Nuclear Power Plant Failures and their Impact on the Critical Infrastructure and the Life of the European Societies Exemplified with the Failures in Fukushima, Chernobyl and Tihange in the Context of Media Information Cover Image

Awarie elektrowni atomowych – wpływ na infrastrukturę krytyczną i życie społeczeństw europejskich na przykładzie wypadków w Fukushimie, Czarnobylu i Tihange (w kontekście oddziaływania informacji medialnej)
Nuclear Power Plant Failures and their Impact on the Critical Infrastructure and the Life of the European Societies Exemplified with the Failures in Fukushima, Chernobyl and Tihange in the Context of Media Information

Author(s): Renata Gałaj-Dempniak
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, History, Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies, Theory of Communication
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
Keywords: nuclear power plants (NPPs); Europe; the risk of explosion; terrorist attack

Summary/Abstract: There are events that change the approach of the scholars, the military men and the whole societies to stability and security of all the world, of their surroundings and of their own lives. Undoubtedly, such an event was the tsunami that caused the failure of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. That catastrophe may be compared to the one in Hiroshima and the one in Chernobyl. In the present-day Europe similar threats are posed by the worn-out power plants in France (e.g. in Flamanville) and in Belgium (e.g. in Tihange). Especially the ones situated in the vicinity of a sea in extremely bad weather conditions may contaminate not only water resources but food as well in Europe. The radioactive Chernobyl fallout still penetrates the potential sources of animal feed and human food. Not without reason do ecologists and ordinary people, bearing in mind the past experiences, demand the dangerous nuclear power plants be closed down. The problem consists in the fact that it is difficult to replace a NPP and produce the same amount of energy in another way. The same threat is posed by hackers, who carry out terrorist attacks; when they take control of the systems of critical infrastructure it is a threat to the whole continent. The number of catastrophic phenomena, such as hurricanes, are on the increase, and so are the above mentioned threats; therefore we should ask ourselves whether we are really prepared to evacuate and secure people in case of a nuclear crisis. We have been taught a lesson by the past nuclear failures that in crises human behaviour is unpredictable and it may turn out that not everybody will be saved.

  • Issue Year: 33/2018
  • Issue No: 03
  • Page Range: 39-67
  • Page Count: 29
  • Language: Polish