02.05.2016 change 02.05.2016

Expert: Nuclear safety increased after Chernobyl

Photo: Fotolia Photo: Fotolia

After the Chernobyl disaster, a number of conclusions were drawn on the safety of nuclear power plants. Today there is no other industry with such a high safety level - Prof. Ludwik Dobrzyński from the National Centre for Nuclear Research said in an interview with PAP.

The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - the largest in the history of nuclear power, and one of the largest industrial disasters of the twentieth century - occurred during the test intended to improve security. Tuesday marked 30 years since those events. One of the biggest challenges during this time was to increase the safety of nuclear power plants.

"After the Chernobyl disaster, designers of nuclear reactors faced widespread fear of nuclear reactors as such. They had to exert all their intellect in one direction: the improvement of safety systems" - noted Prof. Ludwik Dobrzyński from the National Centre for Nuclear Research.

The example of Fukushima shows that even old reactors were safe. "During strong earthquake, all the reactors - even though they were built in the 1960s - obediently shut down. It was tsunami that ultimately caused the failure" - he said.

In the last three decades there were several important changes in reactor operation technology. For example, designers increased the number of so-called passive components that provide safety through the use of simple physical phenomena - such as gravity or convection. As a result, solution have been created that even in the case of the worst possible failure can engage without human intervention.

"Some reactors today have such a high level of safety that the largest theoretically possible failure - which occurs when the reactor core is not cooled - should not happen more than once in a millions of years of operation! - emphasised the professor. - There is no other industry with such a high safety level. It\'s a tribute to people\'s enormous fear of radiation, fuelled by the Chernobyl explosion".

The events of 30 years ago also made it clear that even in the event of the greatest possible nuclear disaster, the health consequences for the local population are incomparably smaller than one might think at first, said Prof. Dobrzyński.

"Fear and the way of thinking about the radiation meant that some predicted hundreds of thousands or even millions of deaths caused by radiation released from the plant. However, besides the death of 28 rescuers and 15 deaths due to the development of thyroid cancer during the ten first years after the accident - we have not observed any other effects: neither an increase in the number of cases of leukemia nor solid tumours, and we can not expect that it will occur in the future. All pessimistic assessments proved to be false" - he pointed out.

"We have also learned that decisions taken in the former USSR concerning the mass (more than 300 thousand) resettlement of people, depriving them of work, homes, gave extremely negative effects. We also have a group numbering approx. 1-1.5 million people, who suffer from psychosomatic diseases. It has nothing to do with radiation. They are the victims of ignorance and bad political decisions" - said the expert.

He added that a similar mistake was made in Fukushima, where more than 1,600 people died only because of the stress associated with resettlement. "These people could be left in their homes" - he believes.

According to the scientist, after 30 years there are no more "big questions" relating to the Chernobyl disaster. "You can possibly think about the scale of cancer mortality among rescue workers who scattered across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus after the rescue operation. Their fates were not specifically monitored, which can mean a gap in knowledge. But knowing the radiation dose these people were exposed to, I would not expect a revolution in our knowledge on the subject" - said the National Centre for Nuclear Research representative.

Prof. Dobrzyński argues that in the case of nuclear energy, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. "In a long term, even measured in tens of thousands of years old, it is the only technology that can satisfy the energy demand of mankind. We will not satisfy the energy needs of humanity with wind farms, solar panels or other, so-called renewable sources of energy" - he said.

He added that nuclear energy is obtained "from a relatively small amount of material, and in an environmentally friendly way, because this technology does not emit gases and dust".

The common perception is that the most important problem of nuclear power today is the disposal and storage of radioactive waste. In the opinion of Prof. Dobrzyński, however, this problem is exaggerated, and the fear of wastes from nuclear power plants - inflated. "We know how to deal with spent fuel. It can be stored safely in geological storage sites, although we can of course still discuss the technology of storage" - he said.

He added that for half a century from the launch of a power plant is not necessary to store spent fuel in geological storage sites (it can be kept in temporary storage sites). At the same time, researchers are working on the solution to the problem of long-lived fission products, which involves bombarding them with neutrons to obtain short-lived isotopes, with which "we know what to do" - said the professor.

According to Prof. Dobrzyński, the main drawback of nuclear energy is the cost of investment. "This is one of the most cost-intensive investments in the energy sector, which returns after a few decades. Therefore, not every country is capable of developing nuclear energy" - he said.

Asked about potential terrorist threat against nuclear power plants, the professor said that it should not be underestimated. "If a terrorist is smart and has a lot of time, sooner or later he will be able to cause harm: penetrate the object, become a member of staff, give the impression of an ideal employee. Terrorism is a threat. But let\'s imagine that such a thing in fact happens. Let\'s wonder if the consequences of this would be local or global. We know today that they would not be global; they may be local at most. Such event would not have serious physical consequences. There may be huge psychological consequences, such as those observed after Chernobyl and Fukushima" - he said.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Anna Ślązak

zan/ mrt/

tr. RL

Przed dodaniem komentarza prosimy o zapoznanie z Regulaminem forum serwisu Nauka w Polsce.

Copyright © Foundation PAP 2024