scholarly journals Chernobyl’s Lesser Known Design Flaw: The Chernobyl Liquidator Medal—An Educational Essay

J ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-351
Author(s):  
Michael McIntire ◽  
John Luczaj
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fields ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Particle Trajectory ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Beta Particle ◽  
Nuclear Decay ◽  
Scientific Experiment ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Human Health Impacts ◽  
Relativistic Analysis

The honorary Chernobyl Liquidator Medal depicts pathways of alpha, gamma, and beta rays over a drop of blood, signifying the human health impacts of the Chernobyl accident. A relativistic analysis of the trajectories depicted on the Chernobyl Liquidator Medal is conducted assuming static uniform magnetic and electric fields. The parametric trajectories are determined using the energies of alpha (α) and beta (β) particles relevant to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and compared with the trajectories depicted on the liquidator medal. For minimum alpha particle velocity of 0.0512c, the beta particle trajectory depicted on the medal is highly unlikely to have come from a naturally occurring nuclear decay process. The parametric equations are used to determine the necessary beta energies to reproduce the depicted trajectories. This article documents the unfortunate misrepresentation of a famous scientific experiment on an honorary medal and illustrates the importance of better communication between artists and scientists.

The use of the risk assessment in the life cycle assessment framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Francesca Milazzo ◽  
Francesco Spina
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Complete Analysis ◽  
Transfer Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Human Health Impacts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantify the human health impacts of soy-biodiesel production with the aim to discuss about its environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – The integrated use of two current approaches, risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), has allowed improvement of the potentialities of both in obtaining a more complete analysis. The implementation of a life cycle indicator for the assessment of the impacts on the human health, integrating the features of both approaches, is the main focus of this paper. Findings – It has been found that, although the biodiesel is a green fuel, it has some criticalities in its life cycle, which cannot be disregarded. In fact, even if biodiesel is essentially a clean fuel there are some phases, prior to the industrial phase, that can cause negative effects on human health and ecosystems. Practical implications – Results suggest some measures which can be adopted to substantially reduce human health impacts. Further alternative could be analysed in future to gain more insight about the use of biodiesel fuels. Originality/value – The estimation of the impacts of a process producing biodiesel has been made by using a novel approach. The novelty is associated with the calculation of the impacts on human health by using the transfer factors applied in RA. The use of such factors, properly modified in order to estimate the impacts on a wider scale than a site-dimension, allows defining a holistic approach, as LCA and RA are used as complete units but at the same time can be related to each other.

scholarly journals Towards a Region-Specific Impact Assessment of Water Degradation In Water Footprinting

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Finogenova ◽  
Markus Berger ◽  
Lennart Schelter ◽  
Rike Becker ◽  
Tim Aus der Beek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Human Toxicity ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Water Footprinting ◽  
Quality Aspects ◽  
Human Health Impacts

Water footprint evaluates impacts associated with the water use along a product’s life cycle. In order to quantify impacts resulting from water pollution in a comprehensive manner, impact categories, such as human toxicity, were developed in the context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Nevertheless, methods addressing human health impacts often have a low spatial resolution and, thus, are not able to model impacts on a local scale. To address this issue, we develop a region-specific model for the human toxicity impacts for the cotton-textile industry in Punjab, Pakistan. We analysed local cause-effect chains and created a region “Punjab” in the USEtox model using local climate, landscape, and population data. Finally, we calculated human health impacts for the emissions of pesticides from the cotton cultivation and heavy metals from the textile production. The results were compared to that obtained for the region India+ (where Pakistan belongs) provided by USEtox. The overall result obtained for Punjab is higher than that for India+. In Punjab, the dominant pathway is ingestion via drinking water, which contributes to two-thirds of the total impacts. Nevertheless, the USEtox model does not reflect the local cause-effect chains completely due to absence of the groundwater compartment. Since groundwater is the main source for drinking in Punjab, a more detailed analysis of the fate of and exposure to the pollutants is needed. This study demonstrates that a region-specific assessment of the water quality aspects is essential to provide a more robust evaluation of the human health impacts within water footprinting.

scholarly journals Emergency Hospital Evacuation From a Hospital Within 5 km Radius of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: A Retrospective Analysis of Disaster Preparedness for Hospitalized Patients

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Toyoaki Sawano ◽  
Yuki Senoo ◽  
Izumi Yoshida ◽  
Akihiko Ozaki ◽  
Yoshitaka Nishikawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Hospitalized Patients ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Emergency Hospital ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

Abstract Emergency evacuation during disasters may have significant health impacts on vulnerable populations. The Japanese Government issued evacuation orders for surrounding residents of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) immediately after the March 11, 2011, nuclear accident. Little is known of difficulties associated with the disaster-specific evacuation from health care facilities located in this area. Among the 338 patients hospitalized at Futaba Hospital, located 4.6 km west of FDNPP, at the time of the accident, 39 patients (11.5%), predominantly critically ill patients who were bedridden or disabled, died before the evacuation was completed. The shortage of hospital staff and disruption of infrastructure resulted in a lack of adequate care provision, such as infusion therapy or sputum suctioning, leading to premature death of some hospitalized patients during the emergency hospital evacuation. As hospital evacuation is sometimes unavoidable during disasters, potential health impacts of hospital evacuation should be recognized and reflected in disaster preparedness plans.

Human health Impacts

1996 ◽  
pp. 245-249
Author(s):  
Jim Bridges ◽  
Leslie Hawkins ◽  
Olga Bridges
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Human Health Impacts
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