Brittle Power- PARTS 1-3 (+Notes) - Natural Capitalism Solutions

154Disasters Waiting to HappenEvents at the stricken plant could unfold gradually and inevitably, dominatingheadlines for weeks. Unlimited resources might not be enough to abatethe release. It is often forgotten that once a serious release sufficiently contaminatesthe plant and its environs that if its staff (if functional) cannotremain to fix the damage or even to prevent further deterioration, a “loss-ofsupervision”scenario has begun. 97 Experience at the Seveso chemical plant inItaly, where an accident dispersed so much highly toxic dioxin that not justthe plant but the whole valley had to be abandoned, suggests this is far fromidle speculation. It was not far from happening when the Browns Ferry controlroom filled with acrid smoke in 1975, 98 or when a storage tank two milesfrom the Fort Calhoun, Nebraska nuclear plant spilled one hundred fifty tonsof anhydrous ammonia in 1970, forming a thirty-five-foot-thick layer ofammonia that covered some thousand acres. 99 (Nuclear plants do not alwayshave enough breathing apparatus for everyone). Sabotage of the cooling systemon a high-level waste tank could lead to boil-off of the water and releaseof fission products, but this has been officially discounted because it “wouldtake weeks or months, allowing ample time for detection and repair.” 100 Whatif the sabotage has already released so much that nobody can do therepairs?” 101 In 1977, workers at the Windscale reprocessing plant in Englandwent on a six-week strike, and a cladding fire was feared when they would notallow liquid nitrogen shipments to cross picket lines. Eventually the (Labour)energy minister had to threaten to call in the Army. 102Other types of attacks on nuclear facilitiesPossible envelopment by an LNG or LPG fireball, perhaps from a nearbyterminal or a stolen gas truck, has already been mentioned as a possible eventthat could endanger a nuclear facility and disable its operators. Another is airplanecrashes. In 1972, a light plane lost in dense fog crashed into theMillstone (Connecticut) reactor complex, disabling the high-voltage supply tothe transformer that operates the reactor’s shutdown systems, and cutting offsitetelephones for three hours. (The plant did not reduce power.) 103 The BigRock Point reactor in Michigan was apparently such a good landmark thatAir Force crews used it for practice bombing runs. (After a B-52 crashed nearbyin 1971, the planes were told to stay at least five and a half miles away.) In1974, the Prairie Island reactor in Minnesota was repeatedly overflown at lowaltitude by a light plane piloted by a known criminal who appeared to be photographingit. FBI investigations “did not reveal any malevolent intention orviolation of the law.” 104 In 1975, an Air Force B-52 carrying no weaponsexploded in flight and crashed about twenty miles from the Savannah River