Preliminary
Recently, South Korea's nuclear power plant, the Moon City Nuclear Power 2 unit leaked 265 kilograms of radioactive heavy water, which is only 900 kilometers from our Shandong Peninsula!
And this is not the first leak, every time it involves radioactive substances, people have to worry: this nuclear security, can they manage it?
Three times a year, the problem is different.
The first time was in June last year, when the spent fuel storage pool of Unit 4 of Yuecheng Nuclear Power Plant leaked. It was not discovered until the water level dropped abnormally. In the end, 2.3 tons of radioactive water leaked.
At the time, the official said that the radiation dose was low, not important, but only six months later, in January this year, there was a problem.
Or unit 2, directly discharged 29 tons of undetected nuclear waste into the ocean, in the uranium (chu)ān) the content exceeds the standard 9 times, it is found that the valve is wrong, pure operating error.
This is not over yet. Only nine months later, Unit 2 leaked heavy water again.
The unit was built in 1997, and in 2013 it was stopped for two years due to theft of low-quality parts.
Now two and three questions arise, people can't help thinking: should this device have been changed long ago?
Leaking heavy water is not terrible, tritium inside is a hidden danger
Someone may ask, is heavy water not water, what can happen if it leaks?
In fact, heavy water itself is not radioactive, but the Yuecheng Nuclear Power Plant uses a heavy water reactor. During operation, deuterium in the heavy water (dāo）It turns into uranium, which is radioactive, with a half-life of 12.26 years, which simply means that it can survive in the environment for ten years.
If it enters the human body, it will mix with the water molecules, stay in the body for weeks or even months, slowly damaging the DNA in the cells, which may increase the risk of cancer in the long run, and may affect heredity.
Although the official said this time that no abnormality was detected outside the factory, the radiation and tritium-containing water vapor in the factory are a real threat to front-line workers.
And every time you leak a little, a little makes a lot. Who knows when you will break through the defense line?
Is it possible to extend one side and keep it safe?
What is even more worrying is that South Korea is still planning to expand the scale of nuclear power.
Now they have 25 nuclear power units in operation, the sixth largest number in the world, but they are thinking of increasing the number to 44 units and extending the operating time of the old units to 20 years.
You can look at the current situation: the maintenance budget is not enough, the equipment is aged and not timely replaced, the operation is still wrong, even in the early years there are things about the reduction of labor, such a base, and the upper team, is it not more and more dangerous?
Not far away, let's say that the Fukushima nuclear accident, at the outset, was also an old equipment and a bad emergency, and ultimately caused how much impact?
Moon City is so close to us, if it is really a big problem, radioactive materials may follow the ocean stream, the atmosphere flows to the coast of our east, when fisheries, seawater cultivation are affected.
Nuclear security is never a matter for one country, and all surrounding countries have to worry about it.
conclusion
If South Korea doesn't put safety first and just thinks about expanding its scale, the next accident may not be as simple as missing a little.
Hopefully they will realize sooner, don't wait for something truly irreparable to happen, and then regret it will be too late.