United Nations Environmental Program

Transcription

1 United Nations Environmental Program Topic A: Decreasing the effect of industrial radiation on the environment. Director: Emiliano Garza Moderator: Grazia Decanini Secretary: Emely Saide Introduction to the committee The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) is the major global environmental authority. This committee is part of the United Nations and was established in June 5 th 1972 to make recognition of our eco-system. UNEP s main headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya; it also has regional offices located in Washington DC, Panama City, Geneva, Manama, and Bangkok. UNEP s mission is "To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations." By looking at UNEP s mission we can say that this is a committee that works to make a strong impact in making the world a more healthful and clean place with a better global environment. Achim Steiner directs UNEP, he is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, and a Deputy Executive Director supports him, this being Ibrahim Thiaw. UNEP s work focuses on 7 main priorities being: Climate change: strengthen the ability of countries to integrate climate change responses into national development processes. Disasters and conflicts: minimize the threats of human well being from environmental purposes. Ecosystem management: Ensure and promote that humans are well aware of the environmental damage. Environmental governance: Ensure that environmental governance and interactions at the country, regional and global levels are strengthened to address environmental priorities.

2 Chemicals and waste: Minimize the impact of harmful substances and hazardous waste on the environment and people. Resource efficiency: Make natural resources more valuable to people and make people use them in a more sustainable way. Environmental under review: Make people aware of the harm they are doing to the environment and make them want to help. In addition to its priorities, UNEP continues to focus on the Green Economy as well as contributing to the environmental dimension and development of sustainable development goals. Introduction of the Topic Radiation is energy or particles that come from a source and travel through space and can penetrate materials. There are many forms of radiation that are found in our natural environment and are produced by modern technology, humans or our own environment. Every type of radiation can produce beneficial and harmful effects. For example, the sun can be good to the environment when received in low levels. But on the other hand, ionized radiation such as x-rays, gamma rays, alpha and beta particles can be harmful in excessive amounts. Industries make use of radioactive materials for many purposes. They use radiationproducing machines and sealed source radioactive materials for density evaluation, product sterilization, quality control, static elimination, and electricity generation. These effects, in large amounts can be harmful to the environment, plant and animal life. Natural radiation can be beneficial to the environment. Plants need to receive nonionizing radiation to grow healthy. This types of radiation that produces light help photosynthesis to occur, which is a positive effect that radiation has on plant life. On the other hand, radiation can be really dangerous or even fatal to humans and animals. Radiation causes molecules to lose electrons and it kills certain enzymes in our body, which can make us sick. So once radiation damages the DNA in our body, it may not repair itself. This can increase the possibilities on human and animals to develop cancer. Decreasing the effect that industrial radiation causes on the environment would be the perfect prevention to decrease the bad effect ionizing radiation causes on humans, animals, and most of all, the environment. This would also save many lives that could be in danger when industries use their radiation producing machines and products. Background information of the Topic Radiation started in 1895 with the discovery of X-rays. X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen ( ) who was a Professor at Wuerzburg University in Germany. Soon after the discovery of X-rays, radioactivity was discovered. By

3 using radioactive sources such as radium, far higher photon energies could be obtained than those from normal X-ray generators. Soon these found various applications, with one of the earliest users being Loughborough College. X-rays and gamma rays were put to use very early, before the dangers of ionizing radiation were discovered. After World War II new isotopes such as caesium-137, iridium-192 and cobalt-60 became available for industrial radiography, and the use of radium and radon decreased. In June 1896, only 6 months after Roentgen announced his discovery, X-rays were being used by battlefield physicians to locate bullets in wounded soldiers. Prior to 1912, X- rays were used little outside the realms of medicine and dentistry, though some X-ray pictures of metals were produced. The reason that X-rays were not used in industrial application before this date was because the X-ray tubes (the source of the X-rays) broke down under the voltages required to produce rays of satisfactory penetrating power for industrial purposes. However, that changed in 1913 when the high vacuum X-ray tubes designed by Coolidge became available. The high vacuum tubes were an intense and reliable X-ray source, operating at energies up to 100,000 volts. In 1922, industrial radiography took another step forward with the advent of the 200,000-volt X-ray tube that allowed radiographs of thick steel parts to be produced in a reasonable amount of time. In 1931, General Electric Company developed 1,000,000 volt X- ray generators, providing an effective tool for industrial radiography. That same year, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) permitted X-ray approval of fusion welded pressure vessels that further opened the door to industrial acceptance and use. Current Situation on the Topic

