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Safety review of worldwide nuclear power plants after the Fukushima Daiichi accident

OHSUGA Yasuhiko
 
Symbio Community Forum, Tanaka Ohi-Cho 49, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8202, Japan (ohsuga-y@yahoo.co.jp)
 
Abstract: The Fukushima Daiichi accident resulted from the concurrence of a loss of all electric power and a loss of the ultimate heat sink caused by extreme natural phenomena exceeding the design basis. This accident caused the meltdown of the reactor core at three units as well as the loss of the spent fuel pool cooling function. Therefore, this accident provided all countries that use nuclear power with the opportunity to embark on a reassessment of the safety and robustness of their nuclear power plants. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the safety reviews by international organizations and by individual countries within the limit of available information, and to clarify the safety related issues that are now common across the world. The result of these safety reviews indicates that there seems to be no concern about any nuclear power plant being the subject of another severe accident. It also becomes clear that there are effective measures that increase the robustness of nuclear power plants to beyond design basis events. The IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety, which is the result of integrated expertise and knowledge from across the world, is considered to contain appropriate solutions for nuclear power plants.
Keyword:Fukushima Daiichi accident; IAEA Action Plan; safety review; stress test
 
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