Energetyka jądrowa. Bezpieczna technologia czy zagrożenie dla ludzkości?
Nuclear power engineering. Safety technology or danger for mankind?

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to present a comprehensive approach to safety issues in currentlyoperated and newly designed nuclear power plants. In the article, the principle of operation of NPPand the concept of “defense in depth”, whose aim is to minimize the risk of spreading radioactivenuclear fission reaction products, are presented. The causes, accident sequences and consequencesof selected failures of nuclear power plants, which most significantly contributed to the improvementof nuclear power safety, are described.The increase in the safety of nuclear reactors generally takes place through the developmentof tools and calculation codes, a diversity and multiplication of applied safety systems. In the paper,the principles of operation of selected safety systems and tools for a simulation of accident sequencesand consequences of failure of nuclear reactors are reviewed.Additionally, the paper presents the results of a simulation of the release of radioactive materialfrom the AP1000 nuclear reactor, located on the Polish seacoast. The obtained predicted impact onhuman health and mortality rates due to a cancer disease are compared with natural values occurringin the Pomeranian Voivodship.The conclusions are that nuclear power is the only source of electricity generation, in which thesafety issues were comprehensively solved: from a design level through the operation to its decommissioning.The calculations show that in the case of one of the most serious design accidents thatcould occur in the NPP, the rate of the cancer disease, caused by the release of radioactive material,is lower than the current one occurring in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

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