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Business-Managed Democracy »Environment » Global Warming » Greenwash » Nuclear Power Problems |
Nuclear power plants produce high-level radioactive waste that is currently stockpiled as there is no safe long-term way of dealing with it. Worldwide around 10,000 tonnes of this waste is generated annually. Any solution would have to isolate the waste for some 
200,000 years. A proposal to store high-level waste underground at Yucca Mountain (pictured) in Nevada in the US has been abandoned.
; Sue Wareham, 'The Nuclear Industry: A History of Misleading Claims', Energy Science Briefing Paper #20, undated . .Nuclear power plants produce plutonium that can be used to make nuclear weapons. "Of the 60 countries which have built nuclear power or research reactors, about 25 are known to have used their 'peaceful' nuclear facilities for covert weapons research and/or production". An average 1000 MW nuclear power station produces enough plutonium each year for 20 nuclear bombs and safeguards are designed to detect the loss of fissile material rather than prevent it.
Although there have been no major nuclear accidents since Chernobyl in 1986 (pictured), nuclear power plants have suffered a series of minor accidents and mishaps that are not widely reported. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) argues:
It must be borne in mind that a large-scale expansion of nuclear power in the United States or worldwide under existing conditions would be accompanied by an increased risk of catastrophic events—a risk not associated with any of the non-nuclear means for reducing global warming. These catastrophic events include a massive release of radiation due to a power plant meltdown or terrorist attack, or the death of tens of thousands due to the detonation of a nuclear weapon made with materials obtained from a civilian—most likely non-U.S.—nuclear power system.
Accidents and mishaps at nuclear power plants do not have to be catastrophic to release radiation. For example Japanese power plants have a number of incidents each year and also accidents resulting in deaths (see the newsletter of the Citizens Nuclear Information Centre (CNIC) and table below).
In addition to the perennial problems of plant malfunction and human error, terrorism looms large as a threat to nuclear plants and everyone working and living in their vicinity.
Year |
Place |
Incident |
Radiation Exposure |
Scale * |
Status |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Monju fast-breeder reactor prototype | Massive coolant leak | still closed | |||
| 1997 | Tokaimura fuel reprocessing plant | Fire and explosion | 37 workers exposed |
3 |
closed 3 years | |
| Tokaimura uranium fuel production plant | False alarm warning that fuel reached critical mass | ? |
||||
| Fugen advanced thermal reactor | Radioactive tritium leaked | 11 workers exposed |
? |
temp. closure | ||
| Tokaimura radioactive waste storage facility | Revelations of low-level radiation leaks over 30 years | na |
||||
| 1999 | Tsuraga nuclear power plant | Worst ever radioactive coolant leak | 1 |
temp. closure | ||
| Tokaimura uranium processing plant | uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction | >600 people exposed 2 workers die 300,000 residents ordered to stay indoors |
4 |
still closed | ||
| 2000 | Fugen advanced thermal reactor | Controlling rods in incorrect position | ? |
temp. closure | ||
| Joyo experimental reactor | Controlling rod malfunction | ? |
temp. closure | |||
| Mihama nuclear power plant | Cracked pipe, coolant leak | 1 |
temp. closure | |||
| 2001 | Hamaoka nuclear power plant | 2 unrelated radioactive leaks | 1 |
temp. closure | ||
| 2002 | Fukuishima Daiichi nuclear power plant | Core shroud cracks | 1 |
temp. closure | ||
For a full list of incidents see Citizens Nuclear Information Centre (CNIC) |
||||||
| 2003 | For a full list of incidents see Citizens Nuclear Information Centre (CNIC) |
|||||
| 2004 | Tsuruga nuclear power plant | Workers sprayed with contaminated water | 8 workers exposed |
? |
||
| Mihama nuclear power plant | Burst pipe containing high-pressure steam | 5 workers killed 6 in hospital |
0+ |
temp. closure | ||
* International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) – from 0 to 7 (Chernobyl=7, Three Mile Island=5)
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