Word: coolant
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...those now in operation. Moreover, that basic technology has been available for more than 20 years. It was largely ignored in favor of a technology -- the water-cooled reactor -- that had already been proved in nuclear submarines. But water-cooled reactors are particularly susceptible to the rapid loss of coolant, which led to the accidents at both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island...
...into smaller pieces, thus releasing heat. The challenge is to keep the core of nuclear fuel from overheating and melting into an uncontrollable mass that can breach containment walls and release radioactivity. One way to prevent a meltdown is to make sure the fuel is always surrounded with circulating coolant -- ordinary water in most commercial reactors. To guard against mechanical failures that could interrupt the transfer of heat, most reactors employ multiple backup systems, a strategy known as "defense in depth...
...Savannah River layout, where discharges of reactor coolant emerge hot enough to boil a frog, a DOE official admits, "It's not too good for the fish around here either." The agency also concedes that a network of shallow aquifers under the vast acreage is contaminated with radioactive compounds. A deeper aquifer contains toxic, nonradioactive materials. The only argument: whether this supply is the source of drinking water for the surrounding area...
...Pont de Nemours, citing numerous incidents over three decades. On May 10, 1965, operators ignored a loud alarm for 15 minutes. Then they saw water spilling across the reactor- room floor. Fully 2,100 gal. of fluid had leaked out of the reactor, leaving the level of coolant too low. The reactor shut itself down automatically...
...nukes policy has failed to protect it from nuclear scandal. Last week the Norwegian Foreign Ministry confirmed that some 15 tons of the country's heavy water was diverted in 1983 to an unknown destination. Prized for its purity, Norwegian heavy water, or deuterium oxide, is used as a coolant in nuclear reactors and to produce plutonium, an ingredient in nuclear bombs...