NUCLEAR POWER

Nuclear Power

Nuclear Power

Many places have suffered from nuclear radiation exposure, such as Chernobyl, Marshall Islands, Japan, the United States, and Kurchatov (Braverstock). Due to the risks involved with nuclear energy, the public has trouble endorsing nuclear power despite its cost effectiveness (Radetzki). Looking back on history and current facts, it is no wonder why people are concerned. According to Lydia Dotto, "Post war conditions need not reach the most extreme limits. . . in order to have very serious impacts on global, agricultural, and natural ecosystems, and, in turn, on human society" (3).

On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl, a generating station in the Soviet Union, is considered responsible for over 200,000 deaths when radioactive materials spread over northern Ukraine and Belarus (Radiation).

Local life expectancies have plummeted "” men in surrounding towns now live an average of fifty years "” and cancer rates have soared. Among children, the worst affected because their growing organs are especially sensitive to radiation, thyroid cancers have climbed to nearly a hundred times the pre-disaster rate. (Lemer 55) Water, soil, and animals were poisoned with radiation in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Vegetables with underground roots became toxic and inedible, and grass and forests became contaminated as well. Many water routes were also affected. Some of these included the Dnieper River, the Pripyat River, the Desna River, the Kieve River, the Kaner Reservoir, the Kremenehug Reservoir, the Dniepropetrovsk Reservoir, and the Kakhovka Reservoir. Due to this devastation, a thirty mile exclusion zone was put in place surrounding the affected areas, which is causing scientists to have trouble studying the effects of the radiation (NEA).

Even before Chernobyl occurred, Three Mile Island had already been deemed a disaster area. In Royaton, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, reactor two went critical on March 28, 1979 (Britannica). The Three Mile Island Accident was the largest nuclear catastrophe in the United States. Radioactive gases were released throughout the entire plant, leaking from open valves. Contaminated water as well as gases leaked into other buildings (Y2KNewswire).

The reactor was out of control, the core was uncovered by the leaking coolant, fuel was melting and collapsing to the bottom of the reactor, the control room operators were bewildered, evacuation plans were pushed aside, and we came within thirty seconds of an irreversible meltdown. (TMIA) Three Mile Island caused the mutation of plants, food products, insects, and animals. There were signs of giantism, pigment variations, misshapen forms, and various other side effects near the reactor. Some animal mutations that were discovered were two-headed cows and four-legged spiders. However, those with only four legs could count themselves as lucky because many insects completely disappeared from the area (Plant).

According to "Cancer Weekly Plus," people living nearby the nuclear reaction became sick, and several other people reported the death of a family pet. Winds carried the fallout to other areas, and it was later discovered that cancers increased in areas downwind of the accident. (Key) Looking at other nuclear reactions/explosions, the long term effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much ...