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ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND REMEDIATION
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 2
2. Description of the Incidents........................................................................................ 4
3. Environmental Impacts............................................................................................. 6
3.1. Impact on air.................................................................................................... 8
3.2. Impact on land.................................................................................................. 8
3.3. Impact on water................................................................................................ 9
4. Remediation Strategies/Techniques.............................................................................9
4.1. Construction of radioactive waste storage facility...................................................10
4.2. Containment................................................................................................... 10
4.3. Proper extraction and disposal of radioactive waste................................................10
4.4. Scrapping away of topsoil..................................................................................11
4.5. Stabilization (radionuclide immobilization) by soil modifications..............................11
4.6. Bioremediation................................................................................................ 11
4.7. Phytoremediation............................................................................................ 12
4.8. Chemical treatment.......................................................................................... 12
4.9. Electrokinetic method....................................................................................... 12
4.10. Decommissioning process............................................................................... 13
5. Factors affecting choice of rehabilitation technique.......................................................13
6. Legislation............................................................................................................ 14
7. Conclusion and Recommendations............................................................................ 14
References............................................................................................................. 17
1. Introduction
Global energy demand has been increasing over the years prompting production of energy
from different sources. Nuclear energy production has attracted a lot of attention over the past

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decades because it has the capacity to boost global energy production and has lower carbon
emissions than fossil fuels (Horvath & Rachlew, 2016). Currently, there are about 450 nuclear
power reactors operating in over 50 countries across the world. This number has been increasing
from the 1900s (as shown in Figure 1 below) and so has nuclear power production, reaching
2,487 TWh in 2017 (as shown in Figure 2 below). The power reactors contribute about 11% of
the global energy.
Figure 1: Number of nuclear power reactors globally (World Nuclear Association, 2019)
Figure 2: Nuclear power production worldwide (World Nuclear Association, 2019)
However, one of the elements that continue to elicit debate about nuclear energy
production is safety of nuclear power plants (Grandin, et al., 2010). There are numerous
nuclear power plant accidents that have been recorded worldwide and several studies have

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shown that more similar accidents are expected in the future (Rose & Sweeting, 2016), unless
drastic measures are taken by all relevant stakeholders involved in the production of nuclear
energy (Wheatley, et al., 2016). Nuclear power production is associated with numerous
safety issues including water use/contamination, land degradation, low greenhouse gas emissions
and public health problems. The nuclear power plants are very complex and prone to accidents
and incidents (Williams, 2018). Some of the common and major causes of nuclear power plant
accidents are: faulty system design, untrained or inexperienced operators, inadequate safety
systems, inadequate warning systems, equipment failure, ignorance from operators, violation of
safety guidelines, and ignorance from regulators (Mukhopadhyay, et al., 2016). The worst
comes when a nuclear power plant accident occurs. In such an incident, huge quantities of
radioactive materials get released into the atmosphere causing troubling effects on the
land/environment, economy and the people living in the affected region. In general, nuclear
power plants have high catastrophic risks (Sovacool, 2010), which needs to be prevented or
mitigated. The nuclear power plant accidents have remained a major hindrance to promotion of
nuclear energy production and use (Jargin, 2012). Therefore more studies need to be carried
out to establish measures that can help to improve safety of nuclear power plants.
This report presents an exploration of environmental impacts of nuclear power plant
accidents. The purpose of the report is to establish appropriate remediation and rehabilitation
strategies that can be used to prevent or minimize environmental impacts of nuclear power plant
accidents and incidents. The report focuses on two case studies of nuclear power plant disasters:
Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disasters. Information and findings in this
report can be used by relevant government authorities and agencies to formulate policies and
regulations that will improve environmental and human safety of nuclear power generation.
2. Description of the Incidents
Chernobyl and Fukushima remains the worst nuclear disasters in history. Chernobyl is a
nuclear power plant accident that took place on April 26, 1986. The accident took place at the
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which was near Pripyat in northern Ukraine (former Soviet
Union). On the other hand, Fukushima is a nuclear power plant accident that took place on
March 1, 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The two events were
level 7 crises according to the International Nuclear Event Scale and were caused by different