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Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
The consequences of a nuclear accident at Sizewell B

AuteurFOE
Datum
Classificatie 2.05.8.20/08 (GROOT-BRITTANNIË - SIZEWELL)
Voorkant

Uit de publicatie:

INTRODUCTION

Following the accident at the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, it is imperative to review 
and analyze the effects of a major nuclear accident in Britain. Discussing the safety 
feature of secondary containments designed to check the spread of radioactivity in 
the event of a major accident, Junior Energy Minister Alistair Goodlad stated on 
9 May, that the secondary containment " …is not considered necessary" on most 
British Nuclear Stations.

Although the lack of a secondary containment has been cited by the British nuclear 
industry as the factor that differentiates between the liklihood of a serious accident 
in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom, some UK reactors themselves have 
no secondary containment. Magnox reactors have partial secondary containments, 
but Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors have none.

Assurances that the probability is extremely small of having such a disaster here 
are faulted on a number of counts:

1. The risk and probability assessments of two other nuclear industries have proven
erroneous; in America with the partial meltdown of the Unit II Pressurised water 
Reactor at Three Mile Island in 1979, and the current meltdown at Chernobyl in 
the Soviet Union.

2. The assessment of the probability of occurrence of accidents (due to particular
sequences of equipment failure or human error) is carried out by the nuclear 
industry itself, is incomplete, and uses a small database.

3. The probabilistic approval does not allow for the realistic prediction of the
potential consequences of all nuclear accidents.

4. At the Sizewell Public Inquiry, human error was neglected in the safety
assessments.

This briefing concentrates on some of the consequences of a major accident 
and release of radioactivity in Britain. It outlines emergency procedures, National 
Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) scenario projections, and the consequences 
for the environment and human life.

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