A post-TMI look at boiling-water reactor plant protection

This paper presents the results of a General Electric (GE) evaluation of the Boiling Water Reactor-6 (BWR/6) performed following the March 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant. It is shown that the BWR/6 is highly resistant to plant damage or significant off-site radiological releases resulting not only from 'TMI-type' events, but also from a broad spectrum of degraded events ranging from transient events with no pipe break to large pipe break accidents. BWR/6 post-TMI design improvements are described as well as BWR/6 features which respond to longer-term design trends emerging in the aftermath of Three Mile Island. (author)