Nuclear Energy: should or should not be used – Part 2

It is know that a failure can cause in immeasurable proportions. In nuclear power plants these faults can be as catastrophic to cause numerous deaths and serious environmental damages.

Nuclear energy: should we use it or not? On Part 1 we saw some of the pros and cons of using nuclear technology for energy. Now we look at some of the most serious and known nuclear accidents that have happened in the world.

- Chernobyl - Occurred on April 26, 1986, in Ukraine, the accident of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is considered the worst nuclear accident ever in the world. About 200 thousand square kilometers of land were contaminated with radioactive particles released with the explosion of reactor number 4 of the plant, reaching parts of other countries like the USSR, Eastern Europe, Belarus, UK and Scandinavia. The radioactivity released, which caused numerous deaths, still causes many harmful effects, such as soil contamination, cancer and burns. Among the causes of the accident are: the lack of instruction of the workers, the shutdown of the reactor safety equipment, lack of communication between workers and security guards and defect in the reactors.

- Three Mile Island - Occurred on September 29, 1979, in Pennsylvania, in the United States, the nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island was caused due to a break in the reactor coolant pump, causing a failure in the cooling system, which led to the melting equipment. The released radiation caused genetic changes in plants and was so intense that approximately 140,000 people had to evacuate the area.

- Fukushima - Occurred on March 11, 2011, in the city of Fukushima, Japan, the accident at the Daiichi nuclear power plant happened after an earthquake and tsunami, has blown three of the six reactors. The levels of radiation released in the accident were too high and the cause is not clear yet. There are suspicions that the incident was not caused by the earthquake and tsunami, but by a human error on the part of one of the employees turned off the cooling system of the reactors.

- Kyshtym - Occurred on September 29, 1957, in Ozyorsk in Russia. The cause of the accident was a failure in the cooling system, followed by an explosion in a tank with 80 tons of radioactive material, contaminating the Mayak region and other regions within 800 km. Although it occurred in the city of Ozyorsk, the accident became known as "The disaster Kyshtym" because the city of Ozyorsk was not officially part of Russia. 200 deaths were estimated from cancer due to radiation exposure.

- Tokaimura - Occurred on October 30, 1999, in the town of Tokaimura, Japan, the accident at the nuclear plant was caused by employees who used large amounts of uranium in a reactor that was disabled for over a year. The released radiation affected more than 600 people.

- Bohunice - Occurred on February 22, 1977, the nuclear power plant Bohunice, Czechoslovakia, the accident was caused by improper removal of moisture absorber covering the fuel rods after transfer of nuclear fuel, resulting in the cooling equipment failure that eroded the reactor, releasing radiation. Do not know the dimensions that this accident reached, since the case was covered by the government.

- Goiânia - Occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiania, Brazil, the accident with the radioactive substance cesium-137 occurred outside the nuclear plant. A capsule containing this substance and was used for treatments was found in the rubble of Goiás Institute of Radiation by a man who sold it to a junkyard and from there, the blue glow that emitted, piqued the curiosity of locals who , unaware of the danger of the substance began to spread about their bodies and handle cesium without any caution. In that crash about 800 people were infected and 200 died from other radiation effects.

In all the above cases there are consequences to this day because of radioactivity released in the accident, causing health problems for people living in areas near the site. Thus, the failure in most human errors caused great disasters, including environmental damage and death.

      Although nuclear energy has many pros as we saw in the first part, you should be very careful with the instructions to work with this type of energy source. And do not stop there, wait for the 3rd part about nuclear energy.

Aline Midori (Translation: Sarah Norberto)