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8 - Atomic Disasters

from Part II - Pandemics and Other Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2022

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Summary

Description: Research on the atom, in the 1950s, brought the possibility of generating the energy that humans increasingly needed from the splitting of the atom. Atomic plants started coming into existence in the Soviet Union, the USA, the UK, France, Japan, and many other countries. Their low cost was a major attraction. Uranium was readily available, even though the plants were expensive to build. As in many industrial plants, there were some accidents that had to be reported to a UN agency. They were generally minor.<break>In later years, three such accidents could no longer be considered minor in their potential, and two were clearly major in their impact. The three accidents were: at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, USA; at Chernobyl, Ukraine; and at Fukushima, Japan. The reasons for each of the accidents was different. These accidents threatened or created a meltdown of the atomic core. The accidents in Ukraine and at Fukushima caused many deaths and did enormous damage. They alerted the world to the potential, existential danger of this cheap energy source and reduced enthusiasm for it. Supporters of atomic energy have continued to stress that in spite of the accidents, atomic energy remains an available and relatively clean energy source.

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Chapter
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Fragile Futures
The Uncertain Economics of Disasters, Pandemics, and Climate Change
, pp. 90 - 118
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Atomic Disasters
  • Vito Tanzi
  • Book: Fragile Futures
  • Online publication: 28 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009109246.010
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  • Atomic Disasters
  • Vito Tanzi
  • Book: Fragile Futures
  • Online publication: 28 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009109246.010
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Atomic Disasters
  • Vito Tanzi
  • Book: Fragile Futures
  • Online publication: 28 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009109246.010
Available formats
×