My theme for my 2015 A to Z Challenge came from my Disaster Crimes series. Disasters are a theme in each story, so it got me thinking about all the disasters that occur from natural disasters to manmade disasters.
Today’s
disaster is...
Nuclear
Meltdown
Nuclear
Meltdowns occur within a nuclear reactor when the core melts due
to extreme heat. Cooling systems are used to keep the temperatures of nuclear
reactors from going above their limits, but sometimes things go wrong with
these cooling systems. A loss of coolant, pressure, or a low flow rate can lead
a nuclear reactor to reach its melting point. An external fire or failure to
any part of the system can lead to a meltdown.
When a core melts, the area is contaminated by radiation
and radioactive gases can then enter the environment, endangering humans and
wildlife.
FACT: The
worst US nuclear power plant accident in history was when the Three Mile Island
nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania had a partial meltdown in 1979. The cleanup
cost about $1 billion.
When a nuclear meltdown occurs, zones close to the power
plants will be evacuated. People will be urged to stay indoors and farmers will
be asked to keep livestock under cover in precaution of radiation poisoning.
Usually the only damage to occur lies within the reactor though, which causes
damage to the reactor and the permanent shutdown of the plant such as was the
case with the Three Mile Island plant.
FACT: In
2011, after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi power
plant suffered meltdowns to three of their six reactors. Most of the fuel in reactor No. 1 melted.
QUESTION: Do you live near a nuclear power plant?
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| I'm a member of Tremp's Troops! |
Hi Chrys .. this would be monstrous .. I think I'd almost rather be killed than to have the effects .. Chernobyl, Russia, effects are still being felt - yet the land is recovering .. and that was 1982 .. I was in South Africa.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not a good scenario - as it's spread is so very very far .. cheers Hilary
It sure can spread fast and far. Radiation poisoning is terrible.
DeleteThat one in Japan really did spread.
ReplyDeleteIt sure did.
DeleteGreat facts, always life threatening when a nuclear spill occurs.
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again!
DeleteNo, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteThat's good.
DeleteNo thanks goodness don't live near one.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
I don't either. The closest one is several cities away, I believe.
DeleteThe closest one to us is Dungeness which is 34 miles away. There are two of them, one of which is decommissioned. I remember going there for a school trip once.
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
Going to a shutdown power plant on a field trip would be creepy and fun at the same time.
DeleteThere is a nuclear plant in my hometown. I remember one of those forms we had to fill out for school every year was a permission slip for them to give us potassium iodide if something ever happened. Luckily it never did.
ReplyDeleteThat's scary!
DeleteI live in a nuclear free country, and after reading this post, and I am glad. (Actually I have always been glad, this jut brought it to the forefront.)
ReplyDeleteA nuclear free country sounds very nice, Rhonda.
DeleteThe spreading can get you even if you don't live close. I don't think there is any near here, but the wind could blow some this way I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteThe wind is the biggest factor on how far it can go.
DeleteSoooo scary. So so so scary.
ReplyDeleteYou can so that again...and again. lol
DeleteI used to. There's one in Byron, IL close to Rockford. I always said if it goes, we're doomed! I feel like I'm having a nuclear meltdown. :)
ReplyDeleteYikes! I wouldn't feel safe living close to one.
DeleteWe have a few by us in Illinois, though not as many as we used to.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest. I don't fear nuclear power. I respect it, but I also understand the people they have working at these plants are the top people in their fields.
I am more likely to get hit by lightning or trampled by a cow than to die in a nuclear disaster.
--
Tim Brannan, The Other Side Blog
2015 A to Z of Vampires
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/
I respect your opinion, Timothy. I also respect nuclear power and the people who work in the plants. Although I don't think I'll ever be trampled by a cow. :P
DeleteWhat? No Simpson's comment?
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I was curious when you asked so I looked it up. We do indeed have a Nuclear Power Plant in Wisconsin. It's far enough away to not notice, but right by Lake Michigan so if anything were to happen, it would not be good. According to Wikipedia (and you know THAT has to be accurate):
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Point Beach was 90,909 to 1.
Never tell me the odds.
Sorry. I missed out on that.
DeleteThe one here is pretty far too but it's in a major city so the results would be terrible.
Those are some odds.
I think of what happened in Japan and get even more nervous.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com/
So do I.
DeleteI was thinking of Japan as well. Talk about a cooling system going bust! And, that was caused by a natural disaster, a Tsunami! Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com
ReplyDeleteYup, two disasters in one with that Japan catastrophe.
DeleteThe San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was recently closed down for good and is preparing to be decommissioned.
ReplyDeleteThat's good news. Especially if something went wrong there.
DeleteMy husband did growing up and they had a little radio in the kitchen specifically to warn them if something went wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat's a handy radio!
DeleteThis is a nasty one. Wind is not always your friend.
ReplyDeleteNope, not always. Especially in hurricanes.
