Nuclear safety – the status quo’s constructive criticism
The status quo in the field of global nuclear safety
The time of increasing risk of global nuclear pollutions is quickly coming due to technical wasting and imperfections of existing nuclear facilities, installations and technologies which originate from the times of the mad cold-war armaments race (1948-91), in majority, when the superior target of nuclear industry and laboratories was hasty production of plutonium and uranium. Heat, electric energy and other isotopes were fringe benefits and smokescreen.
The superior target dominated over all, including safety. There was no will and the time for developing really safe nuclear technologies then. The number of cold-war nuclear accidents and disasters exceeds 100 thousands. The accidents and disasters were hidden on a pretense of state secret. Nuclear failures are unknown in more than 99%. We know these which were impossible to hide, below 1%. The number of nuclear industry’s victims exceeds 10 millions.
Somebody can notice: the number of tobacco industry’s victims is much greater. He is right,
however people smoke from his own free will, are forestalled about threats, and may break smoking. The victims of nuclear industry are misinformed and die not from their own guilt.
All nuclear experts were conscious of the fact: nuclear devices, installations and facilities are not only unhealthy due to radiation, but also too untested and unreliable. Notifying of nuclear threats was considered bad, especially after the Cold War, when financing of nuclear industry and R&D institutions was very limited. Near all responsible nuclear experts lost their jobs, or changed employer themselves. The present official experts in the field of nuclear safety were selected from the individuals which are ready to protect the interest of very unstable nuclear industry, concealing and disregarding the existing great nuclear threats of all Humanity.
The avalanche of official lies about the Chernobyl Catastrophe’s short and long-term effects has been sustained, since 1986. The official number of victims is lowered of 10.000, times !
All servile Soviet-dependent experts betrothed people that radiation will act therapeutically. President M. Gorbachev said, unwittingly, that more than 30 thousands rescue men died by 2 years, and above 400 thousands was mortally exposed. The IAEA informed us that below 4000 victims died by 15 years and about 200 thousands received non-threatening low doses.
Who lain ? Both pres. M. Gorbachev and IAEA, regrettably. Mortal victims will be millions because winds have dissipated alpha-emitting Chernobyl-dust very non-uniformly all over the globe, still. Who accumulate alpha-emitting particle of Chernobyl-dust from air, water, or food, in his body – this will suffer from cancer during 1-20 years. This met all miners in uranium mines soon after the WW II, and this will randomly meet people on the all Earth, unexpectedly. Low concentrations of alpha-emitters in solids and liquids are very difficult detectable because of self-shielding effect: alpha particles have small range, of order several micrometers in uranium – only thin surface layer affects outside. For example, radioactivity of armor-piercing uranium shell before use and granite tombstone is similar. Hitting target, uranium core melts, sprays, evaporates and cover a large area with micro particles, which evince week self-shielding effect for all radioisotopes, alpha-emitters primarily, and total radioactivity on the contaminated area is dangerous for life. This is why soldiers suffered from radiation disease in Iraq after using armor-piercing uranium ammunition which acts as dirty bomb after the hit: depleted uranium core contains many radioactive impurities.
It is a technical grade product of used nuclear fuel’s utilization – not the entirely safe pure U238 isotope. The ammunition’s manufactures fulfill safety norms before explosion, know the self-shielded total radioactivity of depleted uranium’s impurities, and cynically supply their own national military forces with latent dirty bombs for profit, because the purification of technical-grade depleted uranium from many radioactive impurities is very expensive.
This exemplifies the general practice of concealing uncomfortable facts, in nuclear industry.
The redistribution of Chernobyl dust is similar to the redistribution of DDT’s derivatives which have still poison live organisms on Earth for 50 years after the renouncement of DDT.
The radioactive Chernobyl dust migrated to food and consumers during several days. The dust accumulated by shrubs and trees will be released at carpenter’s works, killing people by thousands years. Glaciers and floating ice will release the Chernobyl dust unexpectedly.
Soviet emissary to IAEA, academician Valery Legasov, was entirely conscious of the long term-effects of Chernobyl-dust, and preferred to commit suicide on the second anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, instead of to coactively fabricate cynic lies for the rest of his life.
