Fast Reactor Safety Technology

Fast Reactor Safety deals with safety design criteria and methodology for fast reactors. Topics covered include safety evaluation methods, system disturbances, containment, and licensing. The characteristics of fast reactors, including heat ratings and coolants, are also discussed. Comprised of six chapters, this book opens with an overview of methods used to evaluate nuclear safety, along with neutron kinetics, thermal and feedback effects, and fault tree analysis. The reader is then introduced to possible system disturbances in relation to three distinct fast reactor systems: liquid-metal-cooled fast breeder reactors, gas-cooled fast breeder reactors, and steam-cooled fast breeder reactors. The next chapter looks at safety criteria that are set to define the design of a safe plant, together with the safety features that might be included. The remaining chapters focus on the particular problems of a sodium-cooled design; containment building and primary circuit and vessel containment; and licensing of the plant. This monograph is intended for graduates and undergraduates in nuclear engineering who are attending courses in reactor safety.