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On April 26th 1996, it will have been ten years since the accident at Chernobyl. While the day will be a time mourning to remember those who lost their lives, it will also be an opportunity to talk about the lessons learned by ten years worth of analysis of what actually took place.
The April issue of Atomic Energy Insights discuss the circumstances
of the accident, the response and the actions taken to ensure that such
accidents never happen again. This special issue happens to be our first
anniversary issue and we intend to pull out all of the stops to ensure
that accurate, verifiable information is made available to our readers.
Quite frankly, we are working hard to ensure that the propaganda based
reports of thousands of deaths can be refuted by as many people as possible.
For a free copy of the issue, which will be available by the end of March,
please send an
email message with your postal address to Atomic Rod. It would
help to speed processing if you use Atomic Energy Insights as the subject
line of your request.
Rod Adams@aol.com
Herman Tjahjadi
Chosen the best written paper on "What have we learned from Three Mile Island (TMI) 17 years later ? Implications for future Chernobyl(s)"
A. The Way The TMI Incident Happened. The incident initiated with a blockage in the plants giant water filter. The blockage resulted in the leak of moisture into the air system, inadvertently tripping two valves and shutting down the flow of cold water into the plants steam generator. The backup cooling system designed with purpose to handle this kind of emergency did not function. The backup system valves were closed. No one knew that since the indicator in the control room telling the status of the valves was blocked by a repair tag hanging from a switch above it.
Actually, the system had another backup system, a relief valve, but it was also not working either. And to make the emergency even worse, a gauge in the control room which should have told the operators that the valve was not working was itself not working !! By the time TMIs engineers realized what happened, it was already dangerously close for the reactor to a MELTDOWN.
B. Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Its Danger
TMI incident is an example of the so-called Normal Accident. Normal
Accident states that given a highly sophisticate and complex system, it
is likely that some combinations of minor errors will eventually amount
to something catastrophic. To make a much clearer how TRAGIC a nuclear
plant meltdown could be and to describe TMI incident as a normal accident,
let us relate the topic with that of the Chernobyl incident.
B.1. A Nuclear Accident Anywhere Is A Nuclear Accident Anywhere
Chernobyl is considered as the worst technogenic environmental disaster
in history.The radiation released after the Chernobyl explosion was approximated
to be 200 times that of the combined releases from the bombs at Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in World War II.Regions affected included not only Ukraine,
but also included are Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Poland, Sweden, Germany,
Turkey, Japan and others.
B.2. Totally Damaged Environment
Gomel, which once was the most productive region in Belarus, is dramatically
changed.Today, of the 21 agricultural districts it consists, only one produces
crops. In Poland, Germany, Austria and Hungary, crops and milk were so
contaminated that they had to be destroyed.
B.3. Effects on Human
Approximately 20 million former Soviets were exposed to radioactivity
released at Chernobyl. In 1981-1985, the number of thyroid cancer cases
in Ukraine was about 5 per year. In 1986-1991, the number increased to
22 cases per year. However, during these last five years, the number has
even increased to about 43 cases per year. The number of pregnancies with
complications has been growing among women living in the affected area.
People in those areas have become paralyzed with fear. They are afraid
to marry and afraid to have families. It seems that as if the Chernobyl
incident is still occurring through the a new way of attack, the psychological
one, the deadly FEAR.
B.4. Costs
It is estimated that $400 billion and 200 hundred years will be consumed
to totally wipe out the effects of the accident in the affected areas and
$26 billion was allotted for the resettlement of the 200,000 people still
living in those areas. Recently, G7 Countries and the Government of Ukraine
have developed a cooperative approach on the elaboration and implementation
of a comprehensive Program to support the decision of Ukraine to close
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant by year 2000.
C. Recommendation
Being aware of the tragic incident described above, here are some recommendation
that deserve careful and critical thoughts:
1. Create a work condition in nuclear power plant which MOTIVATES and
APPRECIATES any safety concerns from the workers. Recently, there have
been an increasing trend for nuclear plant engineers that raised some safety
concerns but were forced to undergo psychological treatment in a way intended
to keep them away of the problems. The management does not like their concerns
because it will cost a huge amount of money to adapt the correction steps
of the problems. The management response should always make public safety
the first priority and the response should be
quick to any reported safety concerns.
2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should ALWAYS takes an active role
in enforcing the law requiring any nuclear plant power strictly adhere
to the existing law and specification Without any strong action from NRC,
there will be more and more plants will operate under danger condition
due to the lack of adherence to the safety specification. They are like
ticking time bombs that can explode in any time. If NRC is asleep, another
TMI or Chernobyl incident is not just likely,
but will be INEVITABLE.
3. Training should include more real simulated emergency situation In
order for the operators to response accurately and fast, the training program
should be designed that they will be ready for
any emergency. From TMI incident, the operators confessed that actually
they did not know the cause of some initial peculiarities happened with
the reactor.
4. Human factors design is a vital aspect of safety operation of a Nuclear Power Plant Ideally, the human factors specialist should be involved at the stage of the concept development or the preliminary design stage. Since the TMI incident, the NRC, the power industry and the human factors community have been struggling with the basic issue of how best to enhance existing operational and near-operational power plant control rooms from the human factors standpoint.
5. There should be a good mutual understanding and cooperation among Nuclear Regulator, Nuclear Power Plant Management and Nuclear Power Plant Manufacturer. Only if they work together and have the understanding and cooperation will the safety and reliability of a nuclear power plant can be assured so that the probability of any incident will be minimized in the short run and eliminated in the long run.
D. References
1. A Few Observations, Questions, and Comments on MOU
By : Dr. Najmedin N. Meshkati
2. The Critical Role of the United Nations in Ensuring
the Safety of Nuclear Power Plants Around The World
By : Dr. Najmedin N. Meshkati
3. Article 10 Years Later, Through Fear, Chernobyl Still
Kills in Belarus from The New York Times, Sunday,
March 31, 1996
4. Article Blowing The Whistle On Nuclear Safety from
Time Magazine, March 4, 1996 5. Article Was Therapy
Used to Punish Nuclear Workers ? from The Wall Street Journal,
Wednesday, March 20, 1996
6. Remedial Human Factors Engineering from : Applied
Ergonomics, 1983, 14.4, 253-264
Herman Tjahjadi
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