National Nuclear contingency planning.

Typedef

One of the looming threats to the environment is the ever present threat of nuclear disaster. Chernobyl is perhaps the prime example of how nuclear accidents can lay waste to entire regions.
http://www.cna.ca/ichern.html

The destroyed Chernobyl 4 reactor was sealed with a concrete cover, referred to as the "sarcophagus", which has contained the remains of the reactor for the past fifteen years. Plans have been developed to repair and rebuild this structure.

Perhaps sixty miles from Dublin is the Sellafield nuclear power plant and Thorp reprocessing station, as is unavoidably evident in Siberia the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels has led to massive contamination of the surrounding area.

The Sellafield nuclear installation in north-west England produces vital energy to the people of the United Kingdom. It also produces weapons grade material needed for the production of nuclear weapons. For these reasons, Sellafield is an important facility for the U.K. in terms of domestic and security needs.

As I am sure most people are aware, the department of public enterprise has circulated a leaflet entitled 'National Planning for Nuclear Emergencies', which gives pithe little information as to what the government actually proposes to do in the event of a nuclear incident in one of our neighbouring European countries.
It does not make clear if the iodine tablets that the department of health proported to have only to find they were out of date have been replaced, it does not say wether or not there would be enough of these tablets for every person in the country, nor does it tell of how it would propose to diseminate these tablets in the event of a serious nuclear incident.

Instead the leaflet recomends that people 'stay indoors' until gamma exposure and exposure to radionucleotides decreases. This advice seems analagous to telling people to duck and cover if an atomic weapon were to go off in their vicinity.

Typedef

www.dpe.ie
www.rpii.ie
www.enfo.ie
www.bfnl.co.uk

Yoda

I read the little pamphlet they put through my door.

Yep. The Department of Public Enterprise is indeed advising us to "duck and cover".

Lemming

I read that pathetic leaflet today. Who was it written for? 10 year olds? It gives absolutely NO information about emergency measures or how you should act (apart from "duck and cover"). Christ!! They had how many months for this? 7 months? And this is the best they could come up with?

We are all TRULY f*cked if the emergency measures are as "well documented and comphrensively thought out" as this f*cking disgrace for a leaflet.

Yoda

I have just sent the following to minister@dpe.ie:

Dear Minister,

I would like to see the government do a bit more about the threat of nuclear emergencies. Like taking the UK to court to get Sellafield shut down.

I read the orange information leaflet which was put through my door yesterday.

Basically, the Department of Public Enterprise is advising us to "duck and cover". We're not fools, you know.

Yours faithfully,

Typedef

Good idea.

Dear Minister.

I have had chance to peruse the leaflet that the department has circulated throughout the state and I must say that it give pithe little actual information as to what the state will actually do to protect the citizens of Ireland in the event of a serious indcident in Sellafield for example. Is the lack of information due to the government actually having no real contingency plan to speak of, and if so is it not misleading to allude that the department has taken steps to provide for such an emergency. Furthermore the leaflet proports the Department of Health has iodine tablets for ingestion in case of radioactive contaminants being introduced into this state, is it then the case that the iodine tablets that the Department of health did have and were found to be out of date have been replaced and is it also the case that the governmnet have inunciated an adequate method of distrobution of such tablets?

Regards
Typedef, Green Issues Moderator
www.boards.ie
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=109

mike65

When I receive the booklet I'll recycle it after I've not read it, after all what can you say, get under the stairs, wear shades,
go to Australia?

Mike.

seamus

Pretty much anyone on the east coast would be screwed anyway. 'Stay indoors until the threat has decreased'? What, for 250,000 years?
Just as an aside on nuclear plants - I read the other day, that New York has something like 6 nuclear plants(figure may be way too high) that supply 21% of it's power. 21%!? Surely that's an amount they could supply in other ways. Nuclear power has huge energy gains, but for only 21% I think it's not worth it.

Yoda

I made a query and got a response.

> Sent: 08 March 2002 19:04
> To: nep@rpii.ie
> Subject: National Planning for Nuclear Emergencies
>
> All right, so we're being told to "duck and cover".
>
> Why can't we do something useful, like take the UK to court and get
> Sellafield shut down? I am sure this is hopelessly naïve, but we're
> helpless, aren't we?

From: Dermot Howett <dhowett@rpii.ie>
Subject: RE: National Planning for Nuclear Emergencies
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 12:12:24 -0000

The likely radiation exposures to the Irish public following a nuclear accident abroad are not, in the short term, going to cause fatalities. However, there may an increase in the number of fatal cancer cases many years later. The size of this increase will depend on the level of radiation dose received and the number of people exposed. By taking appropriate protective actions prior to, and after, the arrival of radioactivity in Ireland both the radiation dose and the number of people exposed can be greatly reduced.

The National Emergency Plan for nuclear accidents, and the regular exercising of it, will ensure that such actions can be implemented in an appropriate and timely manner.

If it were possible to take legal action to shut Sellafield the Government would be doing it. In the meantime the Government is taking legal actions to try to bring a halt to the latest development on the Sellafield Site - the Sellafield MOX Plant. Also, through its contacts with the UK Authorities the RPII is closely scrutinising the practices and procedures at Sellafield to try to ensure that the standards of safety are kept as high as possible.

