Safety

____here are four main aspects that allow CANDU to prevent
____accidents. They are redundancy: having more than one way to do something, diversity: more than one way to operate something, separation: dividing the systems, and protection: follow regulations (Whitlock, 2007). The building containing the reactor is made of concrete walls one metre thick, and coolants are kept in a giant concrete structure (CANDU Reactor, 2007). No one is allowed to live in a one kilometre radius of the reactor (CANDU Reactor, 2007). The CANDU set up takes human error, equipment failure, natural disasters, and attacks into consideration (CANDU, nd). There are two ways to shut down the reactor within two seconds (Whitlock, 2007). The first, SDS 1, drops rods into the core to stop fission (Whitlock, 2007). The second, SDS 2, injects a liquid poison into the reactor to stop fission (Whitlock, 2007). Other reasons for high safety are that a low temperature moderator is used, a slower kinetics is used with heavy water, and defective fuel can be detected (Whitlock, 2007).

____adiation is a big concern among the public when they think
____of nuclear energy. However, Canada has very strict regulations on nuclear power plants. According to Whitlock (2007), CANDU does emit air and water radiation, but only to Canadian regulations. These rules allow Canadians to receive only about one third more radiation than a normal person would (Whitlock, 2007). That amount is about 700 times less than what could have a health effect (Whitlock, 2007).