Nuclear power accidents and the release of nuclear radiation
The nuclear power industry has been plagued with a series of accidents and near misses and its reputation has been seriously damaged by these incidents. The first major accident was the incident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, USA in 1979. Incredibly, this near disaster was down to something as simple as a stuck valve. The failure of this valve to operate led to a chain reaction (ironic in the context) of events which resulted in the operators losing control of the reactor. At one stage during the attempts to regain reactor control, 40,000 gallons of radioactive water were deliberately discharged into a nearby river. An investigation into the accident revealed that recommended procedures had been ignored and that the reactor should have been shut down before certain maintenance work began. If safety procedures and recommendations are going to be ignored, then no nuclear power plant is safe.
The next major incident happened just nine years later at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, which was then part of the old USSR. A series of explosions in the plant and loss of reactor control resulted in damage to the reactor and the release of large amounts of radioactive gas into the atmosphere. This accident happened as a direct result of an experiment by engineers at the plant in which they were trying to improve emergency shutdown procedures.
The most recent serious incident took place at Fukushima in Japan in 2011. Damage to the plant occurred as a result of a major earthquake and the ensuing tsunami which knocked out the plant’s cooling system leading to uncontrolled reactor activity. The build-up of pressure and hydrogen gas led to explosions in the plant and the release of radioactive gas. Attempts to use external water as coolant resulted in that water being contaminated and flowing from the plant in a completely uncontrolled environment.
The common denominator between the three events is that once an incident had occurred, regardless of its cause, the operators struggled to bring the reactor back under control and there was a significant release of radioactive material into the environment. In the fifty-seven years that have elapsed between the first and last major incidents, nothing seems to have been learnt.
Many more less damaging accidents have been reported and it is almost certain that there will have been lots of accidents which were never reported. When commercial interests are at stake, there is enormous pressure on groups and individuals to protect resources and avoid lawsuits for damages.
A nuclear accident can be defined as an unintentional release of nuclear radiation or radioactive material into the environment. Such accidents lead to living creatures being exposed to harmful radiation and possibly suffering health problems as a result. Humans, animals and fish can be directly exposed by having, for example, radioactive dust fall directly on them, but they can also suffer exposure by eating contaminated plants or other contaminated animals. Contaminated matter can remain radioactive and dangerous to health for decades after release and operations to clean up nuclear fallout can also last for decades and cost billions, the bill usually being footed by the unfortunate taxpayer.
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