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 power

Soviet leaders were engineers, not lawyers
USSR collapsed within 5 years.
 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
8,000 deaths in 14 years

3.5 million sick,

one/third of them children
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 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
Three-Mile Island, PA
1979
 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
 Plants
near TMI

-lack of chlorophyll
-deformed leaf patterns
-thick, flat, hollow stems
-missing reproductive
parts
-abnormally large
TMI dandelion leaf at right
Animals Nearby
Many insects
TMI
disappeared for
years.

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

Pheasants and
hop toads have
disappeared.
 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
 History of nuclear
power

1938 Scientists study Uranium nucleus

1941 Manhattan Project begins
1942 Controlled nuclear chain reaction
1945 U.S. uses two atomic bombs on
Japan
1949 Soviets develop atomic bomb
1952 U.S. tests hydrogen bomb
1955 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 advantages
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.
 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
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
STATES WITH NUCLEAR
POWER PLANT(S)
Nuclear power around the
globe
17% 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
Country Total MW
USA 99,784
France 58,493
Japan 38,875
Germany 22,657
Russia 19,843
Canada 15,755
Ukraine 12,679
United Kingdom 11,720
Sweden 10,002
South Korea 8,170
 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
 Front end:
Uranium mining and
milling
 Uranium
tailings
and radon
gas

Deaths of Navajo
miners since 1950s
 Uranium enrichment

U-235
Fissionable at 3%
Weapons grade at 90%

U-238
More stable

Plutonium-239
Created from U-238; highly radioactive
Radioactivity of plutonium

Life span of least

240,000 years

Last Ice Age glaciation

was 10,000 years ago

Neanderthal Man died out

30,000 years ago
 Risks of enrichment
and fuel fabrication

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.

 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
Technology depends on
operators
 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
United States
 Risk of terrorism
(new challenge to industry)
9/11 jet
passed near
Indian Point
 Nuclear Reactor
Structure

Reactors pressure vessel

typically housed in 8 of
steel

36 concrete shielding

45 steel reinforced concrete

 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
 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
 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 seepage
 Yucca
Mounta
in
 Transportation
risks

Uranium oxide spills

Fuel rod spills (WI 1981)

Radioactive waste risks

 Mobile
Chernobyl

to Yucca
Mtn.
 Kyshtym waste
disaster, 1957

Orphans

Explosion at Soviet weapons factory forces

evacuation of over 10,000 people in Ural
Mts.

Area size of Rhode Island still uninhabited;

 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.

 Summary
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.