Wallmann valve
The so-called Wallmann valve is a safety device in German nuclear power plants that was named after Environment Minister Walter Wallmann . It is intended to ensure the filtered pressure relief of the containment during an incident. Ordered pressure relief is also called venting , from the English word for venting.
prehistory
After the Chernobyl reactor disaster in 1986, the federal government was forced to act. As an early measure, Walter Wallmann was appointed the first Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety on June 6, 1986 by the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl . Under Wallmann, it was now planned that the safety philosophy of German nuclear power plants would no longer be based almost exclusively on preventing the worst possible accident (GAU) . Instead, the control of beyond interpretation accidents should also be considered.
Work of the Reactor Safety Commission
In order to implement these requirements, the Federal German Reactor Safety Commission (RSK) asked power plant manufacturers, electricity supply companies and managers of nuclear power plants for information on how a failure of the containment could be prevented in an emergency with a meltdown . In particular, it should be prevented that the design pressure of the containment is exceeded for a long time due to "slow pressure build-up". This request already resulted in the subsequent installation of a “type of valve including a radiation filter ”. Two weeks after the plans of Wallmann and the RSK became known, Der Spiegel referred to these valves as Wallmann valves .
Retrofitting obligation
As a result of its analyzes, the RSK states that “beyond the necessary precautionary measures, measures to contain the consequences of hypothetical accidents should be provided if a significant reduction in the already low residual risk can be achieved with reasonable effort.” The RSK proposed in December for pressurized water reactors 1986, taking into account the first results of the German Risk Study on Nuclear Power Plants, Phase B, proposed a filtered pressure relief of the reactor containment in the event of core meltdown accidents with slow pressure build-up. Wallmann's successor in the office of Minister of the Environment, Klaus Töpfer , then prescribed the installation of Wallmann valves as one of the measures to be implemented on the basis of the RSK's recommendations in 1987 .
See also
literature
- Security is a dynamic term . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1987 ( online ).
- Patent application DE3715467A1 : Pressure relief and filter device for nuclear systems, especially for boiling water reactors. Filed on May 8, 1987 , published on 17 November 1988 , Applicant: Siemens AG, inventor Werner Engl.
- Patent DE3715466C2 : Pressure relief and filter device for nuclear systems, especially for pressurized water reactors. Registered on May 8, 1987 , published on January 16, 1992 , applicant: Pall GmbH, Siemens AG, inventor: Werner Engl, Dr. Horst Randhahn, Norbert Szymkowiak, Dr. Frank Taetz.
Web links
- Filtered pressure relief for the containment of light water reactors (PDF; 151 kB)
- German Risk Study Nuclear Power Plants, Phase B (PDF; 16.6 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Nuclear Power Plants: retrofitting for the big day . In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 , 1986 ( online ).
- ↑ Chernobyl II . In: Der Spiegel . No. 37 , 1986 ( online ).
- ↑ Security is a dynamic term . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1987 ( online ).
- ↑ Patent application DE3715467A1 for a “pressure relief and filter device for nuclear systems, especially for boiling water reactors” , accessed April 5, 2011