New Nuclear Reactors Will Produce More Radiation

New Nuclear Reactors Will Produce More Radiation Along With More Electricity

About by Larry West March 9, 2009

A new generation of nuclear reactors designed to generate more electricity more safely than previous technology may actually produce radioactive waste that is more toxic and would be released more quickly in case of a nuclear accident, according to information contained in industry documents and brought to light by Greenpeace.

……………….. Safety features built into EPR reactors would make a nuclear accident less likely than ever before, but one study suggests that an EPR reactor or waste accident could kill nearly twice as many people as an accident at one of the atomic reactors they are designed to replace.

The study, conducted by independent nuclear consultant John Large, compared the consequences of an accident at the new EPR reactor being constructed in Normandy with one at an existing reactor in the same area. Large concluded that, in the worst case, the number of deaths would increase from 16,000 to more than 28,000.

EPR reactors are designed to burn nuclear fuel almost twice as thoroughly as atomic reactors, but that process also increases the toxicity of the nuclear waste EPR reactors produce. Various industry documents show that, compared to atomic reactors, EPR nuclear reactors would produce:

• Four more radioactive bromine, rubidium, iodine and caesium, according to a report by EDF, the French company that is planning to build four EPR reactors in the UK;
• Seven times as much iodine 129, according to Posiva Oy, a nuclear waste company owned by two Finnish companies that build nuclear reactors; and
• Eleven times as much caesium 135 and 137, according to the Swiss National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste.

The most troubling thing about these reports is not the specter of a potentially deadly nuclear accident—despite some problems, the nuclear industry has a remarkably good safety record when it comes to operating reactors—but rather that the nuclear industry failed to put all of its cards on the table while selling EPR technology as a safer alternative to atomic reactors.

http://environment.about.com/b/2009/03/09/new-nuclear-reactors-will-produce-more-radiation-along-with-more-electricity.htm

March 9, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, safety