Επέτειος του Τσερνομπίλ: οι κίνδυνοι από τα πυρηνικά παραμένουν

Σήμερα, παραμονή της 19ης «επετείου» του ατυχήματος στο Τσερνομπίλ, η Greenpeace έδωσε στη δημοσιότητα έκθεση η οποία παρουσιάζει αναλυτικά τους κινδύνους από τη λειτουργία πυρηνικών αντιδραστήρων σε όλο τον κόσμο. Τα συμπεράσματα της έκθεσης είναι πως οι πιθανότητες ατυχημάτων είναι τώρα περισσότερες από ποτέ και πως ένα σοβαρό ατύχημα θα είχε πολύ πιο βαριές συνέπειες από εκείνο του Τσερνομπίλ το 1986.

Μερικά από τα βασικά σημεία της έκθεσης είναι:

- όλοι οι εν λειτουργία πυρηνικοί αντιδραστήρες έχουν βασικά προβλήματα ασφαλείας που δεν μπορούν να λυθούν μέσα από βελτιώσεις.

- πολλές χώρες σκοπεύουν να επιμηκύνουν το χρόνο ζωής των πυρηνικών τους αντιδραστήρων πέρα από αυτόν για τον οποίο σχεδιάστηκαν και κατασκευάστηκαν. 

- Δεν υπάρχει κανένας τρόπος να προστατευτούν οι πυρηνικοί αντιδραστήρες από τρομοκρατικά χτυπήματα.

Ακολουθεί το δελτίο τύπου της Greenpeace στα αγγλικά, καθώς και link για την έκθεση. 

Nuclear Safety Crisis

report identifies significant decrease of safety in 'Western' reactors and warns for major accident

Vienna, April 25th 2005
On the eve of the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, Greenpeace has published a comprehensive report on the status of nuclear risks in the world. It concludes that, due to a combination of the ageing of reactors, electricity market de-regulation and inherent reactor flaws, the risks from 'Western' reactors have been significantly increasing over the last years and the likelihood of accidents is now higher than ever. Also, a major accident in such reactor could be far more severe than the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

The main conclusions are:

- all operational reactors have very serious inherent safety flaws  which cannot be eliminated by safety upgrading;

- A major accident in a light-water reactor – the majority of  reactors operating worldwide – can lead to radioactive releases equivalent to several times the release at Chernobyl and about 1000 times that released by a fission nuclear weapon. Relocation
of the population could be necessary for large areas (up to 100.000 km2 ). The number of cancer deaths could exceed 1 million;

- The average age of the world's reactors is 21 years and many countries are planning to extend the lifetime of their reactors beyond the original design lifetime. This leads to the degradation of critical components and the increase of severe incidents and could lead to a major accident;

- De-regulation (liberalisation) of electricity markets has pushed nuclear utilities to decrease safety-related investments. Utilities are also upgrading their reactors, e.g. by increasing reactor pressure and temperature. This accelerates ageing and decreases safety margins. Nuclear regulators are not able to cope with this new reality;

- Reactors cannot be sufficiently protected against a terrorist threat. There are several scenario's – aside from a crash of an airliner on the reactor building – which could lead to a major accident;

- Highly radioactive spent fuel at reactor sites or reprocessing plants needs cooling. If this fails, this could lead to a major  release of radioactivity, far more important than the 1986 Chernobyl accident;

- Climate change impacts, such as flooding, sea level rise and extreme droughts, seriously increase nuclear risks.

“With its claims of a bright nuclear future, the nuclear industry tries to hide that it is in a deep crisis, with very limited numbers of new reactors being built, high costs and ageing reactors” said Jan Vande Putte of Greenpeace International.

The Greenpeace report contradicts recent attempts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to gloss over recent reactor incidents at its 2-week Review Conference of the Nuclear Safety Convention which took place behind closed doors and concluded on April 22nd in Vienna.

“The Atomic Agency needs to stop promoting this dangerous industry. It is behaving irresponsibly by obscuring the critical condition of today's reactors.”

Greenpeace calls for a speedy phase-out of dangerous nuclear power as the only efficient measure to reduce risks. Greenpeace also recommends urgent investments in the storage of spent fuel to reduce the risks of terrorist attacks, proliferation and accidents. Greenpeace advocates renewable energy and efficiency as the sustainable solution.

The report can be downloaded from the Greenpeace International website at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/nuclearreactorhazards.pdf

For more information:
Jan Vande Putte, Greenpeace international mob: +32 496 161584

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