Damages Caused By Nuclear Accidents

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Many places have suffered from nuclear radiation exposure, such as Chernobyl, Marshall Islands, Japan, the United States, and Kurchatov (Braverstock). Due to the risks involved with nuclear energy, the public has trouble endorsing nuclear power despite its cost effectiveness (Radetzki). Looking back on history and current facts, it is no wonder why people are concerned. According to Lydia Dotto, "Post war conditions need not reach the most extreme limits. . . in order to have very serious impacts on global, agricultural, and natural ecosystems, and, in turn, on human society" (3).

On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl, a generating station in the Soviet Union, is considered responsible for over 200,000 deaths when radioactive materials spread over northern Ukraine and Belarus (Radiation).

Local life expectancies have plummeted "” men in surrounding towns now live an average of fifty years "” and cancer rates have soared. Among children, the worst affected because their growing organs are especially sensitive to radiation, thyroid cancers have climbed to nearly a hundred times the pre-disaster rate.

(Lemer 55) Water, soil, and animals were poisoned with radiation in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Vegetables with underground roots became toxic and inedible, and grass and forests became contaminated as well. Many water routes were also affected. Some of these included the Dnieper River, the Pripyat River, the Desna River, the Kieve River, the Kaner Resevoir, the Kremenehug Resevoir, the Dniepropetrovsk Resevoir, and the Kakhovka Resevoir. Due to this devastation, a thirty mile exclusion zone was put in place surrounding the affected areas, which is causing scientists to have trouble studying the effects of the radiation (NEA).

Even before Chernobyl occurred, Three Mile Island had already been deemed a disaster area. In Royaton, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, reactor two went critical on March 28, 1979 (Britannica). The Three Mile...