Scientists have described the consequences of the explosion of all nuclear reactors of the Earth
MOSCOW, 7 Feb — RIA Novosti. The simultaneous explosion of all nuclear power plants on Earth as a result of nuclear attack or natural disaster will lead to the fact that the planet will become completely uninhabitable in the next 156 years due to the pollution of soil and atmosphere with cesium-137, according to an article published in the Journal of Physics Special Topics.
“At the end of the fourth season of “Hundreds” of his characters fly off into space, trying to escape from a nuclear Apocalypse caused by the almost simultaneous explosion of all nuclear power plants of the Earth. The main heroine of the series then stated that the planet will be safe through 2199 days. We checked whether this is in fact,” write the authors.
Current estimates of the UN and the IAEA, nuclear power plants produce about 11% of the total electricity.
Now on Earth there are approximately 430 nuclear power plants and stationary about two hundred floating reactors, installed in submarines, icebreakers and floating power plants.
By the middle of this century, according to forecasts of climatologists, the UN, the number of reactors will be doubled and will reach about 898.
In the sci-Fi series “the Hundred” these reactors fail almost simultaneously due to the fact that his main character destroys artificial intelligence ALIA, which staged a nuclear war in the first series of this epic and at the same time directing the work of all nuclear power plants.
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Using data collected after the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima, the British scientists have tried to calculate how much of the radionuclides will be released into the atmosphere as a result of such disaster and how long the planet will remain uninhabitable for people.
As shown by these calculations, the main character of the series looked at this issue overly optimistic release of large quantities of cesium-137 and other long-lived isotopes will make the Earth uninhabitable for humans for a century and a half, not five years.
In the first years after the explosion of nuclear reactors radiation levels (if emission nuclear power plants will be distributed on the Ground evenly) will exceed the norm by 35 times, and only after about 50 years the radiation background will be reduced to relatively safe values.
Of course, as the scientists, in reality, nothing like this can happen — most modern nuclear reactors are equipped with several safety systems that will stop the reaction, and drown the reactor in that case, if the cooling system fails.
The Department of physics and astronomy, University of Leicester (UK) publishes the scientific journal Physics Special Topics, authors, and editors which have become fourth-year students of the faculty. All articles submitted to the journal will be peer-reviewed, and the participation in its work is assessed by teachers and is required for graduation.
While beginners British scientists are interested in unusual topics. For example, in 2013, they found out, it is possible to heat premises with heat produced by members of the British Parliament during the heated debate, and two years ago they were interested in the properties of Jedi swords, the possibility of shooting down the asteroid with a laser and many other things.