jamesb-uk said:
On nuclear powered aircraft carriers/submarines/icebreakers, do the crew have to follow similar precautions as people who work in nuclear power plants such as clothing, film badges etc? Also, how much more protection does the reactor core have compared to a civilian power plant?
James,
On US Navy ships, most of the crew never goes anywhere near the reactor. Only the members of the
engineering department are in the engineering spaces containing the reactor. Additionally the crew is
not anywhere where they would need special clothing when the reactor is operating.
As far as protection of the reactor core - a commercial nuclear power plant has MUCH, MUCH more
protection for the reactor than would a US Navy ship. Take a look at the following graphic courtesy
of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that shows what the interior of a nuclear power plant looks like:
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/apwr.html
The reactor is the red object in the middle. the containment building is the domed tan colored building,
the walls of which are several feet thick. However, in the interior of the containment building surrounding
the reactor is the reactor shielding colored green in the graphic.
That shielding is made of high density concrete. A nuclear power plant doesn't have to float - so it can
have LOTS and LOTS of concrete around the reactor. A US Navy ship can't have that much concrete.
There are lots of constraints on the design of a Navy ship - it has to float; space on a ship is expensive,
while land is cheap; the Navy ship's main purpose is not to generate energy - but to be a warship - so
most of the ship is going to "airport" / hanger for a carrier, for example. So a civilian power plant can be
designed with MUCH BETTER safety systems than a ship - and they are.
A commercial power plant has MUCH better protected for the reactor than does a US Navy ship.
Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist
