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The effects of a severe reactor accident at the proposed Sizewell B station upon agriculture and fisheries in the UK and neighbouring countries

Auteur	Political Ecology Research Group
Datum	mei 1984
Classificatie	2.05.8.20/13 (GROOT-BRITTANNIË - SIZEWELL)
Voorkant

1 Introduction

1.01 There have been several studies of the effects of potential severe reactor
accidents upon populations, including a detailed analysis of 'degraded core 
accidents' (where the reactor core melts) at the Sizewell site. However, such studies 
have concentrated mainly upon the health effects, providing statistics on, for 
example, numbers of immediate casualties, late cancer incidence or genetic defects. 
Although a major part of such assessments has involved calculations of land 
contamination and transfer of radioactivity to humans via the terrestrial foodchains, 
there has been no detailed assessment of the effects upon agriculture itself, no 
studies have included potential effects upon fisheries, and there has been little 
discussion of the role of agricultural workers following such impacts.

1.02 This report is a preliminary examination. of the effects upon agriculture and
fisheries of severe degraded core accidents at the Sizewell site. The type of accident 
considered is drawn from the assessment by the National Radiological Protection 
Board under commission to the CEGB. The NRPB considered a range of potential 
releases following a core melt-down, essentially encompassing situations where the 
containment either witheld the pressures, or was breached, releasing varying 
proportions of the more volatile elements and gases from the overheated core. The 
methodology utilises the NRPB's MARC computer programme, a special study being 
commissioned from NRPB by PERG (Haywood et.al., 1983).

1.03 The study describes the effects of radioactivity dispersed in an accident upon
agricultural production. In particular, areas and amounts of crops and livestock 
which would be interdicted (to limit long term health effects) are calculated. Some 
estimate of the proportion of UK production is made, together with monetary costs. 
In the cases of release to the marine environment, either by ground seepage or 
atmospheric fall-out, some estimate of the likely impact upon fisheries is made. 
Some consideration is also given to the probabilities of such events.

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