- •Предисловие
- •Content:
- •Part I. Emergency situations Chapter 1. Types of Disasters and Emergencies Key words and terms:
- •Text 2. Environmental Problems
- •Chapter 2. Preparedness in Emergency Key words and terms:
- •Text 3. Be Prepared! - Benefits of a Comprehensive Emergency Plan
- •Chapter 3. Emergency Planning Key words and terms:
- •Text 4. Emergency planning guidelines
- •Part II. Natural disasters Chapter 1. An Earthquake Key words and terms:
- •Text 5. 16.000 Feared Dead as India Quake Toll Rises
- •Earthquake rocks Afghanistan
- •Землетрясение в Пакистане
- •Chapter 2. Volcano Eruption Key words and terms:
- •Text 6. Mayon volcano stirs back to life
- •The Disastrous Eruption
- •Chapter 3. Flood and Drought Key words and terms:
- •Text 7. The Prague Flood
- •Наводнение на юге России
- •Text 8. Devastating drought brings despair to much of us
- •Flood and Drought
- •Chapter 4. Famine Key words and terms:
- •Text 9. Famine and Food Aid
- •Part III. Industrial disasters Chapter 1. Radioactive Catastrophe Key words and terms:
- •Text 10. Chernobyl
- •Text 11. Three Mile Island
- •Chapter 2. Chemical Catastrophe Key words and terms:
- •Text 12. The Bhopal Catastrophe
- •Chapter 3. Oil Spills Key words and terms:
- •Text 13. Prestige Oil Spill
- •Text 14. Brazil fights to contain oil spill in Iguacu River
- •Экологическое бедствие в Керченском проливе
- •Chapter 4. Explosions and fire Key words and terms:
- •Text 15. Fire-fighters Battle Moscow Tower Blaze
- •Text 16. Large accident in The Netherlands – Dutch chemical plant explodes
- •Text 17. Phiiadelphia natural gas pipeline blast
- •London Bomb Blast
- •Взрыв на химическом заводе в Китае
- •Chapter 5. Accidents on Roads, in the Air and in the Sea Key words and terms:
- •Text 18. Nordic Nightmare
- •Nightmare journey
- •Luckiest Man Alive
- •Disaster at Sea
- •What an Experience!
- •The Ghost Ship
- •Part IV. First aid in emergency situations Key words and terms:
- •Text 19. First Aid
- •Text 20, Some Advice on the First Aid
- •Safety first
- •Part V. Additional exercises
- •Alton Tower Rescue
- •Skyride to terror
- •Bin Your Rubbish
- •Save it!
- •How to Survive
- •The Greenhouse Effect
- •A Narrow Escape
- •Survival
- •Looking after your home
- •Global warming
- •Quick Thinking
- •Weather forecasting
- •Pollution cools city air
- •Dictionary
- •Bibliography
Text 11. Three Mile Island
The most serious nuclear reactor accident in the United States occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear generating station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the morning of March 28, 1979. A partial meltdown of the reactor core took place. Had there been a complete meltdown of the fuel assembly, dangerous radioactivity would have been emitted into the surrounding countryside. Fortunately, the containment building kept virtually all the radioactivity released by the core material from escaping. Although a small amount of radiation entered the environment, there was evidently no substantial environmental damage and no immediate human casualties, A study conducted within a 10-mile radius around the power plant ten years after the accident concluded that cancer rates were in "normal" range and that there was no association between cancer rates and radiation emissions from the accident.
As with most nuclear accidents, the disaster at the Three Mile Island power plant was caused by a combination of human error and mechanical failure, in this case broken pumps and blocked valves. Had the reactor heated up out of control and "melted down" as did the one at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of people in the north-eastern United States could have been killed directly or over time by radioactive elements. The reactor was so dangerously contaminated that it could not even be entered by humans for two years.
While it will never be free of radioactivity, the reactor will eventually be entombed in concrete, but not before a "cleanup" job that is estimated to cost over $3 billion and consume the following:
Number of workers required: 2,000
cloth coveralls: 20,000
raincoats: 100,000
plastic booties: 100,000
surgical caps: 100,000
pairs of rubber boots: 100,000
pairs of rubber gloves: 1,000,000
paper coveralls: 1,000,000
plastic coveralls: 1,000,000
square feet of plastic sheeting: 1,000,000
And what is worse, the materials used to clean the damaged reactor will themselves become contaminated in the process, and require costly disposal. However, a second reactor that was undamaged during the accident is currently in operation.
The seriousness of the situation at Three Mile Island elevated public apprehension about nuclear power. It took six years for Three Mile Island to be repaired and reopened, and in the aftermath of the accident, public wariness prompted construction delays and cancellations of a number of new nuclear power plants across the United States. On the positive side, the accident at Three Mile Island prompted new safety regulations - including evacuation plans for the areas surrounding nuclear power plants - and reduced the complacency that had been commonplace in the nuclear industry.
Exercise 4. Answer the following questions:
1) Where did the most serious in the USA radioactive accident take place?
2) When did this accident happen?
3) How did the accident influence the environment and people?
4) What were the causes of the accident?
5) How was the cleanup of the reactor estimated?
6) What is a side problem which arose in the process of the cleanup?
7) What were the positive changes after this accident?
Exercise 5. Complete the sentences using one of the words in the box.
aftermath failure |
casualties investigation |
damage nuclear |
elevated release |
exposure safety regulations |
1) First reports of the air crash tell of more than two hundred ___________.
2) The authorities are planning to launch a full-scale ___________ into this air crash.
3) The company is very strict on implementing health and _____________.
4) Last ___________ in our computer system was caused by a mechanical fault.
5) Over last decades the possibility of a ____________ war has become less
threatening.
6) Several accidents __________ public interest to construction of the road around
the city.
7) The danger of different serious diseases is the ___________ of every accident at
nuclear power stations.
8) Don’t you realise the __________ these chemicals are doing to our environment?
9) Skin cancer can be caused by prolonged ___________ to the sun.
10) Environmentalists monitor the __________ of toxic wastes into the rivers.
Exercise 6. Optional task. Develop your communication skills.
Plans and intentions. Study the expressions in the box.
Plans and intentions
We plan / We're planning ... to build a new landfill.
We intend / We're intending ... to reconstruct our facilities.
We aim / We're aiming ... to organise the shipment of the waste.
Possibility
It's possible that we'll have it ready by the end of the decade.
We may / might be able / could launch new facilities next year.
There's / We have a good chance (that)...
Probability
It's highly likely / possibly (that)...
We're certain / bound to produce less wastes ...
It's obvious / clear (that)...
Work in pairs. You are working at the nuclear power plant and you have to solve the problem of waste disposal considering the opposition of residents and environmentalists.