Comparison of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents
To date, the
Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents
The following table compares the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents.
Plant Name | Chernobyl | Fukushima Daiichi
|
---|---|---|
Location | Soviet Union (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) 51°23′22″N 30°05′57″E / 51.38946°N 30.09914°E | Japan 37°25′32″N 141°01′18″E / 37.4255°N 141.0216°E |
Date of the accident | April 26, 1986 | March 11, 2011 |
INES Level | 7 | 7 |
Plant commissioning date | 1977 | 1971 |
Years of operation before the accident | 9 years (plant)
|
40 years (plant)
|
Electrical output | plant (net): 3700 MWe (4 reactors)reactors (net): 925 MWe (Units 1–4) |
plant (net): 4546 MWe (6 reactors)reactors (net): 439 MWe (Unit 1), 760 MWe (Units 2–5), 1067 MWe (Unit 6) |
Type of reactor | graphite moderated , 2nd generation reactor without containment |
BWR-3 and BWR-4 reactors with Mark I containment vessels |
Number of reactors | 4 on site; 1 involved in accident | 6 on site; 4 (and spent fuel pools) involved in accident; one of the four reactors was empty of fuel at the time of the accident. |
Amount of nuclear fuel in affected reactors | 1 reactor—190 tonnes (t, metric tons = 210 U.S. short tons): spent fuel pools not involved in incident[4] | 4 reactors—854 tonnes (t, metric tons): 81 t in Unit 1 reactor, 111 t in Unit 2 reactor, 111 t in Unit 3 reactor, 0 t in Unit 4 reactor (defueled), 59 t in Unit 1 spent fuel pool (SFP), 119 t in Unit 2 SFP, 104 t in Unit 3 SFP, and 269 t in Unit 4 SFP[a] |
Cause of the accident | Proximate cause was human error and violation of procedures. The unsafe reactor design caused instability at low power due to a positive Chernobyl Disaster , Note 1, for more discussion. |
The plants were not designed with consideration of such a large reactor containment.[citation needed ]
|
Maximum level of radiation detected | 300 Sv/h shortly after the explosion in vicinity of the reactor core.[8] | 530 Sv/h inside Unit 2 containment vessel in 2017 according to Japan Times.[9] |
Radioactivity released | According to IAEA, total release was 14 EBq (14,000 PBq).[10] 5.2 EBq (5,200 PBq) in iodine-131 equivalent [11][12] | As of 2014, a peer reviewed estimate of the total was 340–780 PBq, with 80% falling into the Pacific Ocean.[13] Radiation continues to be released into the Pacific via groundwater. |
Area affected[clarification needed] | An area up to 500 kilometres (310 mi) away contaminated, according to the United Nations.[14][15][16] | Radiation levels exceeding annual limits seen over 60 kilometres (37 mi) to northwest and 40 kilometres (25 mi) to south-southwest, according to officials.[citation needed] |
Exclusion Zone Area |
30 km | 20 km (30 km voluntary) extending north-west to 45 km in the downwind direction to Iitate, Fukushima[17] |
Population relocated | 335,000 (About 115,000 from areas surrounding the reactor in 1986; about 220,000 people from Russian Federation and Ukraine after 1986) |
154,000[18] |
Population returned | None | 122,000[19] |
Direct fatalities from the accident | Two immediate trauma deaths; 28 deaths from | 1 confirmed cancer death attributed to radiation exposure by the government for the purpose of compensation following opinions from a panel of radiologists and other experts, medical sources pending for long-term fatalities due to the radiation. |
Current status | All reactors were shut down by 2000. The damaged reactor was covered by a hastily built steel and concrete structure called the New Safe Confinement structure was installed in November 2016, from which the plant will be cleaned up and decommissioned. |
Cold shutdown declared on 16 December 2011, but decommissioning is likely to take 30 to 40 years.[22][23] All fuel rods in reactor 4 pool removed. Fukushima disaster cleanup is ongoing. |
Radioactive contamination discharge
Report date | Place | Period | Iodine-131 (TBq) |
Caesium-137 (TBq) |