DeleteI think our area in British Columbia, Canada is in part of the area where the fallout is shown in that diagram. I believe there is a nuclear reactor in Washington, which is near to us. We could always see the huge funnels when we drove by. Haven't been in that area for a few years now. Nuclear power is scary if we lose control of it or it falls into the wrong hands.
ReplyDeleteNuclear power has it's benefits, I suppose, but it can be deadly if something goes wrong. Or...you're right...if it's in the wrong hands.
DeleteI didn't know that about the cooling system in the nuclear plant. I don't live anywhere near one thank goodness. What a mess that was in Japan in 2011! It all started from the tsunami. Is a nuclear meltdown considered a 'natural disaster' or man made? :)
ReplyDeleteThat was a mess. I remember watching CNN for updates.
DeleteGood question. I think that depends. Since this one happened because of a tsunami, I'd say it leans toward the natural side as it wasn't anything someone did wrong.
Such huge potential for good and still so capable of mass destruction. What a dilemma man has.
ReplyDeletePerfectly said, C Lee.
DeleteWe do live near a nuclear plant here in So. CA., Onofre (?) We camped in a state park right next to it. There were directions what to do if..., posted in the bathrooms.
ReplyDelete...Over from the A to Z!
DeleteI don't think I'd ever camp next to a nuclear plant. Haha. A least they had directions in the bathrooms. :P
DeleteThree Mile Island is in the school district where I live and where I taught. There's a lot of things that happened as a result of that accident that are still being denied. My students were very afraid after 9/11 that someone would attack the plant and the protective fighter jets patrolling overhead didn't help.
ReplyDeleteThat's sad! I'd be afraid too.
DeleteI remember 3 mile Island. All the people who suffered from the effects from their health to losing their homes. It is devastating and I wouldn't want to live near one
ReplyDeleteIt's terrible what they had to endure because of that.
DeleteTerrifying! And worse when they try to keep leaks a secret. I keep thinking of Erin Brockovich...
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that movie!!!!
DeleteI think a nuclear meltdown is one of the worst disasters. The after effects last so long. And the devastion is awful.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Beverly.
DeleteI do live near a power plant. Ironically, many, many years ago when the power plant was being proposed, the town in which we lived rejected having the plant open. So they offered it to the town right next door and they accepted. We got none of the tax benefits and all of the worst threats! Not cool.
ReplyDeleteNot cool at all!
DeleteThat's some seriously scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt is and a threat that is all too real for many people.
DeleteNuclear meltdowns are great for movie disasters. Not so much for real life.
ReplyDelete~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
Exactly!
DeleteSo this is the first one that I do seriously worry about - I suppose because it's not just the immediate damage, but the years and years of devastation and illness after x
ReplyDeleteIt's something that is more likely to happen in many places.
DeleteOur nearest nuclear reactor is at Dungeness about 25 to 30 miles away. I have been on a tour of it, our physics class went and it was really interesting.
ReplyDeleteSophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press
It would be interesting to take a tour of one.
DeleteWe only have one in my entire country, and it should have been shut down years ago. It's just an accident waiting to happen... and since we are a tiny country, everyone is within the danger zone XD
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Oh dear! I was going to say only having one is good, but then you reminded me how small your county is. Not good at all.
DeleteNo, thankfully. I'm definitely not a fan.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that!
DeleteNo nuclear plants for me, thank you. They're too dangerous and they make people sick.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteI'm happy to say I live nowhere near a nuclear power plant! It's all wind farms round these parts... much less scary.
ReplyDeleteThat's good.
DeleteVery �� scary. I'd like to say I don't live near one but I'm not so sure.
ReplyDeleteIt is scary.
DeleteThere are a couple of nuclear plants in my general area, although none of them are super close. I actually had the opportunity to tour through one once, which was fascinating. They stopped giving tours for security reasons in more recent years. My clear impression is that they took safety extremely seriously in that plant.
ReplyDeleteYou can never take safety too seriously, right? :)
DeleteMy husband is from Oak Ridge, the city that was built to develop the atomic bomb. We live about three hours from there. There's no telling what would happen if someone attacked one of those buildings!
ReplyDeleteWhoa!
DeleteI'm happy to be able to answer no to your question.
ReplyDeleteI always think of Chernobyl with this topic. If I remember correctly it's still not safe to be there for any length of time.
I think you're right.
DeleteYes, we have Indian Point about 20 miles up the Hudson River! We laugh how the authorities say the ten mile radius will be affected. Does the nuclear waste actually know when to stop is what I'd like to know.
ReplyDeleteNope, it sure doesn't. It could keep on traveling as far the wind blows it.
DeleteI still remember driving with my grandfather someplace. We passed the nuclear power plant, and he had to roll up all the windows in protest. (He was the kind of guy who protested all sorts of things.)
ReplyDeleteI like him. I think I'd roll up my windows too. ;)
DeleteWe live about 150 miles from the closest nuclear power plant but there are several nuclear powered aircraft carriers that are about 10 miles from here. Thankfully they seem pretty safe.
ReplyDeleteSean at His and Her Hobbies
Nuclear powered aircraft carrier? I never heard of that before.
