Risks from potential accidents at European nuclear power plants, 2000
Risks from European nuclear power plants in Europe
Current information indicates that the risks associated with possible accidents with nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe are greater than in Western Europe. For instance, the calculated probability for Eastern Europe of dying as a result of a nuclear accident is greater in many locations than one in one million a year and it even exceeds one in one hundred thousand a year in a part of Russia. In Western Europe, the calculated probability varies, broadly speaking, from one in one million a year (in the east) to one in one hundred million (in the south-west).
The higher local risks in Eastern Europe result from the fact that the design of some plants is less safe, for example because of the absence of an additional safety casing. In addition, there are doubts about the safety culture. It is estimated that Eastern European plants are ten to a hundred times less safe than Western European plants.
The risks referred to here do not take into account the possible consequences of terrorist attacks.
- Information about the share of Eastern European nuclear power plants in the average risk in the Netherlands
What determines the risks of a nuclear power plant?
The local risk of European nuclear power plants is determined by the distance from that location to the various plants, the size of the plants and the probability of an accident in those plants in which radioactive substances will be released.
By contrast with the risks of companies in the area of external safety - such as LPG stations, airports and the chemical industry - what matters with nuclear power plants is not so much the short-term consequences in the immediate vicinity of an accident but above all the deaths resulting from radiation exposure in the long term in a large area around the location of an accident.
- See 'External safety risks: the probability of an accident' for a more detailed discussion of risks, causes and policy.