Development of events during the last Japanese nuclear disaster (March, 2011) brought to the light the real, hidden, very poor condition of global nuclear safety, and the general distrust to the IAEA’s and governmental officials. The repetition of Chernobyl lies lasted only 3 days, because U.S. Navy and ground forces escaped from the contaminated areas and Japanese bought personal radiometers. Last of all, the officials confirmed the giant contamination, migrating downwind and with sea currents. In this situation, the IAEA decided to improve relations with global society and deprecated the official Japan lies. I’m of opinion that the memory of the V. Legasov’s suicide had a great influence on the present IAEA standpoint.
Hats off ! , my readers: professor V. Legasov will save millions of people, post mortally. His suicide was dramatic, deliberate protest against the Chernobyl lies, not a breakdown. The status quo in the field of global nuclear safety proves that we had lived in the situation which was described by J.Ch. Andersen, in the known tale The Emperor’s New Clothes:
all courtiers (nuclear safety experts) saw their naked king (very poor condition of nuclear safety), but they negated this fact, being the slaves of their own conspiracy of silence.
Let me be the child from the tale of J.Ch. Andersen, breaking the conspiracy of silence of experts and professionals which have tried to improve the cold-war nuclear makeshifts since 1950s, misinforming societies, wasting time and giant money, instead of to sum up many gathered bad experiences concerning nuclear disasters with the very unpleasant conclusion:
The existing solutions of nuclear safety are faulty because of many methodological errors. There is high time to reject the existing nuclear makeshift and to solve the problem solidly. The first evident question is, what solutions promise much greater global nuclear safety ?
The 2d question is, how to replace the present clash of interests among nuclear industry and society with the community of interests of the conflicted parties ?
The 3d question is, how to convince taxpayers and Green Parties to the new solutions ? The new solutions of nuclear safety will be very expensive. It would be a naivety to believe in every disinterested transformation of industrial circles into a philanthropic association.
After the Chernobyl Catastrophe, I was forced to protect my family and I’ve successfully reduced the total radioactivity of my children by 30-1000 times, in comparison with their age-mates. Observing the helplessness during the last Japan nuclear disaster, I’ve decided to disclose my transcendental illumination about solid solution of global nuclear safety. Fundamental methodological errors – slighting some sleeping enemies.
Two coupled categories of very serious nuclear safety’s problems are existing today:
1. The local safety problems, being specific for any nuclear device, installation, or facility.
2. The observed giant global problems which result from the uncontrolled redistribution of local contaminations in the atmosphere, on the surface and in animate matter on the Earth.
There are four methodologically correct, general solutions of the above defined problems:
General solution 1. The absolute resignation from all dangerous nuclear enterprises.
General solution 2. Eliminating the causes of the known local nuclear safety problems.
General solution 3. Reducing the uncontrolled redistribution of local contaminations.
General solution 4. Isolating the human environment from hazardous nuclear equipment.
The general solutions 1 is preferred by all Green Parties. Unfortunately, this is tantamount to resignation of civilization development. Nuclear science and technologies become too important for human live and future, so that people won’t give up their welfare, health, prospects, and national security. Voters are wise to the truism: knives are dangerous, but we can learn to use knives safely. Thus, the Greens have low long-term public support, if their program is extreme. However, some societies live happily, refusing Hi-Tech goods.
The general solutions 2 is a technical utopia. The local nuclear accidents and disasters are inevitable: people are fallible, any equipment features limited reliability, the majority of natural perturbations is unpredictable, still. High power nuclear reactors are very complex technical systems with thousands of feedbacks among their subsystems and parts. It was and it is impossible to study all possible non-steady states in the reactors and to define all areas of reactor’s instability. The dynamics of high power nuclear reactors isn’t well known and many factors can cause a risky instability. The controlled reactor parameters’ number is thousands times greater than in airliners. Operators are supported by hundreds automatic control systems and are helpless, if an unknown perturbation progress quickly.
Then, it isn’t excluded that reactor will tend to self-destruction. Reactors designers knew this fact since the WW II, made allowance for reactor’s self-destruction, and developed the general solutions 3 and 4 of nuclear safety, in the form of shields and containments.
