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Medical Consequences of a Nuclear Plant Attack or Accident around Chicago. Andrew S. Kanter, MD MPH Physicians for Social Responsibility/ Chicago Chapter. Agenda for Today. Introduction The World Today: Fear and Opportunity Nuclear Power Plant Security - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Medical Consequences of a Nuclear Plant Attack or Accident around Chicago
Andrew S. Kanter, MD MPH
Physicians for Social Responsibility/Chicago Chapter
Agenda for Today
Introduction
The World Today: Fear and Opportunity
Nuclear Power Plant Security
Fissile Materials as Targets for Attack
Medical Consequences of Attacks on Braidwood
The splitting of the atom changed everything, save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift towards unparalleled catastrophe.
-Albert Einstein, 1946
The single greatest danger…
Nuclear Power Plants in the US
104 operating nuclear power plants and 36 non-power reactors in the US
11 operating plants in Northern Illinois
Produce 8% of the nation’s energy
Common Reactor Types
Boiling Water Pressurized Water
Images from NRC
Spent Fuel StorageAfter 12-24 months in the reactor, fuel is offloaded into cooling ponds
Must remain until cool
More than 10x the radioactive material than the core (20-50 million curies Cs-137-Chernobyl released 2 million curies)
Nuclear Plant SecurityCore protected by containment dome
Coolant supply critical (20,000-500,000 g/m)
Spent fuel pools vulnerable
Security strengthened after 9/11
Force-on-Force tests woefully inadequateSmall group of terrorists with one insider
Lone insider
Four-wheel drive vehicle bomb
Accident/Attack at Braidwood
PWR producing 2500 MW at full power
50+ mi SW of Chicago
Two scenarios:
Reactor vessel breach
Spent fuel pond fire
Analysis Tools
HPAC- Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency
CATS- Consequences Assessment Tool Set from the Federal Emergency Management Agency
Braidwood Scenario 1
Catastrophic coolant failure
Core exposed causing fire and breach
4% of core/hr burned
Summer Day
Normal Temperatures
Broken Clouds
Radiation SicknessThe signs and symptoms of radiation sickness
include:Nausea and vomiting
Diarrhea
Skin burns
Weakness/Fatigue
Loss of appetite
Fainting
Inflammation of tissues
Mucosal bleeding
Low red blood cell count/anemia
Hair loss
Biological Effects of Radiation (REM)0-20 Potential for genetic consequences
20-100 Temporary decrease in white blood cell count.
100-200 Acute radiation sickness - nausea, vomiting, longer-term decrease in white blood cells.
200-300 Vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, death in some cases.
300-600 Vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhaging, deaths occurring in 50% of cases at 350+ REM
Above 600 Eventual death in almost all cases
Braidwood Total Effective Dose Equivalent
South Bend
Fort Wayne
Joliet
Braidwood Evacuation Area
Grand Rapids
Medical ConsequencesThe number of acutely ill people would overwhelm all available care facilities
Many facilities will not be available due to contamination:
113 hospitals would fall within the occupational exposure zone (including two VA hospitals) affecting more than 32,000 potential beds.
Nearly 20,000 physicians in five counties would receive greater than occupational maximums for radiation exposure from the plume itself, let alone that from contaminated patients.
Medical ConsequencesFirst responders, like firefighters would also be badly affected. The 25 firefighters of Essex Fire Department would possibly receive lethal doses, and the 67 firefighters of Braidwood and Herscher departments would be suffering from radiation sickness.
Another 10,500 firefighters in 355 other departments would have exceeded occupational exposures from the plume itself and would be unavailable to respond within the highly contaminated area. Police departments would also be hard hit in Essex, Braidwood and Herscher with the 38 police officers receiving potentially lethal doses of radiation.
Braidwood Scenario 2Spent Fuel Pond (SPF) Fire--Loss of coverage causing Zirconium fire
3 assemblies destroyed, releasing Cs-137
Cs-137 half-life of 60 years, potent gamma emitter. 50% of 10-y.o. fuel is Cs.
Summer Day
Normal Temperatures
Broken Clouds
No Security Plans for SFP
The NRC has denied petitions by citizen groups seeking enhanced protections from terrorist acts against reactor spent-fuel pools.
In its decision, the NRC has asserted that “the possibility of a terrorist attack . . . is speculative and simply too far removed from the natural or expected consequences of agency action . . . ”
SFP Total Effective Dose Equivalent
SFP Evacuation Area
SFP Thyroid Dose Protection
Indian Point Comparison
3,500-44,000 immediate deaths
100,000-500,000 long term deaths due to cancer
Economic damages within 100 mi range from $1.1-2.1 trillion
What You Can DoSpeak out and educate
Write to your leaders, newspapers, friends
Stop producing more nuclear materials
Secure all existing nuclear materials
Shut down nuclear power plants and transition to renewable sources
Transfer waste from wet pools to dry storage casks
Develop long term storage for waste on site
For More Information
Chicago PSR:
4750 N. Sheridan Road #439Chicago, IL 60640(773) 989-4655 [email protected]
R. Alvarez et al., “Reducing the Hazards from Stored Spent Power-Reactor Fuel in the United States,” Science and Global Security 11 (2003): 1-51.
D. Hirsch, “The NRC: What, me worry?,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists 58(1): 38-44.
E. Lyman, “Chernobyl on the Hudson?,” Union of Concerned Scientists, September 2004: 1-54.
Visit PSR’s website at:
http://www.psr.org
or contact PSR at:
1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1012Washington, DC, 20009Telephone: (202) 667-4260Fax: (202) 667-4201
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