U.S. Population living within 50 miles of a GE Mark I Boiling Water Reactor
Maps of:
 |
| Core Melt |
Pilgrim |
Seabrook |
VT Yankee |
| Peak Early Injuries |
3,000 |
7,000 |
7,000 |
| Peak Early Fatalities |
30,000 |
27,000 |
3,000 |
| Peak Cancer Deaths |
23,000 |
6,000 |
17,000 |
| Peak Fatal Radius |
20 mi. |
20 mi. |
15 mi. |
| Peak Injury Radius |
65 mi. |
65 mi. |
35 mi. |
Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences
at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants (CRAC-2),
Sandia National Laboratory, 1982 |
|
 |
'Spent' Fuel Pool Accident
Fuel pools contain vast amounts of radioactivity; Pilgrim has more than ten times the radioactivity released at Chernobyl. A fuel pool fire would be unextinguishable, and could contaminate 25,000 square miles - an area three times the size of Massachusetts.
"
Peak" refers to the highest calculated values -
not the worst case scenario. This is due to uncertainties in the meteorological monitoring acknowledged by Sandia. Their model only considered one year's worth of data and does not model for precipitation beyond a 30-mile radius. This is significant because the highest consequences are predicted to occur when a radioactive plume encounters rain over densely populated areas.
Peak Early Fatalities are deaths that result within the first year.
Peak Early Injuries are radiation-induced injuries occuring in the first year that require hospitalization or other medical attention such as sterility, thyroid nodules, vomiting and cataracts.
Peak Cancer Deaths are predicted to occur over a lifetime. However, this is not the case with leukemia, which is assumed to have occurred within the first 30 years following the accident.
