Nuclear and radiation accidents
A reporter covering the Fukushima nuclear meltdown actually lived through Chernobyl
There’s been no end to the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. And Yuriy Humber has a unique perspective. He’s been reporting on the Fukushima meltdown for Bloomberg News in Tokyo and also lived through the Chernobyl disaster.
Nuclear Mishaps: The Human Factor
Following the recent nuclear power plant accidents in Japan and South Korea, US officials were quick to assure people that “it can’t happen here.” Commentator Suzanne Elston says technically, they’re right. But, she continues, lost in the assurances is the element of human error, which has been the cause of all major nuclear accidents.
Three Mile Island Retrospective
Twenty years after Three Mile Island we look back at the nation’s worst commercial nuclear accident. Using archival materials and interviews with area residents who lived through the accident, Living On Earth’s Terry FitzPatrick reconstructs the days in late March and early April, 1979, that changed the nation’s energy policy. He also looks at whether […]
American Engineer opens the Door to Chernobyl
Host Steve Curwood talks to Alexander Sich, an American nuclear engineer who recently spent eighteen months in the Chernobyl area reconstructing events following the 1986 nuclear accident there. Sich believes radiation from the damaged nuclear power plant was several times greater than levels reported by the Soviet government. On the other hand, he says his […]