AiA in Atlanta wrote:mantra wrote:Nuclear power looks wonderful until it doesn't.
the area will never be used for human habitation, farming or fishing again due to the radiation fallout which, although being currently denied, is inevitable.
That didn't happen with 3 Mile Island. Why would it happen here?
The 3 mile Is incident required a fair bit of cover up to create the perception of no danger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile ... al_release
Anti-nuclear political groups disputed the Kemeny Commission's findings, claiming that independent measurements provided evidence of radiation levels up to five times higher than normal in locations hundreds of miles downwind from TMI.[38] According to Randall Thompson, who claims to have been a health physics technician employed to monitor radioactive emissions at TMI after the accident, radiation releases were hundreds if not thousands of times higher.[34][39] Some other insiders, including Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear industry executive who is now an expert witness in nuclear safety issues,[40][41] make the same claim; Gundersen offers evidence, based on pressure monitoring data, for a hydrogen explosion shortly before 2 p.m. on March 28, 1979, which would have provided the means for a high dose of radiation to occur.[34] Gundersen cites affidavits from four reactor operators according to which the plant manager was aware of a dramatic pressure spike, after which the internal pressure dropped to outside pressure. Gundersen also notes that the control room shook and doors were blown off hinges. However official NRC reports refer merely to a "hydrogen burn." [34] The Kemeny Commission referred to "a burn or an explosion that caused pressure to increase by 28 pounds per square inch in the containment building".[42] The Washington Post reported that "At about 2 p.m., with pressure almost down to the point where the huge cooling pumps could be brought into play, a small hydrogen explosion jolted the reactor."[43]
While both the former HIFAR reactor and current OPAL reactor at Lucas Heights are miniscule by comparrison, it doesn't alter the fact this facility releases radioactive emmisions into the air and radioactive water into the sewerage system to be released between Kurnell and Cronulla beaches.
According to current operators ANSTO ...
How safe is the OPAL research reactor?
http://www.ansto.gov.au/discovering_ans ... ch_reactor
Shut down and containment
OPAL's automated and highly reliable safety features include two independent safety systems that are able to quickly and independently shut down the reactor core.
OPAL's first shutdown system quickly inserts (by gravity and assisted with compressed air) the five control rods into the reactor core, absorbing neutrons in the core and thus stopping the nuclear chain reaction. The second shutdown system partially drains the reflector vessel of its heavy water, allowing more neutrons to escape the core and thus stopping the nuclear chain reaction. Both shutdown systems are fail-safe and can function independent of the availability of electrical power.
Behind the Lucas Heights reactor site is a pipeline going down the hill to Woronora River which AAEA routinely used to release Strontium 90 contaminated water from the HIFAR reactor coolant system. This pipeline is still in place so that in the event of an accident, contaminated water can be quickly disposed of.
Forget how many years ago now, but during just such an event at Lucas Heights, after forced closure by Sutherland Shire Council of this pipeline, ANSTO employees used this pipeline for this very purpose, and did not inform the public for 4 days.
Upon inspection of the access cover to the pipeline open/close valve by anti-nuke activists, the access cover padlock was found to have been removed. ANSTO claimed it must have been cut off by vandals. And we're expected to take these compulsive liars word for it.