Source | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
from | to | from | to | ||||
2002 | Chernobyl | 25 April – June 1986 | 1,600,000 | 1,940,000 | 59,000 | 111,000 | NEA[24] |
22 March 2011 | Fukushima | 12 – 15 March 2011 | 400,000 | 3,000 | 30,000 | ZAMG[25] | |
2 April 2011 | Fukushima | 12 – 19 March 2011 | 10,000 | 700,001 | 1,000 | 70,000 | ZAMG[26] |
12 April 2011 | Fukushima | 11 March – 5 April[27] | 150,000 | 12,000 | NSC[28] | ||
12 April 2011 | Fukushima | 11 – 17 March 2011 | 130,000 | 6,100 | NISA[28] | ||
7 June 2011 | Fukushima | 11 – 17 March 2011 | 160,000 | 15,000 | NISA[29] | ||
24 Aug. 2011 | Fukushima | 11 March – 5 April | 130,000 | 11,000 | NSC[30] | ||
15 Sept. 2011 | Fukushima | March – September | 100,000 | 200,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | Kantei[31] |
Report date | Place | Period | Amount (TBq) |
Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
12 April 2011 | Chernobyl | 25 April – June 1986 | 5,200,000 | NISA[28] |
12 April 2011 | Fukushima | 11 March – 5 April 2011 | 630,000 | NSC[27][28] |
12 April 2011 | Fukushima | 11 – 17 March 2011 | 370,000 | NISA[28] |
April 2011 | Fukushima | 4 April 2011 | 154 | NSC[27] |
25 April 2011 | Fukushima | 24 April 2011 | 24 | NSC[27] |
6–7 June 2011 | Fukushima | 11 – 17 March 2011 | 770,000 | NISA[32]>[29] |
7 June 2011 | Fukushima | 11 – 17 March 2011 | 840,000 | NISA,[33] press printing[32] |
17 August 2011 | Fukushima | 3–16 August 2011 | 0.07 | Government[34] |
23 August 2011 | Fukushima | 12 March - 5 April 2011 | 630,000 | NISA[35] |
Report date | Period | Into the sea (TBq) |
Source | |
---|---|---|---|---|
direct | indirect | |||
21 May 2011 | 1 – 6 April 2011 | 4,700 | Tepco[36] | |
End of August 2011 | March – August 2011 | 3,500 | 16,000 | JMA[37] |
8 September 2011 | March – April 2011 | 15,000 | Scientist Group[38] | |
29 October 2011 | 21 March – 15 July 2011 | 27,100 | IRSN[39]
|
See also
- Comparison of Chernobyl and other radioactivity releases
- Deaths due to the Chernobyl disaster
- List of accidents at the Mayak facility
Notes
- ^ 183.3 kg/assembly;[5] 400 assemblies in reactor 1, 548 assemblies in reactors 2&3, 0 assemblies in reactor 4, total of 1496 assemblies in reactors 1-4;[5][6] 292 assemblies in Unit 1 spent fuel pool (SFP), 587 assemblies in Unit 2 SFP, 514 assemblies in Unit 3 SFP, 1331 assemblies in Unit 4 SFP, total of 2724 assemblies in spent fuel pools 1-4.[7]
References
- ^ "The INES scale". laradioactivite.com. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ^ "Fukushima Daiichi Accident - World Nuclear Association". world-nuclear.org. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ^ "PRIS - Reactor Details". www.iaea.org. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
- ^ "Chernobyl Accident And Its Consequences - Nuclear Energy Institute". www.nei.org. Nuclear Energy Institute. Retrieved 9 April 2017. - note that figures were converted into US tons
- ^ a b Fukushima: Background on Reactors. February 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2014. - 183.3 kg / assembly
- ^ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (August 2015). "The Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Technical Volume 2/5 - Safety Assessment" (PDF). International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). p. 74. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (August 2015). "The Fukushima Daiichi Accident: Technical Volume 1/5 - Description and Context of the Accident" (PDF). International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). p. 66. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ B. Medvedev (June 1989). "JPRS Report: Soviet Union Economic Affairs Chernobyl Notebook" (Republished by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service ed.). Novy Mir. Archived from the original on 24 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ^ "Fukushima radiation level highest since March 11". The Japan Times Online. 3 February 2017.