4 Radiation in the Environment is a very important situation that is starting to create awareness among countries worldwide after several incidents and issues throughout the history of humanity. Radioactive materials have been found in nature since many years ago, and considerable amounts are found in natural substances such as soil, water, air, plants and animals, this causes humans to have daily contact with radioactivity, radioactivity in high contact can cause serious danger on human bodies. Many countries in the world suffer from environmental radiation on their territories, this problem has been controlled in many areas in the world, but in other areas this problem persists, This causes communities to have daily exposure with this deadly source of energy. Some countries in the world suffer from environmental radiation and this causes some regions to have contact with radiation that can lead to them huge problems, the most affected regions in the world have history of Radioactive plants disasters or accidents that affect territories of their countries. In 2015 there haven t been any radioactive related disaster or nuclear plant accident, and this is due to the right use of the Atomic Energy Handling Procedures that have been established by many organizations and Agencies. This Handling Procedures help Industries to learn and establish the right procedures for the handling of Atomic Energy and Radioactive Waste that can affect the Environment and the humans near the affected territories. The most recent radioactive related incidents where in 2011 where in Japan a Tsunami crashed into the coasts of this country and this caused 5 nuclear plants in Fukushima, causing the overflowing of the plants. This incident killed some workers but no accurate data have been proportioned related on how many fatalities this accident produced. The largest accident that has been ever recorded was the Chernobyl Disaster that was in April 26, 1986 with an approximate of 4000 thousand deaths, this was due to the overheating, steam explosion and meltdown in the radioactive plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, this incident caused the evacuation of more than 300,000 persons that lived in Chernobyl, This accident had 56 direct deaths and an estimated 4,000 extra cancer deaths with approximately 600,000 highly exposed persons. International Action on the Topic Many countries are trying to decrease the damaging radiation effects that industries are causing to the environment.

5 Since 1991, OzonAction has been working to strengthen the capacity of governments, industry and civil society in developing countries to implement the Montreal Protocol to protect the Earth's ozone layer. This is a really important project that can be implemented to make the industries more concerned about the big effect that they re causing with radiation, because they are affecting the environment in a really powerful way, that is not a bit healthy. In America, nuclear power plants are the second largest source of electricity, producing approximately 21% of the Nation's electricity. The U.S. has agreed to establish limits for the release of radioactivity from nuclear power plants. Paris has established International Conferences on Radioactivity and Radiation Protection because it is the leading integrative conference for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of Radioactivity and Radiation Protection. The conference brings together leading academic scientists, researchers and scholars in the domain of interest from around the world. This helps the research about the harm radiation makes to the environment, and makes more preventions. After several Incidents regarding Nuclear Energy where persons and communities have paid the consequences for the misuse of Nuclear Energy Facilities and this caused a huge controversy between Environmental and Security Agencies throughout the world asking the difficult question, Should Nuclear Power Plants be Legal? and many respond with the simple answer that followed under the right procedures and following all health and safety policies this is enabled. After many incidents regarding Nuclear Safety many agencies were in favor of creating a protocol for the handling and the disposal of Nuclear Waste in order of avoiding Environmental contamination; this agencies created different procedures that each Nuclear Plant should have in order to receive their permit to start producing energy. This procedures that Nuclear Power Plants need to follow in order to start working, was created in order to reduce the accident percentage and avoid accidents like the Chernobyl Disaster, Kyshtym Disaster, and the Fukushima Disaster that are the most known and unfortunate incidents with the highest number of fatalities. Recommendations for Creating a Resolution In order to create a resolution paper you need to clearly understand what is a resolution paper, what is it s purpose, how do you create one, and what are the preambulatory and operative clauses. First of all, what is a resolution? A resolution is a document that contains all the issues that the committee wants to solve and the proposed solutions to that issue. The purpose of the resolution paper is to make conclusions about the solutions the delegates have proposed, so the committee can know what is the main solution regarding the issue. When you create a resolution paper you need to have the preambulatory and operative clauses since, you will need to include a few of each. The clauses are the words that help you start or complete the sentences in the resolution. The preambulatory clauses state all the

