Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
about what expensive
xes needed to be done. A change
occurred around
when the nuclear power industry
started to share more information among its members
about operations and problems, and decided that cooper-
ating with the regulators was better than arguing with
them. This led to a remarkable improvement in the effi-
-
ciency of nuclear power plants from a pre-
typical
output of about
%, the
change coming from a sharp decrease in unplanned
reactor shutdowns. Reactor operating hours increased
% of capacity to today
'
s
% without spending any money building new reactors.
The added electricity produced reduced the cost of
nuclear electricity, and increased the pro
ts of the
nuclear-power industry. Today US power reactors are
the best in the world in effective operation.
Chernobyl: Memories of the Chernobyl disaster in
,
the worst in the history of nuclear energy, still linger
and should cause concern. More than
people
were relocated because of radioactive contamination and
the region around the plant is still full of ghost towns.
TheUNreport on the accident estimated about
excess
cancer deaths over the lifetimes of
the
.
million
cant exposures.
The Chernobyl station consisted of four RMBK-
people who received signi
nuclear reactors, each capable of producing
gigawatt of
electric power. The four together produced about
%of
Ukraine
s electricity at the time of the accident. The
complex was begun in
'
and the one that failed, unit
number
, was commissioned in
. Reactors of the
The UN website
http://chernobyl.undp.org/english/reference.html
has links to many reports on the accident.
