Posted : June 2013
Author : the admin
Luckily, the world has yet to experience enough nuclear
accidents to push this incident off of the list. The partial meltdown of Sweden’s Lucens
reactor is in fact a tale of proper caution when dealing with nuclear
materials. Unlike most of the perpetrators that come later, the facility that
served to pilot Sweden’s
nuclear power program was built in a cavern. A fault in the coolant system
(something you might notice as being a recurring trend) resulted in the partial
meltdown of the reactor core. The Swedes sealed the cavern and later
decontaminated it. No casualties were reported. This accident is the best that
it gets for nuclear accidents as our list becomes increasingly fatal.
9. Three Mile Island
In terms of health effects and overall impact, the partial
meltdown at Three Mile Island ranks rather
low. It makes the list because its fame put it here. This accident is the worst
that an American nuclear power plant has experienced to date. Its fame derives
not from solely what and where it happened, but just as much from what might have
happened. The Three Mile Island nuclear
accident serves as a stark reminder about how close some of these plants are to
populated areas and how easily a stroke of luck could affect us in a big way.
The plant itself is named “Three Mile Island” because it is a mere three miles
downriver from Middletown, Pennsylvania. There are also three cities (York, Harrisburg, and Lancaster) within 25
miles of the location. All of these areas could have been potentially
radioactively poisoned and/over evacuated. These fears were largely incited
through the Chernobyl Incident we will read about soon enough.
8. Soviet Submarine K-19 Nuclear Accident
If Captain Ahab donned a Russian accent and lived during the
age of submarines, then it is likely his name would be Nikolai Vladimirovich
Zateyev. Zateyev was the commander of K-19 during the time of its major crisis.
K-19 was conducting drills in the Northern Atlantic
when there was a malfunction in the nuclear reactor’s coolant system. What
followed was one of the longest sail of shames in history. Zateyev refused help
from the nearby American warships he was training to possibly destroy. When his
crew grew displeased with being forced into a radioactive setting, their
commander confiscated and threw all of their weapons overboard. The K-19 pill
of pollution was dragged back home by a diesel powered sub where it fouled the
waters. The sub was considered such a mechanical disaster that it was nicknamed
“Hiroshima” by
Soviet navy men.
7. Sinking of the USS Thresher
The USS Thresher was a nuclear powered submarine jam-packed
with cutting edge technology. Sadly, the manufacturers overlooked one minor
detail - ensuring that she’d stay afloat. She was launched in 1960 and endured a
series of tests through the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast of the United States.
The first problem with the Thresher was in 1961 when she had to get a jump
start from a World War II era, diesel-powered sub (the USS Cavalla). Plagued by
mechanical injuries, the Thresher was eventually brought north for extensive
overhauls. The vessel sank during its first test drive after its renovation.
Days later, it was formally announced that all 129 passengers were considered
deceased.
6. The Windscale Fire
The post-World War II arms race was in full force and the UK didn’t want
to be left in the wind. In an effort to develop their first atomic bombs, the
British built two reactors: Windscale Pile No. 1 and Windscale Pile No. 2. In
October 1957, sometime during a failed three-day process of annealing, a fire
erupted in the reactor of Pile No. 1. Overall the amounts of casualties are
estimated between 200-240 cases of cancer resulting from the fire and
subsequent radioactive release. The first attempts at dowsing the flames came
in the form of turning the plant’s fans full blast (which served to fan the
flames) and the dropping of liquid carbon dioxide. Water drops followed to no
avail. Finally, the engineers realized that starving the fire of oxygen was the
only route to success.
5. Brazil’s
Goiânia Accident
Sometimes humans get creative with how we spread our
radioactive contamination. A radiotherapy medical institute, “Instituto Goiano
de Radioterapia”, left one site for another in 1985. The problem is that
they left some radiological equipment behind at their old place of business. A
canister of highly radioactive material made its way out of the defunct
premises and into the black market where it was repeatedly handled and pawned.
