25 years after Chernobyl
Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak
Learning Curve : Perspective
New Sunday Times - 24-04-2011
THIS week is the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that took place on April 26, 1986 at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), now Ukraine.
Learning Curve : Perspective
New Sunday Times - 24-04-2011
THIS week is the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that took place on April 26, 1986 at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), now Ukraine.
Last week, a parallel between Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants explosions was drawn when the rating of the disaster at the latter was raised to Level 7 -- a maximum on the International Nuclear Event Scale -- the same level as the former. Only a few weeks ago, the Japanese plant was at Level 5. In both cases, radioactive substances in the atmosphere have caused an evacuation of the nearby residents.
In the case of Chernobyl, reactor number four experienced a sudden power output surge. When an emergency shutdown was attempted, the situation worsened followed by a reactor vessel rupture leading to a series of explosions. Eventually a highly radioactive smoke fallout covered the western part of the then USSR and Europe. A massive evacuation involving at least 350,000 people took place, turning Chernobyl into a ghost town.
The issue of safety was then highlighted globally, to be forgotten about later. The nuclear roulette continues.
In the case of Fukushima, it raises the question as to why the Japanese government skipped Level 6, and suddenly jumped to Level 7, signifying "a major release of radiation with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures" according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. This makes the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, one of only two -- the other being Chernobyl -- to be rated as such. It confirmed suspicions that the tragedy at Fukushima is worse than previously announced. And criticisms have been levelled at the nuclear industry and its supporters in many governments who are reluctant to come clean when such a tragedy happens.
At the end of it all, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan confessed: "We cannot but close this nuclear power plant." Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano reportedly suggested that all six reactors should be demolished. In fact, a top Japanese Government spokesman took Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to task for a mistake made which he deemed "cannot be forgiven".
Going by a Worldwatch Institute report to be made public on the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, the future of nuclear power is "bleak". Indeed, nuclear energy expert Mycle Schneider, who is lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-2011: Nuclear Power in a Post-Fukushima World, has expressed the same opinion even before the Fukushima catastrophe.
The institute observes "that nuclear reactor start-ups have been in steady decline since the 1980s, with only China bucking the trend in recent years". Further, the total world nuclear generating capacity has remained steady for the past 20 years while actual output has declined slightly.
It also notes that many of the world's nuclear plants are "fast approaching the end of their viable life span, increasing the likelihood that the share of electricity from nuclear power will decline in the coming decades".
"For the global nuclear industry, the Fukushima disaster is a historic -- if not fatal -- setback," said Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin. The incident is more likely to fuel anti-nuclear sentiments worldwide, especially unlike 25 years ago, there are now more options to alternative renewable power and energy efficiency technologies -- if only there is more political will, globally. For example, China reportedly has 4.5 times more installed wind power than nuclear capacity. This year, China will likely generate more electricity from wind than from its reactors. Post-Fukushima, China, allegedly, has frozen new nuclear projects. It was the same in the United States after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Tepco president Masataka Shimizu said that it would likely give up plans for two additional reactors.
In the case of Chernobyl, reactor number four experienced a sudden power output surge. When an emergency shutdown was attempted, the situation worsened followed by a reactor vessel rupture leading to a series of explosions. Eventually a highly radioactive smoke fallout covered the western part of the then USSR and Europe. A massive evacuation involving at least 350,000 people took place, turning Chernobyl into a ghost town.
The issue of safety was then highlighted globally, to be forgotten about later. The nuclear roulette continues.
In the case of Fukushima, it raises the question as to why the Japanese government skipped Level 6, and suddenly jumped to Level 7, signifying "a major release of radiation with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures" according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. This makes the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, one of only two -- the other being Chernobyl -- to be rated as such. It confirmed suspicions that the tragedy at Fukushima is worse than previously announced. And criticisms have been levelled at the nuclear industry and its supporters in many governments who are reluctant to come clean when such a tragedy happens.
At the end of it all, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan confessed: "We cannot but close this nuclear power plant." Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano reportedly suggested that all six reactors should be demolished. In fact, a top Japanese Government spokesman took Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to task for a mistake made which he deemed "cannot be forgiven".
Going by a Worldwatch Institute report to be made public on the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, the future of nuclear power is "bleak". Indeed, nuclear energy expert Mycle Schneider, who is lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-2011: Nuclear Power in a Post-Fukushima World, has expressed the same opinion even before the Fukushima catastrophe.
The institute observes "that nuclear reactor start-ups have been in steady decline since the 1980s, with only China bucking the trend in recent years". Further, the total world nuclear generating capacity has remained steady for the past 20 years while actual output has declined slightly.
It also notes that many of the world's nuclear plants are "fast approaching the end of their viable life span, increasing the likelihood that the share of electricity from nuclear power will decline in the coming decades".
"For the global nuclear industry, the Fukushima disaster is a historic -- if not fatal -- setback," said Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin. The incident is more likely to fuel anti-nuclear sentiments worldwide, especially unlike 25 years ago, there are now more options to alternative renewable power and energy efficiency technologies -- if only there is more political will, globally. For example, China reportedly has 4.5 times more installed wind power than nuclear capacity. This year, China will likely generate more electricity from wind than from its reactors. Post-Fukushima, China, allegedly, has frozen new nuclear projects. It was the same in the United States after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Tepco president Masataka Shimizu said that it would likely give up plans for two additional reactors.
Malaysians from all walks of life must be aware of all these before we too are subjected to the horrendous generational socio-economic and human consequences of a fatal error in judgment.
* The writer is the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia. He can be contacted at vc@usm.my