This is important to help complement intermittent renewables like wind and solar power. I believe that nuclear power has an important role to play as a reliable source of firm, low-carbon power. Nuclear power growth 1965-2017 Robert Rapier Nuclear power growth slowed sharply after Chernobyl, and actually declined for a period after Fukushima: It is not going to be easy to overcome this fear and change attitudes about nuclear power. As a result, a larger segment of the public has developed a great fear of nuclear power. In both the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents, risks weren’t recognized and consequences weren’t properly estimated. I am not sure how much the HBO series will delve into the events leading up to the accident, but it was actually the result of a safety test that should have been terminated as soon as things started to go wrong. The series does show that as it started to become clear what had happened, many were in absolute denial that the outcome (an explosion of the nuclear reactor itself) was even possible.įrom an engineer’s perspective, it is important to recognize both risk and the consequences of risk. Inevitably, in every disaster we find design flaws and warning signs that should have been obvious. Thus, I have spent a lot of time reviewing what went wrong during major disasters like Chernobyl, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, or the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan. Nothing like this had ever been seen in the nuclear power industry, and many would have argued that an accident of this scale was impossible.Īs an engineer in the energy industry, a major focus of mine has always been on safety during all phases of design, construction, and operation. Based on the first episode, it will provide a captivating, dramatic overview of what happened. Last week HBO debuted a new miniseries covering the events surrounding the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The Three Mile Island accident was a minor event compared to what was to come next. We just aren't very good at evaluating those odds versus all sorts of much riskier activities we engage in every day. They can't see it, but they know it could possibly cause cancer. In any case, many people have an irrational fear of radiation.
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