|
Welcome to SUNS 2008! |
|
Committee: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Topic B: The environmental effects of nuclear technology Director: Diego De Stefano
Committee Background
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. Though established independently of the United Nations under its own international treaty, the IAEA reports to both General Assembly and Security Council. The Uses of Nuclear Technology For around 50 years the world has used nuclear technology for having a better life quality. The world uses nuclear Energy which in some countries this nuclear energy is one of its primary energy sources. The world also uses nuclear technology for medical issues like for the treating of cancer diseases. And it’s also used for the environmental protection which with the use of isotopes new water management techniques are being developed and the of pollution control.
The effects of nuclear weapons Physical Effects With a normal bomb (thermal bomb), most of the damage is done by the force and heat of the explosion. But when it comes to a nuclear bomb the force comes from the thermal heat and the nuclear radiation, caused by the splitting or joining together of atoms. Also the effects of a nuclear power weapon increase according to its explosive power. Here is one example, if a 20 kilos nuclear bomb were dropped or exploded in a city the heat and blast would vaporize everything immediately in the area and it will also create a huge crater. The release of nuclear radiation is incredibly dangerous when related to nuclear explosions since it will cause additional effects aside from the ones already created by the explosion. And so it will increase the number of deaths from radiation sicknesses for which there is no really effective treatment. And also the waste and dust from that explosion will be moved by the wind to another region or city which it will make them inhabitable. Testing of nuclear weapons has been banned by international agreement, but there are still countries that are believed to have violated this prohibition.
Environmental Effects
The production of nuclear weapons has polluted lots of soil and water at hundreds of nuclear weapons facilities around the world. Many of the substances released are extremely dangerous because some of these substances are highly radioactive together and they can cause mutations and cancer. And also those regions affected will prevail that way for maybe hundreds or thousands of years. In the manufacturing and testing of weapons some materials get to leak out of the plant. And all the activities involving weapons and testing have been awfully destructive for the environment. Even the nuclear weapons underground testing does not avoid the atmosphere pollution and underground tests have contaminated the soil and groundwater. A lot of land and soil in the US and Russia has been contaminated because of this. And also the Irish Sea down in the Arctic Ocean has been poisoned too. In Russia there are nuclear submarines, some still armed with nuclear bombs or weapons under the Murmansk Sea. And rivers also have been polluted because of the holding of large quantities of highly radioactive material. In 1957 a nuclear waste storage tank at the Chelyabinsk nuclear weapons site in Russia exploded and a radioactive cloud dispersed over more than 200 square kilometers of an agricultural region containing several rivers and lakes. Most of the trees in the radioactive zone were killed or damaged. And lots of the radioactive nuclear wastes were dropped at Lake Karachay, which is now the most contaminated body of water in the world. Where the most environmental damage is from the nuclear technology comes from the two largest nuclear weapons countries, the United States and Russia. Countries with their nuclear testing and waste have been making mass pollution around the world (mostly Asia).
Health Effects
Radiation released from each step in the nuclear weapons production cycle causes cancer, congenital defects, mental retardation, immune destruction, cancer, stillbirths and other health problems. Similar sicknesses and syndromes have been shown in workers of nuclear power plants in Japan, or the people living in the radioactive zones in Hanford, as well as the Chernobyl children and some other areas close to nuclear test sites. In 1984 the United Nations Human Rights Committee said that any way of treating, producing, testing, transporting or possession of nuclear weapons were among the greatest threats the human life has got to deal with. And that any of this ways is considered a crime against humanity. Because of those reasons 13 million have died.
The effects of radiation and the risks of exposure
The primary effects of exposure or radiation are to cause an increased probability of cancer in later life, though very large doses delivered instantaneously can lead to radiation sickness and death. The risks depend upon the dose received. The only evidence of radiation damage to exposed populations is from those receiving high doses of radiation. The experts’ opinion is made that low doses will result with a proportionally smaller effect since people live in a naturally radioactive world and people will adapt to this radioactive environment within the course of evolution. (It should be noted that effects on the human body of natural radiation and man made are exactly the same). But governments still warn their people not to live in areas which are practically close to areas where nuclear radiation is on a high or considerable level to damage someone’s health.
Nuclear Thermal Radiation effects
Weapons are divided in two classes the megaton and the nuclear. The weapons in the megaton class are primarily the incendiary weapons, able to start fires and do other thermal damage at distances beyond the radius which they have been dropped (bombs) But the effect of thermal radiation on unprotected human beings is very serious, producing flash burns over large areas of the body. However the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings demonstrated that once the victim is beyond the radius at which all the light colored fabrics are started, even simple precautions can greatly reduce the seriousness of thermal injuries on the body. Many examples exist today of people severely burned on their faces and arms, but unburned under a shirt, blouse or pants.
Nuclear Waste Management
The nuclear waste is any material that contains something called radionuclides. There exists several types of radioactive waste because some wastes can last hundreds and thousands or years and others will decay while in a short storage period. The IAEA classifies nuclear waste into three principal classes the exempt waste which contains a low concentration of radionuclides. Then it’s the low and intermediate level waste which contains a several radionuclide concentration and it needs to be guarded in containers. Then it’s the high level waste which consists on very high levels of radioactive material and this waste is required to rest for long periods of time. This last waste is normally produced from the nuclear power facilities. -How much waste is produced? The generation of electricity from a typical or normal nuclear power station (1000 MW) would make enough energy to supply a city of the size of Amsterdam and that would produce around 300 m3 of low and intermediate level waste per year and some 30 tone lades of high level solid nuclear waste per year. But it’s still less contaminating than a same power coal plant. And every year globally is produced around 200,000m3 from nuclear waste. -What can be done? Well, there exist several ways of dealing with this problem the first ways are chemical precipitation, incineration and compaction of the waste. And with more dangerous waste are highly isolated from the biosphere. Some examples of what major nuclear power producers do is that they just put the nuclear waste into some huge storage places just like mountains. Like what the United States did in the Yucca Mountains. But that would just last around 50 years and then they will have to make another one. But the problem is that if anything goes wrong or if any mistake happens it could severely harm the environment. But Also what is mainly action done with the nuclear waste is burying it into deep underground. There are also theories that governments discuss about sending nuclear waste into the bottom of the ocean. What also some governments do is to pay another country to storage its nuclear waste in there. But that idea or theory could really harm the environment and its bottom of the sea faun. Another theory is the one of sending nuclear waste into the space which could probably be best one but the only inconvenient is that it will be really expensive to do so.
Questions for the delegate
Has your country been involved with nuclear attacks? Does your country have nuclear weapons? Has your country been affected by nuclear weapons? Have your people suffered the consequences? What kind of effects has your country suffered? Has your country done anything to stop or prevent these effects? What does your country do with nuclear waste?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_effects_of_nuclear_power http://www.wslfweb.org/health.htm http://www.motherearth.org/nuke/begin2.php#1 www.theiet.org/factfiles/energy/env-nuclear.cfm?type=pdf – www.theiet.org/facilities/energy/env-nuclear.cfm?type= www.canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/peace/nukenviro.html http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Factsheets/English/manradwa.html http://ec.europa.eu/energy/nuclear/publications/doc/articles/2004_09_spanish_paper_en.pdf |
