Lessons Learnt from the Consequences of Major Nuclear Accidents

Notwithstanding the fact that nuclear energy is the cleanest and safest source of energy, nuclear accident immediately gets attention throughout the world and remains in memory of the public for a longer duration. The main reason for this is the vivid memory of the use of nuclear weapon during World War II and fear for radiation created due to this. Though consequences of nuclear accident are no way comparable to that of nuclear detonation, the fear of radiation created by latter leads to doubts in mind of people. The fear for radiation is also created by the improper application of Linear No Threshold (LNT) model in projecting the risk associated with radiation in case of accidental releases. In order to avoid avoidable fear associated with the radiation, this chapter chronologically analyzes consequences in public domain due to some of the well-known nuclear accidents and lessons learnt thereof. The nuclear accidents covered in this chapter are (1) The Mayak/Kyshtym Accident, (2) The Windscale Accident, (3) The Three Mile Island Accident, (4) The Chernobyl Accident, (5) The Tokai-mura Accident, and (6) The Fukushima Accident. In general, it is seen that in case of nuclear accident, population may get affected by the direct effect of radiation, and in indirect way such as stress associated with evacuation, development of lifestyle-related diseases in the affected population, fear of consuming contaminated food or living in contaminated environment, worry about the health of children, fear of getting discriminated, and so on. In general, it is observed that in most of the nuclear accidents, people get more affected by the indirect effects than the direct effects of radiation, which indicates need to consider balance between risk due to radiation and other health effects in case of accidental conditions while taking decisions. Based on the analysis, it is found that being the cleanest and safest source of energy, nuclear energy is inevitable for the sustainable and environmental friendly development of humankind.