- IAEA. 1 April 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- .
- ^ "Chernobyl Accident 1986". World Nuclear Association. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- PMID 24189103.
- ^ "ANNEX J. Exposures and effects of the Chernobyl accident" (PDF). United Nations UNSCEAR. 2000. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ "Figure XI. Surface ground deposition of caesium-137 released in Europe after the Chernobyl accident [D13]" (PDF). United Nations UNSCEAR Report. 2000.
- ^ "Figure VI. Surface ground deposition of caesium-137 released in the Chernobyl accident [I1, L3]" (PDF). United Nations UNSCEAR Report. 2000.
- ^ "Fukushima: Radiation Exposure". World Nuclear Association. February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ "Reconstruction Agency". www.reconstruction.go.jp. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
- ^ "Fukushima Residents Return Despite Radiation". www.scientificamerican.com. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ "Health effects due to radiation from the Chernobyl accident (Annex D of the 2008 UNSCEAR Report)" (PDF). UNSCEAR. 2011.
- ^ "WHO | Chernobyl: The true scale of the accident".
- ^ Kaushik, Kavyanjali (7 April 2011). "UPDATE 1-Toshiba proposes to scrap Fukushima nuclear plant-Nikkei". Reuters. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ Justin Mccurry (10 March 2014). "Fukushima operator may have to dump contaminated water into Pacific". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
- ^ Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine2002, archived from Original on 20 April 2011, retrieved on 6 April 2011.
- ^ Archived 14 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine(in German). ZAMG, 22 March 2011, archived from Original on 20 April 2011, retrieved on 20 April 2011.
- ^ Archived 27 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine(in German). In: www.zamg.ac.at. Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, 2 April 2011, archived from Original on 20 April 2011, retrieved on 2 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. JAIF / NHK, 26 April 2011, archived from Original on 27 April 2011, retrieved on 27 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. NISA/METI, 12 April 2011, archived from Original on 12 April 2011, retrieved on 12 April 2011.
- ^ a b Archived 4 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. NISA/Kantei, 7 June 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 8 June 2011.
- ^ Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. In: Atoms in Japan. JAIF, 5 September 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 20 December 2011.
- ]
- ^ a b Archived 9 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine. NHK, 6 June 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 6 June 2011.
- ^ Archived 4 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. NISA/Kantei, 7 June 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 14 June 2011.
- ^ Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. JAIF / NHK, 18 August 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 21 August 2011. Converted from 200 MBq/h in a two-week period.
- ^ Earthquake Report – JAIF, No. 182. JAIF / NHK, 23 August 2011, archived from Original Archived 2011-11-14 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on 31 August 2011.
- ^ Archived 26 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Tepco, 21 May 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 23 May 2011.
- ^ Dagmar Röhrlich: Archived 4 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine(in German). In: dradio.de, Forschung Aktuell. Deutschlandfunk, 5 September 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 7 September 2011; 1 000 000 000 000 Becquerel = 1 TBq.
- ^ Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. JAIF / NHK, 9 September 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 11 December 2011.
- ^ Archived 17 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. JAIF / NHK, 30 November 2011, archived from Original, retrieved on 20 December 2011.
External links
- How Much Fuel Is at Risk at Fukushima?
- Chernobyl Accident. World Nuclear Association. Archived 1 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- Fukushima Nuclear Crisis Unwrapped Archived 1 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Fukushima Nuclear Accident. IAEA Update Log
- BBC News: Fukushima and Chernobyl compared