Fallout from Chernobyl

400 million people exposed in 20 countries

Chernobyls political fallout Stimulated Gorbachevs glasnost (openness)

Stimulated nationalism in Ukraine, Belarus, and other republics that lost clean-up workers.

Growth of environmental opposition

Questioning of the heart of technocratic powerSoviet leaders were engineers, not lawyersUSSR collapsed within 5 years.

Radiation and HealthHealth effects as a result of radiation exposure:

-increased likelihood of cancer-birth defects including long limbs, brain damage, conjoined stillborn twins-reduced immunity-genetic damage

3.5 million sick, one/third of them children

8,000 deaths in 14 years

My grandmother, by Luda

Death of my life, by Marina

Chernobyl is war, by Irena

Beauty and the beast, by Helena

Nothing escapes radiation, by Irena

Chernobyl, our hell, by Eugenia

Self-portrait, by Natasha

It Cant Happen HereU.S. reaction to Chernobyl, 1986Blamed on Communism, graphite reactor

Also Soviet reaction to Three-Mile Island, 1979Blamed on Capitalism, pressurized-water reactor

No technology 100% safeThree-Mile Island bubble almost burst

Three-Mile Island, PA 1979

19.bin

Health around TMIIn 1979, hundreds of people reported nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and skin rashes. Many pets were reported dead or showed signs of radiation

Lung cancer, and leukemia rates increased 2 to 10 times in areas within 10 miles downwind

Farmers received severe monetary losses due to deformities in livestock and crops after the disaster that are still occurring today.

Plants near TMI -lack of chlorophyll -deformed leaf patterns -thick, flat, hollow stems -missing reproductive parts -abnormally largeTMI dandelion leaf at right

Animals Nearby TMI Many insects disappeared for years.

Bumble bees, carpenter bees, certain type caterpillars, or daddy-long-leg spiders

Pheasants and hop toads have disappeared.

Nuclear reactionChain reaction occurs when a Uranium atom splits

Different reactionsAtomic Bomb in a split secondNuclear Power Reactor more controlled, cannot explode like a bomb

History of nuclear power

1938 Scientists study Uranium nucleus1941 Manhattan Project begins1942 Controlled nuclear chain reaction1945 U.S. uses two atomic bombs on Japan1949 Soviets develop atomic bomb1952 U.S. tests hydrogen bomb1955 First U.S. nuclear submarine

Atoms for Peace

Program to justify nuclear technology

Proposals for power, canal-building, exports

First commercial power plant, Illinois 1960

Economic advantagesThe energy in one pound of highly enriched Uranium is comparable to that of one million gallons of gasoline.

One million times as much energy in one pound of Uranium as in one pound of coal.

Emissions FreeNuclear energy annually prevents5.1 million tons of sulfur2.4 million tons of nitrogen oxide164 metric tons of carbon

Nuclear often pitted against fossil fuelsSome coal contains radioactivityNuclear plants have released low-level radiation

Early knowledge of risks1964 Atomic Energy Commission report

on possible reactor accident

45,000 dead100,000 injured$17 billion in damagesArea the size of Pennsylvania contaminated

States with nuclear power plant(s)

Nuclear power around the globe17% of worlds electricity from nuclear power U.S. about 20% (2nd largest source)

431 nuclear plants in 31 countries 103 of them in the U.S.Built none since 1970s (Wisconsin as leader). U.S. firms have exported nukes.Push from Bush/Cheney for new nukes.

Countries Generating Most Nuclear Power

CountryTotal MWUSA99,784France58,493Japan38,875Germany22,657Russia19,843Canada15,755Ukraine12,679United Kingdom11,720Sweden10,002South Korea8,170

Nuclear fuel cycleUranium mining and millingConversion and enrichmentFuel rod fabricationPOWER REACTORReprocessing, orRadioactive waste disposalLow-level in commercial facilitiesHigh level at plants or underground repository

Front end: Uranium mining and milling

Uranium tailingsand radon gas

Deaths of Navajominers since 1950s

Uranium enrichmentU-235 Fissionable at 3%Weapons grade at 90%

U-238 More stable

Plutonium-239 Created from U-238; highly radioactive

Radioactivity of plutoniumLife span of least 240,000 years

Last Ice Age glaciation was 10,000 years ago

Neanderthal Man died out30,000 years ago

Risks of enrichmentand fuel fabricationLargest industrial users of water, electricityPaducah, KY, Oak Ridge, TN, Portsmouth, OH

Cancers and leukemia among workersFires and mass exposure.Karen Silkwood at Oklahoma fabrication plant.

Risk of theft of bomb material.

Nuclear Reactor Process3% enriched Uranium pellets formed into rods, which are formed into bundles

Bundles submerged in water coolant inside pressure vessel, with control rods.

Bundles must be SUPERCRITICAL; will overheat and melt if no control rods. Reaction converts water to steam, which powers steam turbine

Technology depends on operators

Other reactor accidents (besides TMI and Chernobyl) 1952 Chalk River, OntarioPartial core meltdown 1957 Windscale, EnglandGraphite reactor fire contaminates 200 square miles.1975 Browns Ferry, AlabamaPlant caught fire1976 Lubmin, East GermanyNear meltdown of reactor core .1999 Tokaimura, JapanNuclear fuel plant spewed high levels of radioactive gas

United States

Risk of terrorism(new challenge to industry)

9/11 jetpassed nearIndian Point

Nuclear Reactor StructureReactors pressure vessel typically housed in 8 of steel

36 concrete shielding

45 steel reinforced concrete

Breeder reactor Breeds plutonium as it operatesUses liquid sodium metal instead of water for coolantCould explode if in contact with air or water

1966 Fermi, Michigan Partial meltdown nearly causes evacuation of Detroit

1973 Shevchenko, RussiaBreeder caught fire and exploded

Controversial proposals in Europe, U.S.

ReprocessingSeparates reusable fuel from wasteLarge amounts of radioactivity released

1960s West Valley, NY Radiation leaked into Lake Ontario

1970s La Hague, France Released plutonium plumes into air

Back end: Radioactive wastesLow-level wastes in commercial facilities

Spent fuel in pools or dry casks by plants

Nuclear lab wastesHanford wastes leaked radiation into Columbia River

High-level underground repository Yucca Mountain in Nevada to 2037Wolf River Batholith in Wisconsin after 2037?Risks of cracks in bedrock, water seepage

Yucca Mountain

Transportation risksUranium oxide spills

Fuel rod spills (WI 1981)

Radioactive waste risks

Mobile Chernobylto Yucca Mtn.

Kyshtym waste disaster, 1957

Explosion at Soviet weapons factory forces evacuation of over 10,000 people in Ural Mts.

Area size of Rhode Island still uninhabited; thousands of cancers reported

Orphans

Radioactive Waste RecyclingDisposal of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants and weapons facilities by recycling it into household products.

In 1996, 15,000 tons of metal were received by the Association of Radioactive Metal Recyclers . Much was recycled into products without consumer knowledge.

Depleted Uranium munitions for military.

SummaryNuclear energy has no typical pollutants or greenhouse gasses

Nuclear waste contains high levels of radioactive waste, which are active for hundreds of thousands of years.

The controversy around nuclear energy stems from all parts of the nuclear chain.