Special Section: Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors Safety

The discovery of fission is roughly seven decades old, and the potential for large-scale power production from fission is now well established. Currently, nearly 430 nuclear power plants (NPPs) produce electricity around the globe contributing to around 11.2% of the total electricity production. With the present concern over the green house gas generation by burning fossil fuel and the rapid growth of electricity generation capacity in Asian and African nations, particularly in China and India, nuclear power capacity is expected to grow substantially in the near future. Among the operating nuclear power plants (NPPs), the water-cooled designs are the dominant ones due to simplicity in their design and economic competitiveness. After 25 years of Chernobyl accident when resurgence in the nuclear power program worldwide was imminent, the accident at Fukushima gave a serious blow to the confidence in nuclear safety, particularly under conditions of extreme natural disasters, such as earthquake...