Learning from Chernobyl

["D. Kosloff" <dkosloff@ncweb.com>]

I think the ten most important lessons of Chernobyl are as follows;

1.  The reactor operators must be personally in charge of operating the
reactor.

2.  Nuclear plant experiments must have a written multi-disciplinary review
prior to beginning the experiment.

3.  There must be a written procedure prior to conducting an experiment.
That procedure must include clear "termination criteria" for the experiment.
There must be a breifing to ensure that all participants understand their
actions and the termination criteria.

4.  There must be a containment around the reactor.

5.  A reactor must not be made of flammable material.

6.  A rapid shutdown system must not cause an intitial power increase.

7.  A reactor must not have a large positive void or temperature
coefficient.

8.  There must be an emergency plan that the plant operating organization is
willing to initiate according to pre-established procedures.

9. Non-democratic countries must not construct or operaate nuclear power
plants

10.  A nuclear power experiment or test director must understand that her
experiment or test is secondary to plant safety (not just nuclear safety) as
perceived by the plant operating organization.

Don Kosloff dkosloff@ncweb.com
2910 Main St, Perry OH 44081
440 259 2093


----- Original Message -----
From: <PAMS718@aol.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: A dose of reality, continued


> I have been out of touch (away on vacation) and only recently caught up on
this thread... I would like to add two or three cents worth of thoughts on
this issue...
>
> 1. I think that we all agree that cancer, any cancer, is scary, and
serious. I don't think that anyone who has written to Radsafe on this issue
would take exception to that statement.  We are compassionate and caring
human beings.  But the fatality rates  do vary depending on the type of
cancer, and it is a fact that thyroid cancer has a low fatality, high cure
success rate.  If fate had determined that I would get cancer, (and it did)
then I would choose thyroid cancer as an adult, rather than the reproductive
cancer I had as a young woman. I think that is the point that some
contributors have tried to make..that in this case, perhaps, it is not an
"ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure", but rather, due to the
low mortality rates implementing such a KI policy may be "a pound of
prevention vs an ounce of cure".  (and I understand to the affected person,
it doesn't feel like an ounce of cure..)
>
> 2. We know that children are highly dependent upon their thyroids for
normal  growth and development.  we know that impacting the function of a
child's thyroid gland can have profound effects on the child's development
(mental and physical), hence a disease such as childhood thyroid cancer is
serious.
>
> 3. we do not know  the real rate of thyroid cancer in children,
pre-Chernobyl.   As such, the  rate of increase in thyroid cancers due to
Chernobyl in uncertain.  How much has the rate increased?  we really don't
know  and  we are speculating using expected values based on  U.S. and
western European populations.  we also know that certain ethnic groups have
higher rates of certain types of cancers due to genetic factors...and
thryoid cancer is one of those cancers linked to genetic factors within
these ethnic groups.
> So we must tread carefully as we look at these statistics.
>
> 4. we know that iodine deficient diets will lead to greater iodine uptakes
by the thyroid gland.  we know that in America, we consume a tremendous
amount of iodized salt in our diets and as such we, in America, do not live
with iodine deficient diets. In the U.S., most thyroids are about 40%
blocked due to our love of  (iodized) salt.
>
> 5.It appears, based on sampling of biota,air,food, water, etc, that the
primary exposure pathway to the children of Belarus was via ingestion. we
know that food, water and milk supplies were not interdicted in the areas
surrounding the Chernobyl accident until well after the accident. How useful
is a single dose of KI without concommitant interdiction of food, milk,
water supplies?  What are the effects from long term, multiple doses of KI
in children?  We do know that neonates are susceptible not only to the
effects of radioactive iodines, but also sensitive to functional thyroid
blocking caused by an overload of stable idodine.
>
> 9. In the US, an infrastructure exists to:  1)evacuate  and 2) interdict
food supplies where necessary (interdiction of food occurs almost routinely
within the US... think E.coli, salmonella, etc)
>
> 10.  While we can certainly learn from the experiences of the Chernobyl
accident, does it make  sense to base public policy for the United States on
events that happen in other countries that are so vastly different than our
own?  Are there other instances where we (the US) make sweeping policy
decisions for large numbers of the population based on events that occur in
countries that are so different than our own?  I don't know the answer to
that question.. and would certainly appreciate input from others on that
query.
>
> These are just my thoughts...
>
>     Patricia M. Sullivan
>     pams718@aol.com
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