70 Years of Radioactive Risksin America and Japan

Kevin KampsBeyond Nuclear

Medical and Ecological Consequences of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

New York Academy of MedicineMarch 11-12, 2013

Hiroshima to Fukushima

March 10, 2011

Days later

Aftermath

Unit 2, 3, 4 Unit 3

Dec. 2, 1942

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

FalloutOppenheimer and Groves at “Trinity” test blast site, July 1945

Destroyed Nagasaki Buddhist temple, with flattened city in background, August 1945

“Atoms for Peace”

Anti-nuclear groundswell in Japan

CIA deployed to Japan

Lewis Strauss Shoriki Matsutaro

Japan’s infamous “Nuclear Village” is born

Atomic America

Atomic Japan

Workers over-exposed

Tsuruga NPP, 1981 Bruce NGS, Nov., 2009

Sodium fires

Monju, Dec. 8, 1995 Fermi 1, May 20, 2008

Reprocessing plant fire and explosion

Tokaimura, March 1997 West Valley, NY, 1966-1972

Nuclear fuel loading mishaps

Fukui Prefecture, 1999 San Onofre, CA, Aug. 20, 1980

Inadvertent criticality

Tokaimura, Sept. 30, 1999 Fermi 2, 1985

Safety cover-ups

TEPCO, 1989-2000, 2002 Davis-Besse, 2002

Deadly steam explosions

Mihama-3, Aug. 9, 2004 Surry NPP, VA, 1972, 1986

Radioactive steam releases

Fukushima Daiichi, 2006 San Onofre, CA, Jan. 2012

EarthquakesKashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, July 16, 2007 Indian Point, NY

Additional Risks: RPV Embrittlement

Genkai-1, Palisades, MI

Additional Risks: High-Level Radioactive Waste

Storage Pools

• Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 on brink of collapse

• U.S. pools contain much more HLRW than Japanese pools

• Many warnings about risk of catastrophic pool fires

Additional Risks:High-Level Radioactive Waste Leaks

Hanford underground tanks Indian Point HLRW storage pools

Shutdowns

Oi, Fukui Prefecture, July 2012 Kewaunee, WI, June 2013

Showdowns

Tokyo, 2011-2012 Indian Point, 2011-2012

Early Warnings“Recent events have highlighted the safety disadvantages of pressure-suppression containments…What are the safety advantages of pressure suppression, apart from the cost saving?...I recommend that the AEC adopt a policy of discouraging further use of pressure-suppression containments, and that such designs not be accepted for construction permits filed after a date to be decided.

Contained in a memo to his boss by AEC Safety Officer, Stephen Hanauer, 20 Sept.1972

Early Warnings, Ignored

“The acceptance of pressure suppression containment concepts by all elements of the nuclear field…is firmly embedded in the conventional wisdom. Reversal of this hallowed policy, particularly at this time, could well be the end of nuclear power. It would throw into question the continued operation of licensed plants…and would generally create more turmoil than I can stand thinking about.”

Contained in a response by AEC Safety Head, Joseph Hendrie, 25 September 1972

GE 3 blow the whistleIn 1976 Gregory C. Minor, Richard B. Hubbard, and Dale G. Bridenbaugh blew the whistle on safety problems with nuclear reactors designed by General Electric. The three resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing — the Mark 1 — was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.

Post-Chernobyl soul searching• In 1986, Harold Denton,

then the NRC's top safety official, told an industry trade group that the "Mark I containment, especially being smaller with lower design pressure, in spite of the suppression pool, if you look at the WASH 1400 safety study, you'll find something like a 90% probability of that containment failing.”

Freeze Our FukushimasThere are 32 still operating GE Mark I and II BWRs in U.S.:

Mark Is (23 units): Browns Ferry 1, 2 and 3, Decatur, AL -- Brunswick 1 & 2, Southport, NC – Cooper, Brownville, NE -- Dresden 2 & 3, Morris, IL -- Duane Arnold, Palo, IA --Edwin Hatch 1 & 2, Baxley, GA -- Fermi 2, Monroe, MI -- Hope Creek, Artificial Island, NJ – Fitzpatrick, Scriba, NY – Monticello, Monticello, MN -- Nine Mile Point Unit 1, Scriba, NY -- Oyster Creek, Lacey Township, NJ -- Peach Bottom 2 & 3, Delta, PA -- Pilgrim 1, Plymouth, MA -- Quad Cities 1 & 2, Cordova, IL -- Vermont Yankee, Vernon, VT.

Mark IIs (8): LaSalle 1 & 2, Ottawa, IL -- Nine Mile Point 2, Scriba, NY -- Limerick 1 & 2, Pottstown, PA -- Susquehanna 1 & 2, Salem Twp., PA -- Columbia Generating Station, Richland, WA.

Collusion

Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Where Next?!