Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors: Appendices

Appendix 1. The Hazards of Using Energy

(Updated March 2017)

Some energy-related accidents since 1975

LPG and oil accidents with less than 300 fatalities, and coal mine accidents with less than 100 fatalities are generally not shown unless recent.

Coal mining deaths range from 0.009 per million tonnes of coal mined in Australia through 0.034 in USA to more than 1 in China and in Ukraine. China’s death rate in 2008 fell to 1.182 per million tonnes of coal mined, compared with 1.485 in 2007, and 3.08 in 2005. (Source: IndustriALL Global Union, National Bureau of Statistics of China)

China's total death toll from coal mining to 2008 averaged well over 4000 per year – official figures give 5300 in 2000, 5670 in 2001 and 6995 in 2003, 6027 in 2004, about 6000 in 2005, 4746 in 2006, 3786 in 2007, 3210 in 2008, 2631 in 2009, 2433 in 2010, 1973 in 2011 and ‘over 1300’ in 2012. These data omit the small illegal collieries – Xinhua reports that authorities plant to close 20,000 small unlicensed collieries by 2015. However, the picture is improving: in the 1950s the annual death toll in world coal mines was 70,000, in the 1980s it was 40,000 and 1990s it was 10,000. Ukraine's coal mine death toll has been over two hundred per year (eg. 1999: 274, 1998: 360, 1995: 339, 1992: 459).

In Australia 281 coal miners have been killed in 18 major disasters since 1902, and there have been 112 deaths in NSW mines since 1979, though the Australian coal mining industry is considered the safest in the world. The USA, the world’s second-biggest producer, recorded 48 coal mining deaths in 2010.

Sources: contemporary media reports, Paul Scherrer Inst, 1998 report:, China State Admin. of Work Safety Bulletin.

Appendix 2. Serious Nuclear Reactor Accidents

Serious accidents in military, research and commercial reactors. All except Vandellos involved damage to or malfunction of the reactor core. At Vandellos a turbine fire made the 17-year old plant uneconomic to repair. For INES ratings, see Table in information paper.

Criticality and chemical accidents releasing radioactivity

The well publicised accident at Tokai-mura, Japan, in 1999 was at a fuel preparation plant for experimental reactors, and killed two people from radiation exposure. Many other such criticality accidents have occurred, some fatal, and practically all in military facilities prior to 1980.

There was a major chemical accident at Mayak Chemical Combine (then known as Chelyabinsk-40) near Kyshtym in Russia in 1957. This was then a military facility. The failure of the cooling system for a tank storing many tonnes of dissolved nuclear waste resulted in an explosion due to ammonium nitrate. It had a force estimated at about 75 tonnes of TNT (310 GJ). This ‘Kyshtym accident’ killed perhaps 200 people and released some 740-800 PBq of radioactivity, affecting thousands more. INES 6.

Appendix 3. Nuclear Energy Institute Briefing on Nuclear Plant Security

Extensive security measures protect US nuclear plants from sabotage. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations require nuclear power plants to take adequate measures to protect the public from the possibility of exposure to radioactive release caused by acts of sabotage. These measures include:

• The physical construction of the containment building for the reactor.
• Security personnel, procedures, and surveillance equipment.
• Security clearance background checks and daily monitoring for plant employees.

Reactor containment buildings are designed to be impervious to catastrophes. Nuclear power plants containment buildings, in which the reactors are located, are extremely robust. Reinforced concrete containment structures, coupled with multiple, redundant safety and plant shutdown systems, have been designed to withstand the impact of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and airborne objects up to a certain force. Design requirements with respect to aircraft impacts are specific to each facility.

Fortified physical barriers at nuclear plants resist penetration. For a release of radiation to occur, several layers of protection must be penetrated, including the containment structure, which is typically protected by about 1.2 metres (4 ft) of reinforced concrete with a steel liner, and the reactor vessel, which is made of steel that is about 150mm (6 inches) in thickness.

Armed security force and advanced surveillance equipment protect each nuclear plant. Every nuclear plant deploys armed security guards on the grounds of the plant around the clock. These highly trained security personnel are assisted in their work by sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment that scans the area surrounding the plant.

Nuclear plant security forces and procedures continually tested in mock drills. Federal regulations require that the industry demonstrate it can protect against a threat by a well-trained paramilitary force intent on forcing its way into a nuclear power plant to commit sabotage, armed with automatic weapons and explosives, with the assistance of an insider who could pass along information and help the attackers. In mock drills conducted periodically under NRC supervision and evaluation, highly skilled, professionally trained intruders make direct frontal attacks on the nuclear plants. They are provided with all information about the plant including the location of and pathway to vital equipment, as if they had been previously informed by an insider, and proceed to attempt to reach the equipment to disable it. If a drill the energy company chooses to stage is not sufficiently rigorous, the company would be cited for a violation of NRC regulations. The NRC evaluates the efficiency of the plant's security measures, and any necessary enhancements are implemented.

Nuclear plant personnel procedures protect from internal threats. All nuclear power plants have programs that protect against the potential threat that plant personnel may be, or may aid, terrorists. New employees and contractor employees must pass stringent background checks regarding employment, education, and criminal histories as well as drug and alcohol screening tests and psychological evaluations. Anyone appearing to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or exhibiting erratic behavior, will be immediately removed from the work area for evaluation. In addition, the NRC requires energy companies to conduct random drug and alcohol tests of at least 50 percent of all employees annually. Nuclear plant employees are also subject to continual behavioral observation programs by trained supervisors and are provided counseling for job-related issues or unusual behaviour.

FBI: nuclear plants are 'hardened' targets. Because of the industry's security programs and the defense in depth safety strategy, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation classifies nuclear power plants as 'hardened' targets. NRC Commissioner Edward McGaffigan said: "There are threats to the nation. But outside the military, [the nuclear energy] industry is probably the best at protecting its assets" (March 3, 1999).