May 2011

DANGER ZONE
After math of
Fukushima disaster
in the No. 4 unit on
March 22, 2011

THREE MILE ISLAND CHERNOBYL FUKUSHIMA

Unknown to anyone This was the world’s A tsunami caused the
until years later, largest nuclear failure of power to
half of the fuel disaster, spewing cool the fuel rods,
melted in one of the enourmous amounts of leading to massive
reactors. There was radiating into the amouunts of radiation
minimal radation atmosphere and forced exposure into the
exposure, but it took the evacuation of atmosphere. The costs
fourteen years and one 100,000 people. of the clean up is
billion dollars to unknown but expected
clean. to be catastrophic.
[1]
DANGER ZONE
May 2011
Nuclear Power:
the power, usually
electrical or motor
power, produced by
nuclear fission or
fusion

In protective
white suits, the
workers stand
outside the
containment walls
of Fukushima

THREE MILE ISLAND VS. CHERNOBYL VS. FUKUSHIMA CLEAN UP

A detailed look into the realities of nuclear disaster clean up

As scary as the health risks

of nuclear disasters are, the
clean up process is also time
consuming and expensive. In many
cases, the benefits of nuclear
power outweigh the risks, but in
the few cases where accidents
have occurred, the outcomes have
been devastating. The most
remembered events today are specialists have been working The Three We Remember
towards safer plant operations Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant,
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and
Chernobyl reactor building destroyed by
and take extreme precaution to
Fukushima. Most people hear the explosion, post-accident satellite view of
initial damage, but are unaware protect the safety of the public Fukushima

that the clean up goes on for and the workers.

decades and poses risks in

itself. Through these accidents,

[2]
 Comparing Data
Left: Based on this
data, you can see the
causes and effects of
each incident.
Below: Workers go to
clean up Chernobyl in
unsuitable protective
clothing.

Inside the Disasters

Although Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and
Fukushima occurred on all ends of the earth,
each disaster has similarities. Three
Mile Island occurred in 1979 in the
plant located near Middletown,
Pennsylvania. The accident occurred due
to mechanical and human failure caused
the cooling system to malfunction,
damaging the reactor core and causing a
release of radioactive gases. The amount of
radioactive gases leaked into the atmosphere was
not a large enough quantity to affect human
heath, however it was still necessary to
restore the reactor and eliminate the
The clean possibility of radiation exposure. To
up of TMI was
prevent this from happening, Unit 2
one of the top
engineering was severed from any connection for
achievements connection to the rest of the plant
of 1990. and was not longer used, but was still
under extreme regulation and
monitoring. De-fueling Unit 2 reactor
vessel was the core of the clean up process.

TIME AND COSTS OF CLEAN UP THREE MILE ISLAND CHERNOBYL FUKUSHIMA

Time: Fourteen Time: It’s been Time: Unknown, but

years twenty-five years projected to take
Costs: One billion and cleaning is years
dollars still going on. Costs: Unknown
Costs: Over $240 magnitude of costs,
million by the US could cost billions
government, of dollars
guaranteed $123 to
constructing a new
confinement shelter

[3]
CLEAN UP:
Inside the Disaster Continued
About one-hundred tuns of damaged
uranium fuel had to be removed from the
reactor vessel. The damaged fuel remained
underwater throughout the de-fueling. An
electric evaporator was used to safely
remove the fluids for two years. Over two
million gallons of water was safely
evaporated over the two year period. The first
major phase of clean up came in April 1990,
when one hundred and fifty tons of radio
active wreckage from the vessel were moved
to Idaho to be stored at the Department of
Energy’s National Engineering Laboratory.
A Different Story at
Chernobyl
Three Miles Island showed it was
possible to do a significant amount of
cleaning up after reactor failure. Located in
Ozersk, Russia, Chernobyl was the world’s
largest nuclear disaster, and unlike Three Mile
island, parts of it had to be encased in
concrete because there was no possible safe
cleaning process. However, in a country
where nuclear power was not practiced as
safely as it is in the United States, workers
did not know how to properly clean the
nuclear disaster. About 800,000 workers were
in charge of the removal and burial of all the
contamination in the “dead zone”. According
to the Belarus nation cancer statistics, “The
new data, predicts approximately 270,000
cancers and 93,000 fatal cancer cases
caused by Chernobyl. The report also
“Chernobyl
necklace”- a
scare received
after a common
surgery,
removal of the
thyroid
concludes that on the basis of
demographic data, during the last
15 years, 60,000 people have
additionally died in Russia because
of the Chernobyl accident, and
estimates of the total death toll for
the Ukraine and Belarus could Blob
reach another 140,000.” Many of melted
of these deaths were a result of nuclear fuel
poor protective clothing for the beneath
workers that were directly Chernobyl Future of
exposed to radiation. A specific Fukushima
case was Natalia Manzurova. She When nuclear reactors 1, 2, 3, and 4
was one of the few people that survived to in Fukushima failed and melted the fuel rods,
tell her story, and was one of the workers.
officials carefully thought out a safe plan as to
Manzurova spent four and a half years not expose the workers to lethal amounts of
assisting in the clean up in the abandoned radiation. Although there is a plan of action,
town on Pripyat, a town less than two miles the whole country is recovering from damage
from the reactors. Her work involved done by earthquakes and the tsunami. This
measuring radiation levels, collecting slows the ability to focus on the clean up of
vegetation samples to check the the nuclear disaster. With multiple problems
contamination levels, and burying everything occurring, it is important to keep the
in sight, including wild animals still alive that
reactors cool. Workers are using ample
had been exposed. Her recent message to
amounts of water to retain the temperatures.
the Fukushima victims in Japan is: “Run away
Some of the water is being evaporated using
as quickly as possible. Don’t wait. Save
similar techniques as Three Mile Island, but
yourself and don’t rely on the government
there are still problems with water leaking.
because the government lies.” Today she is
With all the current issues being assessed,
living with out a thyroid and experiences
the clean up process is off to a slow start,
constant illness connected to radiation
and with all of the damage to the country, it
exposure. There is no reason that she should
could take years and endless funds to finish
have been promised that the conditions were
the clean up.
safe to work in.
Fukushima
disaster areal
view at left.
Projected
radiation
exposure at
right.
[4]