The general solutions 3 and 4 were developed in the hurry of armament race and appeared the local and global nuclear safety’s substitutes. No one containment didn’t survive the internal explosion after re-synthesis of cooling water in quick overheated nuclear reactor.
All shields didn’t protect the staff of failed reactors against high radiation. The housings of the overheated reactors lost leakproofness and radioisotopes penetrated outside. Eventhe Russian and Japan reactors’ foundations cracked and groundwater was contaminated.
Radioactive waste flowed out Russian, European and U.S. nuclear cemeteries many times.
The first fundamental methodological error in the field of nuclear safety was committed at the choice of nuclear facilities’ location: the easy access to efficient natural sources of cooling water was the choice’s prevailing criterion. All high-power nuclear installations and facilities are located at rivers, lakes, or at a seaside. The general solution 3 of nuclear safety, reducing the uncontrolled redistribution of local contaminations after a disaster, was made impossible this way. The spreading of local contaminations by natural water flows was and will be unpreventable until the 1t methodological error will be tolerated.
The 2d fundamental methodological error in the field of nuclear safety was committed by decision of nuclear facilities’ surface location. This error resulted from a senseless extrapolation of the safety regulations concerning explosives’ production and storage.
Whichever surface nuclear facility won’t survive meteor’s impact, or a serious attack. A small part of secret belowground military installations will survive these events, only. Finally, the spreading of local radioactive contaminations by winds and rains was and will be unpreventable until the 2d methodological error will be tolerated, as till now. The risk of nuclear disaster owing to meteor’s impact rises with time and isn’t ignorable.
This risk is underestimated because erosion removes the trace of meteor’s impact on the Earth very quickly. The Moon illustrates the fact: meteors have continuously shaped all Moon’s surface, in macro and micro scale. Unpredictable meteors rains are the greatest danger. Many old and modern chronicles describe hundreds heavy meteors rains impacts.
U.S. Administration appointed the NASA’s Near Earth Objects Office (NEOs), in 1998, however it was only official assurance. One of the NEOs experts said: we get 3 millions year-budget, this is a drop in the ocean of our needs. Humanity plays in the game Check a Luck: nuclear disaster will be inevitable, if a meteor of lemon-size hits a containment.
The probability of our defeat is unknown: data about meteors’ impacts are insufficient. The risk of a mad, or unintentional military attack is too great and unknown, sooth to say. It isn’t a secret that all nuclear facilities are the targets of revenge missile and air attacks. Unintentional attack can be executed by programmer’s mistakes. Such errors happened in several known unsuccessful missions of NASA and ESA, in spite of multiple testing. The shortage of Soviet nuclear ammunition and suitcase bombs was stated. Who bought this shortage ? If a decadent and desperate dictatorship, then the farewell nuclear attacks on nuclear facilities are near certain events. The buyers of the Soviet nuclear remnants can attack nuclear facilities in their hidden long-term aims, for injuring to competitors on Muslim account, or under another convenient mask. If a madness is possible, then the madness will be materialized. This historical truth was neglected by nuclear experts.
The quoted facts prove that some fundamental methodological errors were repeated in the field of nuclear safety, since beginning. The errors consist in too simple, optimistic system specifications and untested design rules of nuclear equipment. In other words, the nuclear experts have continuously slighted their sleeping enemies. Ignorance of own limitations and hastiness are the main sleeping enemies of every one system and equipment designer.
All creators commit these methodological errors many times, in the field of applied science, before they will understand the iron principle of safe technical activity: don’t be optimist before the estimation of your own faults’ probabilities. Wright brothers knew this iron principle of safety and invented wind tunnel for estimating their faults’ probabilities before risky long-distance flights. Thanks this principle, they refused many misconceptions and survived pioneering flights. Their great success wasn’t a lucky event. This was the near deterministic event based on real, experimental knowledge, not on a wishful thinking.
The Wrights’ invention – wind tunnel – became the obligatory flight simulator in aviation.
Wrights’ competitors preferred the risky game Check a Luck instead modeling, detected their own misconceptions flying, and quickly died, or became cripples for life, in majority.
