Fukushima 2011 Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: A call for alternatives or evidence for improvement?

Transcription

1 Fukushima 2011 Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: A call for alternatives or evidence for improvement?

2 How did a Nuclear Power Plant in one of the most advanced countries in the world fail?

3 What Happened? Sendai Earthquake: Biggest Natural Catastrophy of the last 10centuries. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake moves northern Japan 8 feet to the east Disastrous tsunami wave follows hitting the North east coast of Japan And Inside? Power plant is shut down after first sysmic shock hence relying solely on main grid electricity supply Nuclear fission is interrupted and power plant staff is on alert Main supply of electric power cuts out Diesel Generators kick in, but fail soon after because engines are flooded from water Batteries take over cooling system, but are designed to endure only 8 hours Manual operation takes on flooding cooling chamber with seawater

4 And then?? The cooling chambers are insulated with a layer of Zirconium cladding, which is excellent for its purpose but when exposed with temperatures above 2000 C it reacts with boiling water creating Hydrogen. At high pressure and concentration hydrogen is highly explosive...

5 Sat 12th: **Explosion in Reactor No.1** Release of Radioactive steam Mon 14th: **Explosion in Reactor No.3** Tue 15th: **Explosion in Reactor No.2** Release of Radioactive Steam Partial Meltdown of Reactor No.2 Dangerously high levels of radiation on site 750 workers out of the 800 are sent home **Reactor No.4 catches fire** No fuel rods in its Core Failure at cooling spent fuel in cooling pool Spent fuel is left exposed to atmosphere Radiation rises to 400millisieverts an hour Wed 16th: **2nd Explosion at Reactor No.3** Tears open inner containment Reactor 3 is Steaming Reactor 1 is Smoking Reactor 4 Reignites (2 plant workers are lost in the fire) Radiation rises to 1000millisieverts an hour (Sickness after 1 hour) TEPCO orders workers to leave the power plant R.5 & 6 are heating up, R.3 is steaming, R.1 is still smoking and R.4 is still burning Workers return on site in the late afernoon once the cloud has reduced and measure a mere 1.5millisievert per hour

6 Severity Rating Raised to Level Seven Together with Chernobyl (1986 Disaster) Category Fukushima Daiichi Chernobyl Date 11 March April 1986 Accident Detail Magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami damage power plant system, causing cooling system to fail Sudden power output surge during testing. An intense fire burnt radioactive fuel for 10 days. Reactors Concerned Six total but only 3 concerned and cooling pool for spent fuel Four, but only one involved Radiation Released 370,000 Terabecquerels 5.2 milion Terabecquerels Area Affected 50 km radius 500 km radius Directly Related deaths None so far 64 (UN 2008) Long term health damage Not known, low risk 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer (2005)

7 International Reactionism France takes 75% of its energy from Nuclear Power Nuclear policy approved in 1970 following the oil price shock 19 Nuclear Plants within which 58 reactors Green Party EU Parlament member D. Cohn Bendit has proposed a REFERENDUM for France

8 Before Fukushima, Germany was undergoing a 3 month safety review of all of its Nuclear Power Plants to asses a potential extention of the production life. Seven of its Nuclear Plants have been omitted from the review and this has caused people to suspect that the government is disregarding nuclear safety in favour of energy profitability. Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, has already invested considerable capital in the project and is reluctant to withdraw the initiative in light of what has happened at the Fukushima Power Plant Germany's public opinion had already been heavily affected by the happenings at Chernobyl Power Plant during the disaster in 1986 Preliminary elections held in March have revealed an unusual majority (47.2%) for the Green Party over Merkel's democratic party (39%) in the Baden Wurternberg region which has historically been democratic (since 1956) Baden Wurternberg is one of Europe's whealthiest regions.

9 Italy closed its Nuclear power plants as a result of a REFERENDUM held soon after the Chernobyl dysaster. Ever since the Italian energy multinational colossus ENEL has continued to invest in foreign nuclear development with the prospect of taking nuclear power back to Italy in the future Italy imports 10% of its energy demand from foreign bordering nuclear power plants hence making nuclear prohibition rather pointless given the widespread damage that a Nuclear power plant disaster causes to its geographical surroundings This year Italy scheduled a REFERENDUM on the 12th & 13th of May in order to ridiscuss the 70 legislative and regulatory measures that prohibited Nuclear power production. The radioactive leaks at Fukushima this March have brought about considerable political debate. In order to obtain an objective result from a REFERENDUM, Italy has postponed its date for one year.

10 President Obama has always and will continue to pursue Nuclear Energy production. He explains that Nuclear Energy provides a cheap alternative to other forms of energy and holds a relatively low carbon footprint when compared America currently produces 30% of worldwide Nuclear Energy to more traditional gas or coal fired plants. It is not possible to achieve a climate solution based on existing technology without a significant reliance on nuclear power. President Obama

11 China has recently overtaken the US for total Carbon Dioxide emissions. Its increase in energy demand growing at 20% per annum calls for a change in the electricity grid supply. By 2020 they intend to create a ten fold increase in Nuclear capacity. Following the Fukushima events it has temporarily suspended its plans to start construction on its AP1000 plants. China intends to review the events of Fukushima with particular regards to the siting of the plants and the control of radiation release. India holds a flourishing and largely indigenous nuclear power program. It intends to supply 25% of it electricity on Nuclear energy by However the events at Fukushima have spurred an outburst of scientific and academic protests opposing the construction of its first large scale Nuclear plants, which are planned in highly sysmic areas and rely on French technology with no safety track record.

12 How risky is Nuclear Energy? Worst Nuclear Reactor Accident: Chernobyl (Ukraine) Total Death Toll: 4,000 (World Health Organization) 200,000 (Greenpeace) 985,000 (Russian Report) Other Consequences : 350,400 had to evacuate the area and resettled in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus Worst Renewable Energy Accident: Banqiao Dam (China) Total Death Toll: 26, ,000 (depending on source) Other Consequences : 11 milion people lost their houses. Power loss of 19GW equalling that of 20 Nuclear Reactors

13 St. Francis Dam (USA 1928) Death Toll: 600 people

14 Malpasset Dam (France 1959) Death Toll: 450 people

15 Vajont Dam (Italy 1963) Death Toll: 1,450 people

16 Terrorist Threat Operation Chastise Möhne Dam and the Eder Dam (Germany 1943) Death Toll: 1,200 people

17 Ixtoc I, Mexico (1980) 470,000 tons Lakeview Gusher, USA (1910) 1.2m tons Deepwater Horizon (BP), Gulf of Mexico (2010) 570,000 tons Kuwait Oil Fires (1991) 170m tons Gulf War Oil Spill (1991) 1m tons Nowruz Field Platform, Iran (1983) 260,000 tons Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan (1991) 285,000 tons SS Atlantic Exp (1979) 287,000 tons

18 Energy independence: The condition in which a country is not beholden to foreign nations or fluctuations of the market in meeting its energy needs. Most countries would like to have a greater degree of energy independence.

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20 Expiration Dates Natural Gas: 09:25 Sept Crude Oil: 20:58 Oct Coal: 20:05 May Uranium: Nov Source: European Energy portal

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22 Energy Efficiency 1g Uranium 235 = 3700 tons coal Uranium 235 (1.5 years) Coal (1 day) Waste: 2 tons of radioactive spent fuel Waste: 350,000 tons of ash, 4 million tons of Carbon Dioxide, Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides to the environment

23 The Nuclear waste generated for the energy to satisfy a typical family over a period of a lifetime is as small as a golf ball