Source: Fact Sheet, Nuclear Resource Service, Paul Gunter
The purpose of a reactor containment system is to create a barrier against the release of
radioactivity generated during nuclear power operations from certain "design basis"
accidents, such as increased pressure from a single pipe break. It is important to understand
that nuclear power plants are not required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to
remain intact as a barrier to all possible accidents or "non-design basis" accidents, such as
the melting of reactor fuel. All nuclear reactors can have accidents which can exceed the
design basis of their containment.
Pilgrim is a GE Mark I. Its pressure suppression containment was designed to save money - a
cost-saving alternative to the larger reinforced concrete containments marketed by
competitors. A large inverted light-bulb-shaped steel structure called "the drywell" is
constructed of a steel liner and a concrete drywell shield wall enclosing the reactor vessel.
The atmosphere of the drywell is connected through large diameter pipes to a large hollow
doughnut-shaped pressure suppression pool called "the torus", or wetwell, which is
half-filled with water.
In the event of a loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA), steam would be released into the drywell
and directed underwater in the torus where it is supposed to condense, thus suppressing a
pressure buildup in the containment.
However, as early as 1972, Dr. Stephen Hanuaer, an Atomic Energy Commission safety official,
recommended that the pressure suppression system be discontinued and any further designs not
be accepted for construction permits. Shortly thereafter, three General Electric nuclear
engineers publicly resigned their prestigious positions citing dangerous shortcomings in the
An NRC analysis of the potential failure of the Mark I under accident conditions concluded in
a 1985 report that Mark I failure within the first few hours following core melt would appear
In 1986, Harold Denton, then the NRC's top safety official, told an industry trade group that
the "Mark I containment… you'll find something like a 90% probability of that containment
In order to protect the Mark I containment from a total rupture it was determined necessary
to vent any high pressure buildup. As a result, an industry workgroup designed and installed
the "direct torus vent system" at all Mark I reactors.
Operated from the control room, the vent is a reinforced pipe installed in the torus and
designed to release radioactive high pressure steam generated in a severe accident by
allowing the unfiltered release directly to the atmosphere through the 300 foot vent stack.
Reactor operators now have the option by direct action to expose the public and the
environment to unknown amounts of harmful radiation in order to "save containment." As a
result of GE's design deficiency, the original idea for a passive containment system has been
dangerously compromised and given over to human control with all its associated risks of
error and technical failure.