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Fallout from Chernobyl

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400 million people exposed in 20 countries

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Chernobyl’s political fallout • Stimulated Gorbachev’s 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 power– Soviet leaders were engineers, not lawyers– USSR collapsed within 5 years.

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Radiation and Health

• Health 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

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3.5 million sick, one/third of them children

8,000 deaths in 14 years

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My grandmother, by LudaRationhome.com

Death of my life, by MarinaRationhome.com

Chernobyl is war, by IrenaRationhome.com

Beauty and the beast, by HelenaRationhome.com

Nothing escapes radiation, by IrenaRationhome.com

Chernobyl, our hell, by EugeniaRationhome.com

Self-portrait, by NatashaRationhome.com

“It Can’t Happen Here”

• U.S. reaction to Chernobyl, 1986– Blamed on Communism, graphite reactor

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

• No technology 100% safe– Three-Mile Island bubble almost burst

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Three-Mile Island, PA 1979

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Health around TMI

• In 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.

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Plants near TMI

-lack of chlorophyll -deformed leaf patterns -thick, flat, hollow stems -missing reproductive parts -abnormally large

TMI dandelion leaf at rightRationhome.com

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.

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Nuclear reaction

• Chain reaction occurs when a Uranium atom splits

• Different reactions– Atomic Bomb in a split second– Nuclear Power Reactor more controlled, cannot

explode like a bomb

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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 submarineRationhome.com

“Atoms for Peace”

Program to justify nuclear technology

Proposals for power, canal-building, exports

First commercial power plant, Illinois 1960

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• The 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.

Economic advantages

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Emissions Free

• Nuclear energy annually prevents– 5.1 million tons of sulfur– 2.4 million tons of nitrogen oxide– 164 metric tons of carbon

• Nuclear often pitted against fossil fuels– Some coal contains radioactivity– Nuclear plants have released low-level radiation

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Early knowledge of risks

• 1964 Atomic Energy Commission report on possible reactor accident

– 45,000 dead– 100,000 injured– $17 billion in damages– Area the size of Pennsylvania contaminated

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States with nuclear power plant(s)

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Nuclear power around the globe

• 17% of world’s 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.

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Countries Generating Most Nuclear Power

Country Total MWUSA 99,784France 58,493Japan 38,875Germany 22,657Russia 19,843Canada 15,755Ukraine 12,679United Kingdom 11,720Sweden 10,002South Korea 8,170Rationhome.com

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Nuclear fuel cycle

• Uranium mining and milling• Conversion and enrichment• Fuel rod fabrication• POWER REACTOR• Reprocessing, or• Radioactive waste disposal

– Low-level in commercial facilities– High level at plants or underground repository

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Front end: Uranium mining and milling

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Uranium tailingsand radon gas

Deaths of Navajominers since 1950s

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Uranium enrichment• U-235

– Fissionable at 3%– Weapons grade at 90%

• U-238 – More stable

• Plutonium-239 – Created from U-238; highly radioactive

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Radioactivity of plutonium

Life span of least 240,000 years

Last Ice Age glaciation was 10,000 years ago

Neanderthal Man died out30,000 years ago

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• Largest industrial users of water, electricity– Paducah, KY, Oak Ridge, TN, Portsmouth, OH

• Cancers and leukemia among workers– Fires and mass exposure.– Karen Silkwood at Oklahoma fabrication plant.

• Risk of theft of bomb material.

Risks of enrichmentand fuel fabrication

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Nuclear Reactor Process• 3% 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

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Technology depends on operators

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Other reactor accidents (besides TMI and Chernobyl)

• 1952 Chalk River, Ontario– Partial core meltdown

• 1957 Windscale, England– Graphite reactor fire contaminates 200 square miles.

• 1975 Browns Ferry, Alabama– Plant caught fire

• 1976 Lubmin, East Germany– Near meltdown of reactor core .

• 1999 Tokaimura, Japan– Nuclear fuel plant spewed high levels of radioactive gas

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United States Rationhome.com

Risk of terrorism(new challenge to industry)

9/11 jetpassed nearIndian Point

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Nuclear Reactor Structure

• Reactor’s pressure vessel typically housed in 8” of steel

• 36” concrete shielding

• 45” steel reinforced concrete

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Breeder reactor “Breeds” plutonium as it operates

Uses liquid sodium metal instead of water for coolant– Could explode if in contact with air or water

• 1966 Fermi, Michigan – Partial meltdown nearly causes evacuation of Detroit

• 1973 Shevchenko, Russia– Breeder caught fire and exploded

• Controversial proposals in Europe, U.S.Rationhome.com

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Reprocessing

• Separates reusable fuel from waste– Large amounts of radioactivity released

• 1960s West Valley, NY – Radiation leaked into Lake Ontario

• 1970s La Hague, France – Released plutonium plumes into air

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Back end: Radioactive wastes• Low-level wastes in commercial facilities

• Spent fuel in pools or “dry casks” by plants

• Nuclear lab wastes– Hanford wastes leaked radiation into Columbia River

• High-level underground repository – Yucca Mountain in Nevada to 2037– Wolf River Batholith in Wisconsin after 2037?– Risks of cracks in bedrock, water seepageRationhome.com

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Yucca Mountain

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Transportation risks

• Uranium oxide spills

• Fuel rod spills (WI 1981)

• Radioactive waste risks

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“Mobile Chernobyl”to Yucca Mtn.

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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

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Radioactive Waste Recycling

• Disposal 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.

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• Nuclear 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.

Summary

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