Why nuclear industry preferred risky makeshifts instead the safe Wrights’ methodology ?
Because the iron principle of safe technical activity’s implementations are time-consuming. This principle is modern version of the ancient maxima: festina lente. The WW II and race for atomic bomb were the parents of nuclear industry. All was done feverishly. Next, the CW enforced the race for thermonuclear and neutron bombs and nuclear industry grew like an onion: next makeshifts on previous makeshifts. The existing giant nuclear knowledge base was collected, however the CW first principle was: quick effects at any cost. Finally, nuclear complex facilities possessed many known and unknown week points. The known imperfections were hidden, the unknown remained undetected until a disaster happened. In addition, there wasn’t a serious nuclear technical data exchange among the CW parties.
The Soviets repeated all western nuclear industry’s faults, adding their own and the faults induced by western disinformation. All Soviet nuclear power plants in Western Germany were closed as soon as possible after German Reunification. The Soviet reactors working in Finland are Soviet by name, exclusively. The Loviisa nuclear power plant was Finnish tribute in aid of the SU, however the plant was built by Westinghouse and Siemens using all western critical materials, components, and technologies. Anyone who knew Soviet industry and mentality know that the Soviet nuclear heritage should be immediately closed.
Cave agreement – the constructive prompt.
The only solid solution of the existing problems of nuclear safety is the international treaty
and
was exposed on
Why the design-assumptions were too optimistic ? Because of the armament-race, of course.
Moreover any surface nuclear facility won’t survive meteor’s impact, or a military nuclear
attack. A part of secret belowground military installations will survive these events, only.
The risk of nuclear disaster because of meteor’s impact rise with time isn’t negligible.
These modern pyramids appeared safety substitutes:
Cave agreement
Nuclear safety – the status quo’s constructive criticism. The status quo in the field of global nuclear safety.
The time of increasing risk of global nuclear pollutions is quickly coming due to technical wasting and imperfections of existing nuclear facilities, installations and technologies which originate from the times of the mad cold-war armaments race (1948-91), in majority, when the superior target of nuclear industry and laboratories was hasty production of plutonium and uranium. Heat, electric energy and other isotopes were fringe benefits and smokescreen.
The superior target dominated over all, including safety. There was no will and the time for developing really safe nuclear technologies then. The number of cold-war nuclear accidents and disasters exceeds 100 thousands. The accidents and disasters were hidden on a pretense of state secret. Nuclear failures are unknown in more than 99%. We know these which were impossible to hide, below 1%. The number of nuclear industry’s victims exceeds 10 millions.
Somebody can notice: the number of tobacco industry’s victims is much greater. He is right, however people smoke from his own free will, are forestalled about threats, and may break smoking. The victims of nuclear industry are misinformed and die not from their own guilt.
All nuclear experts were conscious of the fact: nuclear devices, installations and facilities are not only unhealthy due to radiation, but also too untested and unreliable. Notifying of nuclear threats was considered bad, especially after the Cold War, when financing of nuclear industry and R&D institutions was very limited. Near all responsible nuclear experts lost their jobs, or changed employer themselves. The present official experts in the field of nuclear safety were selected from the individuals which are ready to protect the interest of very unstable nuclear industry, concealing and disregarding the existing great nuclear threats of all Humanity.
