![]() Radioactive emissions at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants covered a much larger geographic area, leading to massive evacuations with permanent relocation for thousands of families (Anzai et. In the case of Three Mile Island, evacuation of residents was optional and short lived, focusing on pregnant women and children within a five-mile radius of the plant (Bromet, Parkinson, & Dunn, 1990). Radiation emissions into the atmosphere necessitated a prompt public health response to all events. Workers bore the most direct exposure risk in the accidents and, in the aftermath, clean-up workers. The first two events were due to technological and human error (Nuclear Energy Institute, 2014 World Health Organization, 2006), and the third as a result of an earthquake and massive tsunami that overwhelmed the reactors at the Japanese plant, although there is evidence that technological problems had long been present (Anzai, Ban, Ozawa, & Shinji, 2012 Soble, 2015). Without question, there will be a marked increase in these kinds of calamities in the decades to come.Ī few of the most widely publicized nuclear power plant disasters in recent history are Three Mile Island in the United States (March, 1979), Chernobyl in the Ukraine (April, 1986), and Fukushima Daiichi in Japan (March, 2011). These events have had significant long-term environmental, health, and psychological consequences for the communities where they have occurred. The global arms race, over-reliance on fossil fuels, increased use of nuclear power for energy needs, and climate change provide the backdrop for some of the most well-known global disasters of our time. Keywords: nuclear weapons, plant workers, occupational illness, qualitative research, EEOICPA, compensation, FernaldĮnvironmental disasters, both natural and man-made, have become part of the world’s lexicon in the late 20 th and early 21 st centuries. Social justice implications are discussed in the conclusions, as well as directions for future research. This small exploratory case study examined how former Fernald workers and their family members experienced the legal application and/or determination process in order to receive compensation for past risks. that aided in nuclear weapons production. Fernald, located northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the location of one of several hundred plant facilities throughout the U.S. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Act (EEOICPA) was legislated by Congress in 2000 to remunerate workers and/or their survivors for risks associated with exposure while employed. The large-scale production of nuclear weapons that occurred in the United States during the Cold War also created additional consequences for plant workers, their families, and the communities where facilities were located. Compensation systems have been designed and are required by plants that have had such disasters to mitigate the risks and deleterious effects of the industry world-wide. Nuclear power plant disasters in recent history have had significant global, environmental, health, and social consequences. ![]()
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