DeleteUsed to live close by, but it has been shut down for a number of years.
ReplyDeleteThat'd a good thing.
DeleteI used to live near a nuclear power plant but it was closed probably 2-3 years ago.
ReplyDeletebetty
It seems a lot of them are closed now, but not enough.
DeleteThey built and almost activated a nuclear plant about 120 miles from me in Longview, WA, but it never went live. Sadly, we are well within that 10 day fallout from Fukishima and many of our marine species have suffered "inexplicable" die-offs ever since. We used to have these cool huge purple starfish all over our beaches and they all died the same year Fukushima happened. Also, our beaches are littered with debris from Japan, so you know the fallout is here, too. Scary!
ReplyDeleteThat's terrible! Purple starfish? I never knew there were purple ones. They sound pretty. And how sad that they all died all died.
DeleteWould you believe that after we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we were so innocent of "nuclear" that my uncle actually stood and gazed down on the crater? I suppose it did nothing to him, as he lived a long, full life.
ReplyDeleteVisit me at: Life & Faith in Caneyhead
I am Ensign B of Tremps' Troops
with the A to Z Challenge
That's an interesting story.
DeleteI got in a fight with my ex about Three-Mile Island over the phone once. He insisted, against all scientific evidence to the contrary, that there were a lot of health complications and such which the media hushed up. I told him about the extensive, numerous scientific studies saying otherwise, but since he's so into woo, his personal feelings trumped scientific truth.
ReplyDeleteGiven how absolutely devastating the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, with "just" plutonium (Nagasaki) and uranium (Hiroshima), it's really frightening to imagine a nuclear bomb ever getting loose and detonating anywhere.
I personally think there are a lot of health complications that are being hushed up...
DeleteThat is frightening.
Aha! I finally found the comment box. I couldn't find it. :P
ReplyDeleteWe don't live by a nuclear power plant. How sad for the surrounding peoples in those areas? :(
Elizabeth Mueller
AtoZ 2015
My Little Pony
What? That's weird. Sorry it was hiding from you.
DeleteNo nuclear plants here that I know of. Thanks goodness!
ReplyDelete*sighs in relief*
DeleteI saw a news report last year that the Fukashima meltdown is still a big problem. I had this (I guess) silly dream that specialists from different governments would step in to help clean it up. Not so. It's just the company trying to clean it up on their own. The government doesn't want to admit it's a big problem. The company is storing millions of gallons of contaminated water every day in tanks that they now know are leaking. They haven't been able to stop the water rushing into the meltdown site, so they just keep building more tanks. SO NOT GOOD :(
ReplyDeleteYou can find me here:
ClarabelleRant
Many places are still contaminated and dealing with the fallout of Fukashima's meltdown.
DeleteThat's not good at all.
Thankfully, no. However, my husband did spend six years in the Navy on a Nuclear-powered ship.
ReplyDeleteScribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge
Yikes! I could never step foot on a nuclear-powered ship.
DeleteThat's a very interesting spread of radiation. I would have thought it would just expand equally from the focal point, but it seems here that the wind has affected it or something :P
ReplyDeleteThe wind had a big impact on where it went. That's for sure.
DeleteOkay...this theme is just a cool one. I'm going to have to go back and catch up on A through M. Thank you so much for visiting me! I look forward to reading the rest of your A to Z! Elle @ Erratic Project Junkie
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elle! And thanks for visiting me back. :)
DeleteI think we are free of any nuclear plants close by. At least there are none that I am aware of. Of all the disasters, this one frightens me the most.
ReplyDeleteI think it's more frightening because something like this can happen at any time, in many places around the world.
DeleteIf humans were at peace with each other, we won't need nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteLuckily we don't live near a nuclear power plant. They are very efficient in what they do, but more needs to be done to make them safer.
ReplyDeleteThere does need to be a lot more precautions and safety measures in place.
DeleteSuch a scary thing, with after-effects that I still don't think we fully understand. Chernobyl is still being extensively studied, if I recall correctly.
ReplyDeleteThose affects could be far worse than we could ever imagine.
DeleteI always though Chernoble was the worst melt-down. Or was that the worst melt-down in U.S. History?
ReplyDeleteAnd its funny, but I've always lived near a nuclear power plant- I grew up about 20 minutes from Indian Point and now I live about 20 minutes from the Limerick Generating Station. Neither way am I in the immediate impact one, I'd get the slow, painful death from radiation either way.
In my research, the Three Mile Island one was the worst for the U.S.
DeleteYikes! I hope nothing ever happens at that plant or the station.
I grew up about 40 minutes away from Sellafield nuclear power plant in Cumbria. I remember watching a documentary on the nuclear bombs in Japan when I was about 7 or 8, and it terrified me so much, that I made a 'safe place' for myself in my wardrobe...doubt it would've given much protection if Sellafield had had a leak, but that's how much of an impact it had! In Cumbria, we sometimes still have to check our sheep for radiation from the Chernobyl fallout!
ReplyDeleteAw! I probably would've done the same thing as a kid.
Delete