Eventually, the device made its way to a scrapyard. Four people who handled the
device repeatedly perished. At least 249 others tested positive for radioactive
exposure. Due to how radioactivity is dispersed, the Goiana accident is perhaps
the most unique of the world’s nuclear disasters.
4. Radiotherapy Accident in Zaragoza, Spain
Another mishap in the radio-therapeutic field, a number of
cancer patients were cooked by an overpowered electron accelerator at the
Clinic of Zaragova in 1990. Eleven patients met an early demise and at least 16
more were wounded. Symptoms included burnt skin, organs, and bone marrow.
Exasperating the problem was a bad stroke of luck- namely, the delay of the
annually scheduled safety board inspection. The accident was certainly not as
widespread as the Goiânia accident, but it proved to be more fatal to those
afflicted.
3. Kyshtym Disaster
Obviously outclassed in nuclear technology by their
post-World War II American rivals, the Soviet Union
became desperate to catch up. One of the end results was a closed city named
Ozyorsk (Soviets loved having classified towns and cities) that enshrouded a
nuclear facility by the name of Mayak. Radioactive sludge was subsequently
pumped directly into the Techa River (from there to the Ob River and ultimately the
Arctic Ocean) and later stored at Lake
Karachay (largely
considered the most densely polluted area in the world). As if this facility wasn’t
a disaster already, there was an explosion on September 29, 1957. Over a half
million people were affected by differing levels of radiation. Many of the
towns along the Techa
River, who had already
been drinking deliberately contaminated water, were evacuated around a week
later. Discretion, as usual, was the Soviets’ chief concern. By the time they
were warned off, many of these inhabitants had skin falling off of their faces
and other mysterious ailments.
2. Fukushima
Daiichi
For whatever reason, the Japanese thought it was a good idea
to place a nuclear power plant along shores frequented by earthquakes and
subsequent tsunamis. It is amazing that the plant, commissioned since 1971,
hadn’t experienced a disaster earlier. Not surprisingly, a ridiculously large
quake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011. Nature knocked Fukushima Daichi (Fukushima I), one of the
15 largest power plants in the world, out of business. Once cooling systems
were flooded out and power low, radioactivity spewed forth. Reactors overheated
while a hold was put on using seawater to prevent an imminent meltdown. By the
time the red tape cleared to do permanent harm to the nuclear apparatus with
the sea water, it was too late to prevent the meltdowns. The end result is a 20
square km restricted zone surrounding the area. Luckily geographical features
prevented the need for a larger Chernobyl-sized zone. While this disaster
currently ranks #2 on our list, future discoveries concerning the health of
nearby Japanese citizens might easily push the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
disaster past our current champion.
1. Chernobyl
Ever since 1986, the disaster in Chernobyl has influenced popular myths and
realities alike. A zone of 19 miles (30 km) was subsequently cleared of
people and remains mostly unoccupied to this day. Chernobyl
itself was a small town of medieval origin, but even more famous is the now
vacant city of Pripyat.
An increasing amount of tourists and photojournalists have visited the city’s
iconic locations, such as the Ferris wheel and the amusement park. The accident
at Chernobyl
stands as a symbol of the diabolical nature of a Soviet regime who was more
concerned with trying to cover up the accident than getting its people the help
they needed. Mythically, Chernobyl
has been tied to the Russian movie S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (1979) due to the
similarities between the forbidden zones in the movie and in the real world.
Such a huge amount of folklore and mythology surrounds the zone that a series
of games and movies have explored concepts from artifact hunters that delve
into radioactive areas to mutant creatures lurking among the old ruins. Even
the concrete structure used to contain the melted down reactor is called a
sarcophagus, like it is holding the corpse of a dormant beast. Not to be lost
among the tales surrounding Chernobyl
are the sacrifices made by the firefighters and other workers on that first day
that helped prevent even more widespread damage.
~Blog Admin~
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