The avalanche of official lies about the Chernobyl Catastrophe’s short and long-term effects has been sustained, since 1986. The official number of victims is lowered of 10.000, times ! All servile Soviet-dependent experts betrothed people that radiation will act therapeutically. President M. Gorbachev said, unwittingly, that more than 30 thousands rescue men died by 2 years, and above 400 thousands was mortally exposed. The IAEA informed us that below 4000 victims died by 15 years and about 200 thousands received non-threatening low doses. Who lain ? Both pres. M. Gorbachev and IAEA, regrettably. Mortal victims will be millions because winds have dissipated alpha-emitting Chernobyl-dust very non-uniformly all over the globe, still. Who accumulate alpha-emitting particle of Chernobyl-dust from air, water, or food, in his body – this will suffer from cancer during 1-20 years. This met all miners in uranium mines soon after the WW II, and this will randomly meet people on the all Earth, unexpectedly. Low concentrations of alpha-emitters in solids and liquids are very difficult detectable because of self-shielding effect: alpha particles have small range, of order several micrometers in uranium – only thin surface layer affects outside. For example, radioactivity of armor-piercing uranium shell before use and granite tombstone is similar. Hitting target, uranium core melts, sprays, evaporates and cover a large area with micro particles, which evince week self-shielding effect for all radioisotopes, alpha-emitters primarily, and total radioactivity on the contaminated area is dangerous for life. This is why soldiers suffered from radiation disease in Iraq after using armor-piercing uranium ammunition which acts as dirty bomb after the hit: depleted uranium core contains many radioactive impurities. It is a technical grade product of used nuclear fuel’s utilization – not the entirely safe pure U238 isotope. The ammunition’s manufactures fulfil safety norms before explosion, know the self-shielded total radioactivity of depleted uranium’s impurities, and cynically supply their own national military forces with latent dirty bombs for profit, because the purification of technical-grade depleted uranium from many radioactive impurities is very expensive.
This exemplifies the general practice of concealing uncomfortable facts, in nuclear industry. The redistribution of Chernobyl dust is similar to the redistribution of DDT’s derivatives which have still poison live organisms on Earth for 50 years after the renouncement of DDT.
The radioactive Chernobyl dust migrated to food and consumers during several days. The dust accumulated by shrubs and trees will be released at carpenter’s works, killing people by thousands years. Glaciers and floating ice will release the Chernobyl dust unexpectedly. Soviet emissary to IAEA, academician Valery Legasov, was entirely conscious of the long term-effects of Chernobyl-dust, and preferred to commit suicide on the second anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, instead of to coactively fabricate cynic lies for the rest of his life. Development of events during the last Japanese nuclear disaster (March, 2011) brought to the light the real, hidden, tragic condition of global nuclear safety, and the general distrust to the IAEA’s and governmental officials. The repetition of Chernobyl lies lasted only 3 days, because U.S. Navy and ground forces escaped from the contaminated areas and Japanese bought personal radiometers. Last of all, the officials confirmed the giant contamination, migrating downwind and with sea currents. In this situation, the IAEA decided to improve relations with global society and deprecated the official Japan lies. I’m of opinion that the memory of the V. Legasov’s suicide had a great influence on the present IAEA standpoint.
Hats off ! , my readers: professor V. Legasov will save millions of people, post mortally. His suicide was dramatic, deliberate protest against the Chernobyl lies, not a breakdown. The status quo in the field of global nuclear safety proves that we had lived in the situation which was described by J.Ch. Andersen, in the known tale The Emperor’s New Clothes:
all courtiers (nuclear safety experts) saw their naked king (very poor condition of nuclear safety), but they negated this fact, being the slaves of their own conspiracy of silence. Set me be the child from the tale of J.Ch. Andersen, breaking the conspiracy of silence of experts and professionals which have tried to improve the cold-war nuclear makeshifts since 1950s, misinforming societies, wasting time and giant money, instead of to sum up many gathered bad experiences concerning nuclear disasters with the very unpleasant conclusion:
The existing solutions of nuclear safety are faulty because of many methodological errors.
There is high time to reject the existing nuclear makeshift and to solve the problem solidly.
After the Chernobyl Catastrophe, I was forced to protect my family and I’ve successfully reduced the total radioactivity of my children by 30-1000 times, in comparison with their age-mates. Observing the total helplessness during the last Japan nuclear disaster, I’ve decided to protect my grandchildren and their age-mates against the next nuclear disasters.
The first evident question is, what solutions promise much greater global nuclear safety ?
The 2d question is, how to replace the present clash of interests among nuclear industry and society with the community of interests of the conflicted parties ?
The 3d question is, how to convince taxpayers and Green Parties to the new solutions ?
The new solutions of nuclear safety will be very expensive. It would be a naivety to believe in every disinterested transformation of industrial circles into a philanthropic association.
Considering the questions, I’ve received transcendental illuminated about solid solution of global nuclear safety. The very practical solution is a true godsend, not a joke or daydream.