What would happen if an airliner crashed into a nuclear power plant?
Canadian nuclear power plants have been designed and built with layers of safety features to protect the health and safety of the public in accordance with an approach known as ‘defence in depth.’ The containment buildings are extremely resistant structures, designed to withstand extreme events such as earthquakes and tornadoes. However, nuclear power plants, like other public infrastructure, are not required to be designed to withstand this type of event. CANDU reactors are also designed with redundant safety systems, such as diverse and separate cooling systems, in order to ensure continuous cooling of the reactor in the event of an incident. Diverse and separate reactor shutdown systems are also in place, designed to respond quickly and effectively to a wide range of incidents that might damage the reactor. Finally, all reactor operators are certified by CNSC; they are trained to shut down the reactors safely in emergency situations.
