The Government and the nuclear industry devise plans to try and protect members of the public in the event of nuclear emergencies. However, detailed plans are drawn up only for the immediate vicinity of the reactors - up to a mile and a half from the plant. The emergency plans would not cope with a severe nuclear accident. The uncontrolled spread of radioactive contamination following a large scale accident would almost certainly expose large populations to radiation.
The fallout from the world's worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl, spread across Europe. Even now, nearly 15 years after the accident, sheep farmers in Wales, Scotland, the North West and Northern Ireland still operate under Government restrictions because of the radioactive fallout from the accident.
There is a 19 mile exclusion zone around the Chernobyl site which will effectively remain a radioactive wasteland forever. In addition, villages within a 50 mile radius of the plant have been evacuated. In the UK, a similar spread of contamination could result in the evacuation of thousands of people, and millions of others exposed to deadly radiation.
The health impact from Chernobyl and other nuclear accidents is still emerging. For instance, there has been huge increase in thyroid cancers amongst people in the Gomel region of Belarus who were young children at the time of the accident. The UN's World Health Organisation estimates that around 36% of Belorussians who were aged between 0 and 4 at the time of the accident are ultimately expected to develop thyroid cancer. Further health impacts include other cancers, such as leukaemia, other thyroid diseases and damage to the immune system.
The impacts of a nuclear accident are not just on people's health: there are economic implications too. For example, most household insurance policies would exclude compensation for nuclear contamination.
Although compensation measures for farmers in the UK affected by Chernobyl have cost taxpayers millions so far, these costs will not be refunded by the Ukraine. BNFL's liability in the event of a nuclear accident is limited to only
