A radioactive cloud seen over Europe…

…according to newspaper headlines reacting to the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl on April 26th
1986. The explosion released 100 to 1000 times the radioactive pollution released at Hiroshima into Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

1979 The meltdown of the pressurized-water reactor at Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania destroyed the nuclear plant beyond repair. Nearby cities had to be temporarily evacuated. The health consequences still remain unclear.

1999 The nuclear power station at Tokaimura, Japan catches fire. The exposure to radiation of the surrounding environment was seven to ten times the normal levels; in the end it was as high as an atomic bomb. Radioactive contamination and the evacuation of the population surrounding the area was inevitable.

2005 At the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Sellafield in Northwest England, 83,000 litres of a highly radioactive plutonium mixture leaked out over seven months without anyone noticing. The material, from German nuclear power stations, would have produced 20 atomic bombs.

The German Risk Analysis of Nuclear Power Plants states that - considering all emergency measure precautions - a meltdown may happen only three to four times for every million years of operation; meaning such nuclear accidents are negligible except when human discretion is involved. Information on the latest energy topics are in the following newsletter.

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