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Five areas of potential accidents have been evaluated for the Argonaut-UTR reactors. They are: • insertion of excess reactivity • catastrophic rearrangement of the core • explosive chemical reaction • graphite fire • fuel-handling accident. A nuclear excursion resulting from the rapid insertion of the maximum available excess reactivity would produce only 12 MWs which is insufficient to cause fuel melting even with conservative assumptions. Although precise structural rearrangement of the core would create a potential hazard, it is simply not credible to assume that such an arrangement would result from the forces of an earthquake or other catastrophic event. Even damage to the fuel from falling debris or other objects is unlikely given the normal reactor structure. An explosion from a metal-water reaction could not occur because there is no credible source of sufficient energy to initiate the reaction. A graphite fire could conceivably create some damage to the reactor but not enough to melt any fuel or initiate a metal-water reaction. The only credible accident involving offsite doses was determined to be a fuel-handling accident which, given highly conservative assumptions, would produce a whole-body dose equivalent of 2 rem from noble gas immersion and a lifetime dose equivalentmore » commitment to the thyroid of 43 rem from radioiodines.« less |
