The valve should have eventually closed when the pressure dropped back down to normal levels-but it didn’t.Ī combination of mechanical and human errors compounded what could have only been a minor inconvenience. The reactor “scrammed,” just as it was designed to do, and the control rods dropped down into the core to stop the nuclear fission reaction. The valve on top of the pressurizer opened as it was designed to do, but pressure continued to increase. The rapidly heating water expanded, and pressure levels began to rise. When the pumps stopped, the flow of water to the steam generators stopped, which caused the temperature of the reactor coolant to increase. What Happened MaĪt 4:00 in the morning, several water pumps stopped working (“tripped”) in the TMI-2 unit. United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This is how operators control how much energy a power plant produces. Control rods are withdrawn to initiate a chain reaction and are submerged to varying degrees and lengths in order to manage it. To prevent the fission reaction from multiplying, nuclear reactors are equipped with control rods made from materials that easily absorb neutrons. Steam escapes as the only emission from the cooling towers, which is not only critical for producing electricity, but for removing the intense heat that the reactor water carries.
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As these free neutrons strike other Uranium atoms, it creates a chain reaction, and nuclear reactors are designed to sustain this reaction to continuously produce energy. When free neutrons strike a Uranium nucleus, it splits apart, and most of that energy is directly converted into heat. All nuclear reactors in the United States that produce commercial electricity are powered with Uranium fuel. Reactors run because of fission: the splitting apart of nuclei. The essential working parts of the TMI-2 system are the reactor, water, steam generators, steam turbine, pumps that circulate water through the system, and a pressurizer. Three Mile Island is a pressurized water reactor, meaning that the water heated by the reactor is kept under extremely high pressure.
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The heated water, in turn, produces steam, which drives a turbine that turns a generator to produce electricity.
Nuclear reactors are designed to achieve one simple goal-to heat water. As 2019 is also the forty-year anniversary of the accident, now seems an important time to reflect on the history and impact of Three Mile Island and nuclear energy in the United States. On September 20, 2019, TMI-1 officially shut down, and the incredibly timely and expensive process of decommissioning and clean-up is just beginning. The cooling towers are a characteristic presence of my south-central Pennsylvania home their ominous yet powerful disposition is representative of how nuclear energy brought reliable electricity, economic opportunity-and lingering unease-to my hometown for over fifty years. When I think of TMI, I think of company-sponsored Christmas parties or Easter egg hunts, with only the Susquehanna river separating 5-year-old me from the site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in United States history. My dad spent his entire career working at the power plant-from starting as a security guard to passing many nuclear safety exams and becoming an Instrumentation and Controls Technician. My memories of TMI, however, are different. When most people hear “Three Mile Island,” I would guess that several thoughts come to mind: nuclear disaster, fear, meltdown, crisis, evacuation, antinuclear protests, just to name a few. For my dad, who built his career at Three Mile Island, and whose own reliable, continuous energy powered our family.
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