Introduction
Nuclear safety culture is becoming an important issue in the current society as many countries try to develop nuclear power plants as alternative source of power. According to Redmill and Anderson (2007), nuclear accidents are always considered dangerous not only because of the immediate death they cause but also their prolonged impact on people and the environment. Serious nuclear accidents may render a given area uninhabitable for over 150 years.
Such serious impacts have forced stakeholders to come up with measures that can enhance nuclear safety for the countries that are trying to harness nuclear power. This research will focus on nuclear safety issues by looking at some of the major nuclear accidents and incidents around the world and what can be done to counter such accidents.
This research will focus on understanding nuclear safety culture. It seeks to create knowledge on what the stakeholders can do to deal with cases of nuclear accidents in order to protect the humanity from its devastating effects. The following are some of the specific objectives in this study.
- To identify some of the major nuclear accidents and incidents in various countries around the world.
- To determine the immediate and long-term impact of nuclear accident on people and the environment.
- To determine measures that can be used to eliminate nuclear accidents and incidents in nuclear power plants.
- To determine ways through which experts can respond to cases of nuclear accidents or incidents.
Discussion
According to Rogers (2013), nuclear safety culture is an important aspect of the lifestyle of people and organizational culture of institutions which are directly involved in the operation of nuclear power plants. Individuals who are employed in nuclear power reactors must know what is needed to prevent cases of nuclear accidents in the country. They must also have the knowledge of how they can respond to emergencies within the plants either to prevent accidents from taking place, or arrest the accident before it can cause casualties.
The organizations should have the relevant equipment that may enable them to respond effectively to nuclear incidents and accidents. These organizations must use state-of-the-art technologies to run their operations, and regular maintenance must be done to eliminate or reduce possible cases of breakdown. It is also the responsibility of the organizations to ensure that they only hire experts, and that all the employees are aware of what is expected of them to remain safe when they are within the plants. Unskilled workforce should be restricted to specific areas in order to eliminate cases where an employee makes fundamental mistake because of his or her ignorance.
Historical Nuclear Accidents
Since the world powers started exploring nuclear as an alternative source of energy, there have been several accidents, some of which resulted in massive deaths and loss of life. The Chernobyl accident which took place on April 26, 1986 remains one of the most publicized and deadliest nuclear accidents in the world. This nuclear plant at Chernobyl, in the modern day Ukraine, was one of the largest nuclear power plants in the Soviet Union.
The cause of the accident was believed to be a sudden power surge that resulted into the explosion of the reactor because of its limited capacity. Although full report on the casualties has never been revealed, it is believed that thousands of people died because of the incident, and another 100,000 people were poisoned from the radiation coming from the plant (Taylor, 2010). According to this report, about 150 people had to be relocated to other areas as an area around Chernobyl was declared unlivable for as many as 150 years because of the radiation from the nuclear plant.
Kyshtym nuclear accident of September 29, 1957 is another historic nuclear accident that was entirely blamed on the shoddy work of the scientists who were rushing to expand Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal. In this system, the cooling system failed, and this led to overheating of the reactants. It is estimated that over 200 people died, and many people were evacuated to reduce casualties.
Three Mile Island accident which occurred on March 28, 1979 remains one of the worst nuclear accidents in the United States based on the impact it had on people and the environment. Inasmuch as no deaths were recorded, some researchers have claimed that the accident resulted into high rates of cancer in this region. Windscale nuclear accident of October 10, 1957 in the Great Britain occurred because of faults in the reactor. The accident associated with many cases cancer that affected people in this region.
Different Categories of Nuclear Accidents
According to Redmill and Anderson (2007), there are different categories of nuclear accidents. They can broadly be classified into accidents and incidents. There are eight levels of nuclear accidents, from level 0 to level 7. Level 7 include major accidents such as the Chernobyl accidents and Fukushima disaster. Level 6 include serious accidents such as the Kyshtym disaster of September 29, 1957. Level 5 include accidents with wide impact on the environment and people lasting several days. Level 4 accidents are cases where the nuclear accidents only impact the local environment and people such as the Buenos Aires in Argentina that happened in 1983.
Level 3 are serious incidents where people are exposed to non-lethal nuclear radiation from the plant. Level 2 is a nuclear incident where the public is exposed to radiation in excess of 50 m Sv/h but less than 1 Sv/h. Level 1 are anomalies that occur in nuclear plants that may expose the workers to unacceptable levels of radiation. Level 0 are deviations from safety procedures that do not result into any form of harm or scare.
Difference between an Accident and an Incident
It is important to understand the difference between and accident and an incident. Nuclear accident categories above have identified cases that can be classified as accidents or incidents. According to Petrangeli (2006), the difference between accidents and incidents is the magnitude. Catastrophic events which results into major deaths or serious sufferings are considered to be accidents. On the other hand, mishaps that cause minor injuries or panic is considered an incident.
International Nuclear Event Scale
Rogers (2013) defines International Nuclear Event Scale as “a tool for promptly and consistently communicating to the public the safety significance of events associated with sources of ionizing radiation” (p. 56). It is a body which was established in 1990 to enhance communication of safety information in the events of nuclear accidents (Short, 2007). The International Atomic Energy Agency established this body to help in speedy communication with the public in the events of nuclear accidents so that they can take the necessary precautionary measures. The figure below shows how the nuclear accidents are classified.
Conclusion
Nuclear Accidents have devastating impacts on people and the environment. There are various categories of nuclear accidents as discussed in this paper. It is important to have measures that can help in rapid response at the nuclear plants in cases of accidents and incidents.
References
Petrangeli, G. (2006). Nuclear safety. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Redmill, F., & Anderson, T. (2007). The safety of systems: Proceedings of the fifteenth Safety-critical Systems Symposium, Bristol, UK, 13-15 February 2007. London: Springer.
Rogers, M. J. (2013). Nuclear energy leadership: Lessons learned from U.S. operators. New York: Cengage.
Short, J. (2007). The role of safety culture in preventing commercial motor vehicle crashes. Washington: Transportation Research Board.
Taylor, J. B. (2010). Safety culture: Assessing and changing the behaviour of organisations. Surrey: Ashgate.