Regards,
Dermot Howett
Manager
Emergency Planning Liaison
Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland
3 Clonskeagh Square
Dublin 14, Ireland
tel. ++353 1 2066904(direct)
++353 1 2697766(receptionist)
fax ++353 01 2697437
web www.rpii.ie

seamus

Sidestepping the issue. No information whatsoever. Typical of our administration. :rolleyes:

Anyone wanna come to sellafield with me and protest?

But anyway i was watching the weather one evening and saw that winds were coming up from the south west of Ireland and blowing accross Europe. Would that mean that, touch wood, if anything was to happen it would, per say, be blown away? I know we would still suffer from effects and what not but wouldnt the rest of the continent take a good beating from it?

chernobyl

Guys you have to be more realistic.
Sellafield is here to stay and will continue to grow.
When has britain shown anything but arrogance towards sellafield?

If the crap does hit the fan, so be it, infact a disaster at sellafield is a certainty so just learn to live for now and not concern yourself with isssues that in reality you can reslove.

Nuclear power does make ecconomic sense for now (i wonder what future gens will think of us with all the money that will have to be spent clearing up the crap we generated) but for now its cost effective.

Victor

OK, to be fair to the guys, I think the plan does go beyond the leaflet. But, yes, this is Ireland. One wonders how far. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Jabba
But anyway i was watching the weather one evening and saw that winds were coming up from the south west of Ireland and blowing accross Europe. Would that mean that, touch wood, if anything was to happen it would, per say, be blown away? I know we would still suffer from effects and what not but wouldnt the rest of the continent take a good beating from it?

The prevailing wind in Ireland is from the South West. This is typically associated with rain and cloud (no, not Daddy Cloud, I mean the ones in the sky ).

However, in winter in particular, North Easterly winds are not uncommon. North Easterly winds are typically associated with cold weather which usually takes the form of clear skies with little wind or sleet / snow.

South Easterly winds are associated with dry, hot weather in summer.

Typedef

Here is a link for the daily telegraph which claims that the UK will be increasing it's dependance on nuclear power as a means of electricity derivation
you might have to register to view it though
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/08/nuke08.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/03/08/ixhome.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=445009

For the lazy

BRITAIN needs to build nuclear power stations if it is going to meet targets for greenhouse gas emissions, the Government's chief scientist said yesterday.

In a speech that signalled a shift in Government thinking, Prof David King said renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and wave power, would not be able to bridge the energy deficit in 20 years.

His comments came the same day ministers pledged to ratify the Kyoto Treaty on cutting greenhouse gases "within weeks" following an EU agreement to enshrine it in law.

Prof King, a critic of conventional nuclear power, has expressed concerns about the disposal and storage of radioactive waste.

His comments infuriated environmental groups who believe the Department of Trade and Industry has long been lobbying for a revival of Britain's nuclear industry.

Friends of the Earth said carbon dixoide emissions in Britain could be cut without resorting to nuclear power.

Nuclear power provides 27 per cent of Britain's electricity. But as power stations are decommissioned and not replaced over the next 20 years, the figure will drop to below eight per cent.

"Moving towards alternative energy scenerios is crucial and I have pushed this very hard in the energy reserach review," he said at the launch of the British Association annual science week.

"At the same time, if we don't rebuild nuclear power stations, all our efforts in terms of renewable energy developments will be in vain. We will be at a standstill in our fossil fuel dependence in 20 years' time."

Last month, a report from the Cabinet Office said greater efficiency was the best way to meet climate change targets and called for one fifth of Britain's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. But it left the door open for nuclear power.

Prof King said that target "is going to be difficult to meet". He described nuclear power as a short-term way to plug the gap. "If alternatives can be found, then I am going to be a supporter of those alternatives."

More advanced research was needed to treat nuclear waste, most of which was a legacy from the Cold War, he said.

Friends of the Earth said Prof King's view had not been shared by the Royal Commission on environmental pollution in 2000.

Roger Higman, a spokesman, said: "Studies have shown that British carbon dioxide emissions can be cut radically without building more nuclear power stations.

"Nuclear power is uneconomic, unsafe and unpopular. Creating even more would be extremely foolish. We can meet both our Kyoto commitments and long-term energy needs with renewable power and energy efficiency.

"We should concentrate our efforts on sustainable solutions rather than dangerous short-term fixes," he said. Britain has 15 nuclear power stations. The oldest, Magnox, reactors will begin to shut down over the next few years.

America is by far the world's biggest polluter, generating roughly a quarter of the globe's "greenhouse gases".

Under Kyoto, Washington agreed to cut emissions by seven per cent of 1990 levels by 2012. The EU has a target of eight per cent cuts.

Peter Ainsworth, Tory environment spokesman, said Britain was one of the dirtiest countries in the world, recycling only 11 per cent of waste compared with Europe's 50 per cent.

Typedef

Dear Mr <Typedef> -name edited for anonymity

I refer to your e-mail concerning the above matter and I regret the delay in
replying.

The purpose of the information leaflet which has been circulated to every
household in the country is to set out the main elements of National
Planning for Nuclear Emergencies.

As indicated in the leaflet the full text of the booklet setting out this
information in greater detail is also available. It can be accessed on the
web at www.rpii.ie or you can request a copy by telephoning 1890 44 33 22.

With regard to stable iodine the position is, as stated in the information
leaflet, that the Department of Health and Children are making arrangements
to issue stable iodine to every household in the country.

Yours sincerely



Karl Seeber

Telephone 01-6041315
Fax 01-6041320

Suitably uninformative I thought.