- •Fallout from Chernobyl
- •400 million people exposed in 20 countries
- •Chernobyl’s political fallout
- •Radiation and Health
- •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 Can’t Happen Here”
- •Three-Mile Island, PA 1979
- •Health around TMI
- •Plants near TMI
- •Animals Nearby TMI
- •Nuclear reaction
- •History of nuclear power
- •“Atoms for Peace”
- •Economic advantages
- •Emissions Free
- •Early knowledge of risks
- •States with nuclear power plant(s)
- •Nuclear power around the globe
- •Countries Generating Most Nuclear Power
- •Nuclear fuel cycle
- •Front end: Uranium mining and milling
- •Uranium tailings and radon gas
- •Uranium enrichment
- •Radioactivity of plutonium
- •Risks of enrichment and fuel fabrication
- •Nuclear Reactor Process
- •Technology depends on operators
- •Other reactor accidents
- •United States
- •Risk of terrorism
- •Nuclear Reactor Structure
- •Breeder reactor
- •Reprocessing
- •Back end: Radioactive wastes
- •Yucca
- •Transportation
- •“Mobile
- •Kyshtym waste disaster, 1957
- •Radioactive Waste Recycling
- •Summary
United States
Risk of terrorism
(new challenge to industry)
9/11 jet passed near Indian Point
Nuclear Reactor Structure
•Reactor’s 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
•Controversial proposals in Europe, U.S.
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
Mountain