is termed final, we note that the NRC-sponsored experimental 
and analytical work in severe accidents is continuing in areas where there remain 
both large uncertainty and high importance. We will, therefore, revisit realistic 
source term modeling in the future when the ongoing programs have matured.

During the final stages of preparation of this report, a severe accident occurred 
at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in the Soviet Union. The Chernobyl reactor, 
one of a series designated as an RBMK-1000, is a graphite-moderated, pressure tube, 
boiling water reactor with a thermal power level of 3200 MW. It is quite different 
from reactors of U.S. design that are moderated and cooled by light water as 
addressed in this report. Because of these fundamental differences, the actual 
magnitudes of fission product releases from the fuel and the transport of material 
within the plant may not be similar for the Chernobyl reactor and light-water 
reactors of U.S. design. However, there may be information relevant to source term 
technology for light-water reactors that can be obtained from the Chernobyl accident.

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