6 issues that the committee wants to resolve on this issue. It may state reasons why the committee is working on this issue and highlight previous international actions on the issue. While, the operative clauses state the solutions that the sponsors of the resolution proposes to resolve the issues. The operative clauses should address the issues specifically mentioned in the pre-ambulatory clauses above it. To start a resolution you need to have some sponsors, and signatures. The sponsors need to qualify to the following requirements, preferably the country should have a good economic level in order to afford the needed money, and the delegate representing the country should have good participation during the debate. The signatures are all the delegations that are in favor of the solution and that have collaborated to create the resolution paper. Some recommendations to create a resolution paper are to think about all the solutions the delegates collaborating have proposed, in order to get the best solutions to the topic. It is very important to include realistic solutions in the resolution paper. The Resolution has 3 main parts: the heading, the preambulatory clauses and the operative clauses. In the heading you need to include: 1. Name of the committee 2. Sponsors 3. Signatures 4. Topic Questions to Consider 1. Does your country have history in Nuclear Disasters? 2. Has your country contributed in some way for the prevention or treatment of Nuclear Accidents? 3. Are there any organizations in your country that protect the environment from nuclear disasters? 4. Are there nuclear power plants located in your country? 5. Does your country have a certain procedure for the protection of the environment in nuclear disasters? 6. How do the industries affect your country's radiation? 7. How bad is industrial radiation in you country affecting the environment?

7 8. How can industries continue operating causing less harm to your country's environment? 9. Does your country help to other countries providing this issue? 10. In what ways is industrial radiation affecting your country's civilians? Research AID For Bibliography: Terms and Concepts 1. Dimension: a property of space. 2. Ion: an electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons. 3. Sealed: an embossed emblem, figure, symbol, word, letter, etc., used as attestation or evidence of authenticity. 4. Sterilization: to destroy microorganisms. 5. Enzymes: any of various proteins. 6. Photon: a quantum of electromagnetic radiation. 7. Radiography: the production of radiographs.. 8. Radium: a highly radioactive metallic element whose decay yields radon gas and alpha rays. 9. Dentistry: the profession or science dealing with the prevention and treatment of diseases and malformations of the teeth. 10. Advent: a coming into place, view, or being; arrival. Bibliography "Hps.org." Health Physics Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov Retrieved from: "Industrial Uses." For Radiation. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov Retrieved from:

8 "Radiation Effects on the Environment." LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 07 Sept Web. 26 Nov Retrieved from: radiation-effects-on-the-environment/ "United Nations Environment Programme." OzonAction. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov Retrieved from: "Uses of Radiation." NRC:. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov Retrieved from: "ICRRP Paris 2015: 17th International Conference on Radioactivity and Radiation Protection." ICRRP Paris 2015: 17th International Conference on Radioactivity and Radiation Protection. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov Retrieved from: Dae. ATOMIC ENERGY (SAFE DISPOSAL OF Radioactive Waste) Rules, 1987(n.d.): n. pag. Web. Retrieved from: "World Nuclear Association." Safety of Nuclear Reactors. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec Retrieved from: Nuclear Energy Institute - Advancing Clean, Reliable Energy. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from (n.d). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from History. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 09 Dec Retrieved from: