The Melchizedek Chronicles - Nuclear Dangers - Chernobyl meltdown - April 25, 1986 - 33 years ago

Three dates we would do well to remember when the worst nuclear accidents in world history took place.

Three Mile Island - US - March 28, 1979 - 40 years ago

Chernobyl Ukraine - USSR - April 26, 1986 - 33 years ago

Fukushima Daiichi - Japan - March 11, 2011 - 8 years ago

Of course, for purposes of historical accuracy, we must also include the release date of the terrifying Hollywood movie about a nuclear reactor meltdown, the China Syndrome.  In an eerie and haunting twist of fate, this movie hit the box offices on March 16, 1979, just twelve days before the first nuclear meltdown in history took place in real life at TMI.

Nuclear energy, is not cheap.  The cost of a new reactor is $9 billion, while the cost to decommission it (shut it down) is about 15.6 times more than it cost to build it.  It uses uranium mined from the earth, a product of science and technology, source of the most powerful and destructive weapons ever known, and capable of doing devastating environmental damage to our air, water and land.

When you think about it it is a miracle we have only had three nuclear disasters throughout the world.  Standards vary, construction techniques and materials vary, and if it is located near a river or ocean, on an earthquake fault line, or where it can flood, you have a problem.

Of course, there is also the sad fact there is no place to dispose of or permanently store the spent reactor rods and radioactive cooling water.  A final drawback, we do not have much experience with damaged reactors and long-term study of the real effects of high levels of radiation on humans over lifetimes, and into the genetic coding of future generations.

In this article I want t remind you of the real consequences of a nuclear disaster which can happen anyplace and anytime most everywhere in the world.

This article is about Chernobyl, the first true meltdown of the core, the first explosion in a reactor, and the most extensive radioactive cloud ever experienced.  In a report by Reuters written by Richard Balmforth, these are the main facts.

Key facts:

* The cloud of radioactive strontium, caesium and plutonium affected mainly Ukraine and neighboring Belarus, as well as parts of Russia and Europe.

* Estimates for the numbers of direct and indirect deaths from the disaster vary.

* The Chernobyl Forum, a group of eight U.N. agencies, and the governments of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, have estimated the death toll at only a few thousand as a result of the explosion. U.N. agencies have said some 4,000 people will die in total because of radiation exposure.

* The environmental group Greenpeace puts the eventual death toll far higher than official estimates, with up to 93,000 extra cancer deaths worldwide.

* The Chernobyl Union of Ukraine, a non-government body, estimates the present death toll from the disaster at almost 734,000.

* The disaster was the object of a cover-up by secretive Soviet authorities who did not immediately admit to the explosion.

* The accident dented the image of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev who had earlier launched his ‘glasnost’ policies for greater openness in Soviet society.

* Chernobyl engineers shut down the last functioning reactor, Number Three, in December 2000. Radioactive nuclear fuel is still being removed from the plant.

* A make-shift cover — the ‘Sarcophagus’ — was built in six months after the explosion. It covers the stricken reactor to protect the environment from radiation for at least 30 years. This has now developed cracks, triggering an international effort to fund a new encasement.

* Ukraine is seeking a further 600 million euros ($840 million) to help finance the new convex structure which will slip over the aging ‘Sarcophagus’ and allow the old reactor to be dismantled.

* Officials say it could be up to 100 years before the station is completely decommissioned.

* A 30-km (19-mile) exclusion zone is in place round the disaster site.

* Wildlife has made a comeback in this area and there are said to be more than 60 different types of mammals living there including wild boar and elk.

* Although research continues, the first reports about long-term radiation damage have been published, and the results are that the radiation did less damage than initially feared. “There is a tendency to attribute increases in the rates of all cancers over time to the Chernobyl accident, but it should be noted that increases were also observed before the accident in the affected areas,” the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) said in its summer 2010 assessments of the radiation effects in Chernobyl.

“Moreover, a general increase in mortality has been reported in recent years in most areas of the former Soviet Union, and this must be taken into account when interpreting the results of Chernobyl-related studies,” the report said.

* In its conclusion, the U.N. report said that “the vast majority of the population need not live in fear of serious health consequences due to the radiation from the Chernobyl accident.”

* The report also said that the majority of the affected population in the region was exposed to radiation levels “comparable to or a few times higher than the natural background levels, and future exposures continue to slowly diminish as the radionuclides decay.”

Residents of Chernobyl and Pripyat surround the reactor and after considerable delay they were completely evacuated several hours after the radiation explosion.  Today, 33 years later, they remain part of the dead zone of high radiation levels and for the most part are abandoned.  This was life before the fateful day in April 1986.

Chernobyl before the nuclear accident.

The disaster!

Today.

 

 

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The cleanup of the area surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is expected to continue for decades, while parts may remain uninhabitable for thousands of years.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GERD LUDWIG, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

The Chernobyl disaster: What happened, and the long-term impacts

The accident at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine shocked the world, permanently altered a region, and leaves many questions unanswered.

PUBLISHED MAY 17, 2019

BY ERIN BLAKEMORE

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On April 25 and 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history unfolded in what is now northern Ukraine as a reactor at a nuclear power plant exploded and burned. Shrouded in secrecy, the incident was a watershed moment in both the Cold War and the history of nuclear power. More than 30 years on, scientists estimate the zone around the former plant will not be habitable for up to 20,000 years.

The disaster took place near the city of Chernobyl in the former USSR, which invested heavily in nuclear power after World War II. Starting in 1977, Soviet scientists installed four RBMK nuclear reactors at the power plant, which is located just south of what is now Ukraine’s border with Belarus.

A few months after reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant went up in toxic flames in 1986, it was encased in a concrete and steel "sarcophagus" to contain the radioactive material inside. That aging structure, seen here, was covered with a larger, newer containment housing in 2016.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GERD LUDWIG, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

On April 25, 1986, routine maintenance was scheduled at V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station’s fourth reactor, and workers planned to use the downtime to test whether the reactor could still be cooled if the plant lost power. During the test, however, workers violated safety protocols and power surged inside the plant. Despite attempts to shut down the reactor entirely, another power surge caused a chain reaction of explosions inside. Finally, the nuclear core itself was exposed, spewing radioactive material into the atmosphere.

Firefighters attempted to put out a series of blazes at the plant, and eventually helicopters dumped sand and other materials in an attempt to squelch the fires and contain the contamination. Despite the death of two people in the explosions, the hospitalization of workers and firefighters, and the danger from fallout and fire, no one in the surrounding areas—including the nearby city of Pripyat, which was built in the 1970s to house workers at the plant—was evacuated until about 36 hours after the disaster began.

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Publicizing a nuclear accident was considered a significant political risk, but by then it was too late: The meltdown had already spread radiation as far as Sweden, where officials at another nuclear plant began to ask about what was happening in the USSR. After first denying any accident, the Soviets finally made a brief announcement on April 28.

Soon, the world realized that it was witnessing a historic event. Up to 30 percent of Chernobyl’s 190 metric tons of uranium was now in the atmosphere, and the Soviet Union eventually evacuated 335,000 people, establishing a 19-mile-wide “exclusion zone” around the reactor.

At least 28 people initially died as a result of the accident, while more than 100 were injured. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has reported that more than 6,000 children and adolescents developed thyroid cancer after being exposed to radiation from the incident, although some experts have challenged that claim.

International researchers have predicted that ultimately, around 4,000 people exposed to high levels of radiation could succumb to radiation-related cancer, while about 5,000 people exposed to lower levels of radiation may suffer the same fate. Yet the full consequences of the accident, including impacts on mental health and even subsequent generations, remain highly debated and under study.

What remains of the reactor is now inside a massive steel containment structure deployed in late 2016. Containment efforts and monitoring continue and cleanup is expected to last until at least 2065.

The city of Pripyat was built to house workers of the nuclear power plant in the 1970s. It has been an abandoned ghost town since the accident, and is now used as a laboratory to study fallout patterns.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GERD LUDWIG, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

The impact of the disaster on the surrounding forest and wildlife also remains an area of active research. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, an area of about four-square miles became known as the “Red Forest” because so many trees turned reddish-brown and died after absorbing high levels of radiation.

Today, the exclusion zone is eerily quiet, yet full of life. Though many trees have regrown, scientists have found evidence of elevated levels of cataracts and albinism, and lower rates of beneficial bacteria, among some wildlife species in the area in recent years. Yet, due to the exclusion of human activity around the shuttered power plant, the numbers of some wildlife, from lynxes to elk, have increased. In 2015, scientists estimated there were seven times more wolves in the exclusion zone than in nearby comparable reserves, thanks to humans’ absence.

The Chernobyl disaster had other fallout: The economic and political toll hastened the end of the USSR and fueled a global anti-nuclear movement. The disaster has been estimated to cost some $235 billion in damages. What is now Belarus, which saw 23 percent of its territory contaminated by the accident, lost about a fifth of its agricultural land. At the height of disaster response efforts, in 1991, Belarus spent 22 percent of its total budget dealing with Chernobyl.

Today, Chernobyl beckons to tourists who are intrigued by its history and its danger. But though Chernobyl symbolizes the potential devastation of nuclear power, Russia never quite moved beyond its legacy—or its technology. As of 2019, there are still 11 operational RBMK reactors in Russia.    

How BP Gulf Oil Spill should effect Comprehensive Energy Policy in America

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Now that we have heard all the chest beating claims of the liberals and conservationists and the crescendo of photo ops and sound bites from our politicians making all kinds of nonsensical claims about the effect this spill Must Have on energy policy, are we ready for a taste of the truth?

The truth is this. America is dependent on oil to grow and survive. We are not the greatest user of energy per capita, that is Canada. The United States ranks number 7 in per capita consumption. Because of our population we use the most energy.

We use about 100 quadrillion BTUs a year, of which 40% is fossil fuel. In the category of fossil fuel petroleum is 23%, 23% natural gas, Nuclear provides 8.4%, and renewable 7.3% which is mainly from hydroelectric dams. Overall per capita consumption in the US has remained stable since the 1970's.



The alternative fuels being pushed by Obama and others are a viable long term solution but to put them ahead of an aggressive program to secure energy independence from foreign sources through expanded use of oil, natural gas and coal, is simple nuts. With the primary renewal sources of energy providing less than 5% of our total energy needs, the most liberal of development projections would not result in US energy independence with renewable fuels until the end of the 21st century if then. Remember we have to allow for economic growth.

The truth is the only short term investment that can lead to energy independence is use of the oil, gas and coal reserves in an environmentally friendly manner. Meaning, we need regulatory enforcement which did not happen in the BP oil spill case, improved regulations in terms of the back up plan for any future off shore oil drilling, and expanded drilling areas.



With the BP experience we can protect our environment while expanding drilling. We have already seen hundreds of wells drilled off shore in deep water with no problems. We can always improve the back up plans and permit process but should not strangle the use of oil, gas or coal as a result of the BP and Interior Department problem. BP drilled the well but Interior approved the plan and permits.

If we do not do this, or if we get caught up in environmental radicalism we will strangle the American economy and never have the growth necessary to support long term alternative energy development. Make no mistake, alternative energy development is going to result in far more expensive energy and the American public cannot support huge increases in gas and electric costs.

Obama has already embraced the liberal clean energy movement to the point of threatening the short term economic growth of our nation. If we go green today we will go broke. It is that simple. Yet we can start the transition process of going green without going broke by a two tiered energy policy, the aggressive development of fossil fuels to seek energy independence thus lower energy costs while we give incentives for a long term transition to a green energy economy.



Right now most money invested in green energy is going into the pockets of investors, Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, pseudo environmental groups like Al Gore and his Goldman Partners, and not for the benefit of the industry or to lower energy costs for people.

As for the lesson of the Gulf oil spill, it should serve the same purpose as Three Mile Island. The 1979 TMI nuclear disaster was unexpected, not covered by federal regulations, and brought the nuclear industry in America to a standstill. A cost of billions of dollars were involved in the clean up though no lives or jobs were lost. It is the price you pay for new technology which is exactly what happened in the deep water drilling. We discovered problems never anticipated before.

While nuclear provides just 8.4% of our energy, it supplies up to 70% of the energy in some countries. An unexpected disaster like TMI or the Gulf spill should enable us to learn and make sure it does not happen again. Right now there are far more off shore oil wells, over 2,000, than nuclear plants in the USA, 103 commercial plants, and for the short term oil can be in service in far less time and at far less cost than new nuclear or alternative sources.



Use the BP Gulf experience to learn and grow, not to strangle the future economic growth and independence of America. It is time for the president and congress to do what is right for America, not just what is politically expedient.

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Earth Day Today - 40th Anniversary - Americans Do Care

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It is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day when attention is focused on what needs to be done to protect the environment but we should not lose track of what has been done already even before Earth Day became popular. The reason I say that is much of the environmental progress in America has not come from federal government initiatives but the creative genius of local states, cities and people.



I can remember back about 50 years ago when my high school class in Iowa decided to transform an island overgrown with weeds that had been used as a dump site for decades into our own private beach and boating area. We spent two years cleaning, clearing and moving the tons of debris from the woods and water to make it a place we could go to get away from it all. To this day it remains a centerpiece for the city.



Later in Omaha, Nebraska I worked with the Mayor's Office on nationally recognized programs to Keep Nebraska Beautiful, a riverfront development program that transformed former warehouse districts, contaminated railroad yards, former metal plants and stockyards into nationally recognized projects that helped transform Omaha into a model and vibrant city today where it remains the home of Warren Buffett.



Also in Omaha we worked with Father Flannigan's Home for Boys, the world famous Boy's Town, on creating a farm using only natural products for fertilizer, pest control and land restoration. It was successful in demonstrating that crop yields from natural farming could equal the yields of chemicals.



While in Omaha the mayor and I worked on the riverfront development program and during the 1970's oil crises by OPEC we set up a solar energy company that put solar systems in several hundred homes and small businesses across the country. We were able to get the help of major corporations like Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Dow Chemical and Phillips Petroleum to make our patented components. It was highly successful until congress eliminated the solar tax credit when oil prices fell.



While working for the Executive Office of the President and Congress in Washington I helped set up first the Federal Energy Agency, later upgraded to the Department of Energy, and worked on a number of legislative bills to manage energy, promote conservation and reduce oil dependence.

When I worked for Governor Thomas Kean of New Jersey in the 1980's we launched a series of nationally recognized environmental initiatives including the first statewide mandatory recycling program, whose stunning success eliminated the need for 19 massive incinerators in the state to process solid waste.



Working with New York we were able to eliminate offshore ocean dumping and eventually to permanently close down the Fresh kills landfill on Stanton Island, formerly the largest landfill in the world and a major source of beach and water pollution along the New Jersey oceanfront.

We adopted the first state energy master plan, the first in the country to block future nuclear plants until all existing plants had decontamination programs for shutting down old plants and restoring the land and until there was a nuclear waste disposal plan. America is still debating nuclear waste disposal.



The first statewide land use and preservation plan was adopted in New Jersey limiting growth in areas and initiating an aggressive plan to protect up to 20% of all New Jersey land from future development. Since New Jersey is the most densely populated state in America this was a massive and controversial undertaking. At the same time we implemented one of the first farmland preservation programs that bought future development rights to protect thousands of acres of farm land in the Garden State.



The Governor also launched an ambitious program to acquire thousands of acres for parks and recreation including 18,000 acres for the Sterling Forest bordering New York, reclaiming Hudson River waterfront for Freedom and Liberty Parks, reclaiming Delaware River waterfront for parks, and many other initiatives.

We were also one of the first states to sue oil companies and won millions of dollars in court settlements for the state. A company in New Jersey owned the Three Mile Island nuclear plant and we were involved in the clean up process from the 1979 accident, the biggest nuclear disaster in America. We were also one of the first states to implement the new EPA Super Fund program cleaning up toxic sites.



In the mid 1990's, after the 1986 tragedy of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in the Ukraine (then the Soviet Union), I got to meet the children of Chernobyl in Scotland in one of the most humane programs I have ever witnessed. The kids contaminated with radiation in the disaster, and thousands were contaminated, were still living in the danger zone years later with high rates of cancer and often a short life ahead. It has been suggested that the Chernobyl disaster released as much as 400 times the radioactive contamination of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.



Countries in Europe that were victims of contamination themselves set up programs to bring the Chernobyl children for vacations in Scotland, the UK, Ireland, Germany and other nations. If the kids spent a couple of weeks a year in these countries it actually extended their life expectancy by a year or more. I met a group in Scotland and was amazed at the courage and spirit of the children and the act of compassion by the Scots and others.

Now I find myself in Maryland on the Potomac River not far from the Chesapeake Bay where pollution remains a problem, especially the contamination of the rivers and bay. It has cost the area much of the fishing, crabbing and oyster industries of the watermen while contaminating the waterfront from human and farming waste like fertilizers and pesticides. After converting my home to a green model and putting a nitrogen reduction septic system in I found yet another example of environmental concern.



One day I was called by neighbors because a Bald Eagle was injured. We have about nine Bald Eagles living in our village. When the Eagle was blown off a dock into the Potomac it did not have the strength to swim so into the river I went and grabbed the eagle when water was just about to my neck. After getting it to shore and having it taken to a Bald Eagle rescue center in Delaware I learned it was sick from eating contaminated fish from the river, lead poisoning. It was healed and I got to release it back into the wilds.

My point of all this is in most of the activities I outlined over the years we were not forced to do the things that were undertaken. It was not orders from the federal government that led to the creation of programs to meet our needs but the initiative of local citizens working with schools and professionals because of their personal concern for a clean environment. Never underestimate the value of people discovering and solving some of our major problems because it is the right thing to do. That is the secret strength of Americans and our hope for the future.

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