Russia’s Coal Collapse signals the end of the fossil era. From bankrupt mines to battery booms, the global energy transition is accelerating but facing political resistance.
An early estimate for total nuclear fuel material released to the environment was 3±1.5%; this was later revised to 3.5±0.5%. This corresponds to the atmospheric emission of 6 tonnes (5.9 long tons; 6.6 short tons) of fragmented fuel.
The 770 PBq figure is about 15% of the Chernobyl release of 5200 PBq iodine-131 equivalent.
While there remains uncertainty about the amount of radioactive material released from Fukushima, it’s certainly below half of what Chernobyl produced.
From the earlier posted link about coal power plants:
[E]very [coal power] station creates fly ash containing around 5-10 tonnes of uranium and thorium each year.
Now, I totally get that the kind of radioactive materials released by a nuclear accident are different from what comes out of coal plants, and that a concetrated release is more dire than a diluted one - but given that there are ~2500 coal-fired power plants in the world, that means that coal plants produce about 12,500 to 25,000 tons of radiactive material every year.
If what is certainly the worst nuclear disaster produced just 6 tons, I believe that “including accidents” is not inaccurate.
Right up front, I want to sincerely thank you for insisting that I back up my claims. Not kidding, not internet sarcasm; I truly appreciate it.
Let’s take a look here.
According to Wikipedia, at Chernobyl:
Data on Fukushima is more difficult to find, but the World Nuclear Association estimates that:
While there remains uncertainty about the amount of radioactive material released from Fukushima, it’s certainly below half of what Chernobyl produced.
From the earlier posted link about coal power plants:
Now, I totally get that the kind of radioactive materials released by a nuclear accident are different from what comes out of coal plants, and that a concetrated release is more dire than a diluted one - but given that there are ~2500 coal-fired power plants in the world, that means that coal plants produce about 12,500 to 25,000 tons of radiactive material every year.
If what is certainly the worst nuclear disaster produced just 6 tons, I believe that “including accidents” is not inaccurate.