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Since the beginning of the atomic age, nuclear power has been tainted by accidents and incidents. But when dealing with nuclear power, the scale of accidents and incidents is far wider and more dangerous than with other energy sources, and affect not only current generations, but those to come. They also render entire areas uninhabitable for decades. The worst nuclear accident on record is the Chernobyl explosion of 1986, from which Belorussia, Russia and Ukraine are still reeling (Photo shows the Chernobyl Shelter today). The United States averted a similar scenario when a near meltdown occurred at its Three Mile Island facility in 1979. And in 2005, the THORP reprocessing plant in the UK was discovered to have been leaking plutonium for months. Aside from these industrial accidents are always military accidents, like the sinking of Russia’s Kursk in 2000, the sinking of Russia’s K-159, and a number of US submarines running aground or sinking, like the 2005 incidents off of Italy and Guam. These last two incidents were contained, but wherever there is nuclear power, there is the potential for catastrophe.
NEW YORK- Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived in Japan to examine the atomic power plant damaged in an earthquake last month, the BBC reported.
Balakovo nuclear power plant in the South of Russia was shut down because of an unspecified safety problem, the Associated Press reported on January 30 quoting Russian emergency officials.
One of the four reactors at southwestern Sweden’s Ringhals reactor was shut down early Tuesday morning when a fire broke our at its transformer unit, and authorities reported there has been no escape of radioactivity into the atmosphere, European news sources reported.