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Accidents will happen.. An inquiry of the social and economic consequences af a nuclear accident at Sizewell B

Auteur	F.Nectoux, W.Cannell
Datum	1984
Classificatie	2.05.8.20/12 (GROOT-BRITTANNIË - SIZEWELL)
Voorkant

1. INTRODUCTION

Nuclear power stations contain large quantities of extremely dangerous materials. 
Like other kinds of power station, nuclear power stations are designed to turn heat 
into electricity, but unlike other kinds of power station this heat is created not by 
burning oil or coal but by means of nuclear reactions of the uranium fuel in the 
central reactor 'core'. As a result of these reactions various radioactive substances 
build up in the fuel of the reactor and these substances emit radiation which can be 
highly damaging to living tissue. If the nuclear fuel were to overheat and these 
materials were released to the environment in substantial quantities then heavy 
contamination of the surrounding area would occur.

The human cost of such an accident could be very considerable. In the first place, 
the local population would be subjected to radiation exposure from the radioactive
'plume' coming from the reactor and from contaminated land and buildings. This 
would lead in extreme cases to acute radiation sickness and perhaps death, to higher 
incidence of cancer and other diseases after the exposure and to genetic change 
manifested in future generations. Crops and other agricultural produce might also be 
lost. Because of the persistence of radioactive contamination people might have to 
evacuate their homes for years. Besides the health costs there would be considerable 
economic costs and social costs consequent upon them.

Under normal circumstances the radioactivity is contained within the fuel rods inside 
the core of the reactor. Even under emergency conditions, a large number of safety 
systems are built into the reactor in order to avoid releasing substantial quantities of 
radioactivity into the environment. In view of the grave consequences which may 
result from such a release, considerable effort is also spent in attempts to demonstrate 
that events of this sort are sufficiently unlikely as to be of little concern. The logic 
of this is that so long as accidents are sufficiently infrequent they can be ignored, 
no matter what the consequences might be, and thus that the consequences are 
largely irrelevant.

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