Ukraine

- Means the border- AKA “Little Russia”- Nearly four centuries of

Russian rule developed strong links between the nations

- In 1991 Communism collapsed and Ukraine gained its own independence

- Breadbasket of Eastern Europe

Fallout from Chernobyl

400 million people exposed in 20 countries

Chernobyl’s political fallout

• Stimulated Gorbachev’s glasnost (openness)

• Stimulated nationalism in Ukraine, Belarus, and other republics that lost clean-up workers.

• Growth of environmental opposition

• Questioning of the heart of technocratic power– Soviet leaders were engineers, not lawyers– USSR collapsed within 5 years.

Radiation and Health

• Health effects as a result of radiation exposure:-increased likelihood of cancer-birth defects including long limbs, brain damage, conjoined stillborn twins-reduced immunity-genetic damage

3.5 million sick, one/third of them children

8,000 deaths in 14 years

My grandmother, by Luda

Death of my life, by Marina

Chernobyl is war, by Irena

Beauty and the beast, by Helena

Nothing escapes radiation, by Irena

Chernobyl, our hell, by Eugenia

“It Can’t Happen Here”

• U.S. reaction to Chernobyl, 1986– Blamed on Communism, graphite reactor

• Also Soviet reaction to Three-Mile Island, 1979– Blamed on Capitalism, pressurized-water reactor

• No technology 100% safe– Three-Mile Island bubble almost burst

Three-Mile Island, PA 1979

Health around TMI

• In 1979, hundreds of people reported nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and skin rashes. Many pets were reported dead or showed signs of radiation

• Lung cancer, and leukemia rates increased 2 to 10 times in areas within 10 miles downwind

• Farmers received severe monetary losses due to deformities in livestock and crops after the disaster that are still occurring today.

Plants near TMI

-lack of chlorophyll -deformed leaf patterns -thick, flat, hollow stems -missing reproductive parts -abnormally large

TMI dandelion leaf at right

Nuclear reaction

• Chain reaction occurs when a Uranium atom splits

• Different reactions– Atomic Bomb in a split second– Nuclear Power Reactor more controlled, cannot

explode like a bomb

States with nuclear power plant(s)

Nuclear power around the globe

• 17% of world’s electricity from nuclear power – U.S. about 20% (2nd largest source)

• 431 nuclear plants in 31 countries – 103 of them in the U.S.– Built none since 1970s (Wisconsin as leader). – U.S. firms have exported nukes.– Push from Bush/Cheney for new nukes.

Technology depends on operators

Other reactor accidents (besides TMI and Chernobyl)

• 1952 Chalk River, Ontario– Partial core meltdown

• 1957 Windscale, England– Graphite reactor fire contaminates 200 square miles.

• 1975 Browns Ferry, Alabama– Plant caught fire

• 1976 Lubmin, East Germany– Near meltdown of reactor core .

• 1999 Tokaimura, Japan– Nuclear fuel plant spewed high levels of radioactive gas

Risk of terrorism(new challenge to industry)

9/11 jetpassed nearIndian Point

• Nuclear energy has no typical pollutants or greenhouse gasses

• Nuclear waste contains high levels of radioactive waste, which are active for hundreds of thousands of years.

Summary Positives and Negatives