Nuclear power systems: Their safety. Current issue review

Human beings utilize energy in many forms and from a variety of sources. A number of countries have chosen nuclear-electric generation as a component of their energy system. At the end of 1992, there were 419 power reactors operating in 29 countries, accounting for more than 15% of the world's production of electricity. In 1992, 13 countries derived at least 25% of their electricity from nuclear units, with Lithuania leading at just over 78%, followed closely by France at 72%. In the same year, Canada produced about 16% of its electricity from nuclear units. Some 53 power reactors are under construction in 14 countries outside the former USSR. Within the ex-USSR countries, six new reactors are currently under construction. No human endeavour carries the guarantee of perfect safety and the question of whether of not nuclear-electric generation represents an 'acceptable' risk to society has long been vigorously debated. Until the events of late April 1986 in the then Soviet Union, nuclear safety had indeed been an issue for discussion, for some concern, but not for alarm. The accident at the Chernobyl reactor irrevocably changed all that. This disaster brought the matter of nuclear safety into the public mind in a dramatic fashion. Subsequent opening of the ex-Soviet nuclear power program to outside scrutiny has done little to calm people's concerns about the safety of nuclear power in that part of the world. This paper discusses the issue of safety in complex energy systems and provides brief accounts of some of the most serious reactor accidents that have occurred to date, as well as more recent, less dramatic events touching on the safety issue. (author). 7 refs