Terrified Atomic Workers Warn That the COVID-19 Pandemic May Threaten Nuclear Reactor Disaster

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Terrified Atomic Workers Warn That the COVID-19 Pandemic May Threaten Nuclear Reactor Disaster

PlanB

4 yrs ago

USA

10th April 2020 - Terrified Atomic Workers Warn That the COVID-19 Pandemic May Threaten Nuclear Reactor Disaster

Extracts:

Of critical importance: every 18-24 months each reactor must shut for refueling and repairs. Itinerant crews of 1000 to 1500 technicians travel to 58 sites in 29 states, usually staying 30-60 days. They often board with local families, or in RVs, hotels, or Air B&Bs.

Industry-wide the pandemic has brought working conditions to the brink of collapse. At Pennsylvania’s Limerick Generating Station, workers say they are “terrified” that the plant has become a “breeding ground…a complete cesspool” for the coronavirus. “I’m in a constant state of paranoia,” one technician told Carl Hessler, Jr., of MontcoCourtNews.

The industry is now using the coronavirus pandemic to rush through a wide range of deregulation demands. Among them is a move to allow radioactive waste to be dumped into municipal landfills.

Comment:

The Covid-19 pandemic is going to affect nuclear power plant safety worldwide. As nuclear workers become infected and taken out of the workforce all those countries with operating nuclear reactors will be facing similar staffing and maintenance problems. Let's pray and hope that governments around the world are capable of making very good decisions on how to deal with skilled nuclear worker shortages.

Article:

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/04/10/terrified-atomic-workers-warn-covid-19-pandemic-may-threaten-nuclear-reactor

5 comments

Celia

4 yrs ago

I didn't appreciate it was taking that many people to look after these plants Plan B.

We hear of automatic this and that around the world one would have thought these Plants would be state of the art too, obviously there are getting on in years like me!

The poor planet I wonder how much longer it is going to put up with humans destroying it.

PlanB

4 yrs ago

Few people realize that nuclear plants are very expensive to build have a very short life span ---

-- about 40 years --- and have so much waste, -- which is also deadly, also have to have someone looking after them ALL the time -- even the nuclear on warship have to have someone on board ALL the time -- so it is utter rubbish when they say -- they are cheap to run and have no emissions--

Plus the fact that any radiation they put out is around for half to one million years and it is tasteless/can't see it/and can't feel it and it can be in the food/water rain and snow

How long can this planet live with this -- not much longer I would think, mankind has already ruined this planet made so much of the wildlife and natural life of it extinct all for the love of MONEY

Horace Cope

4 yrs ago

I would have thought that the safety measures that any of these workers would need to deal with radioactive materials would be more than adequate to protect them from COVID-19.

Sundays

4 yrs ago

I agree, I thought that was a bit odd too

PlanB

4 yrs ago

I think they were talking about those that had already GOT it

Horace Cope

4 yrs ago

Reading the full article, PlanB, there seems to be a lot of ifs and buts about what is actually happening. I read that "at least two Limerick workers are confirmed to have carried the virus" and I note the past tense used. No where in the article does it say that anyone is currently infected with COVID-19 although they want to shut down a reactor. What I read into the article is that those running the reactors have neglected to train younger staff to replace those who will retire and there are not enough people available to fully man a shift at all times. This seems to be a management problem using COVID-19 as an excuse.

PlanB

4 yrs ago

Yes maybe so Horace

Eddy

4 yrs ago

I would look at the source of this report. are they a trusted source or merely pushing their own ideological barrow. I have seen so much BS, ranging from anti-vaccines to denyers of the Holocaust, on the internet. I would need to have some corroberation from a trusted source before I take this article seriously.

Celia

4 yrs ago

I thought you would be interested in this story I found on MSN: http://a.msn.com/01/en-au/BB13aeyH?ocid=se2

a close up of a train yard: View of the Chernobyl Nuclear power after the explosion on April 26, 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

On May 2, 1986, while visiting my long-term colleague and friend Richard O’Reilly, the head of bone marrow transplantation at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, I received a strange phone call. It was from Richard Champlin, who worked at the Bone Marrow Transplant Center at UCLA. He tended to speak very fast, so it took me some time to understand from his over-excited voice that he was about to leave the next day for Moscow.

the story continues on site.

chibi1990

4 yrs ago

Your article content is being very much interested, I am very impressed with your post. I hope to receive more great posts. shell shockers

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Terrified Atomic Workers Warn That the COVID-19 Pandemic May Threaten Nuclear Reactor Disaster

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