The Health Impact of Major Nuclear Accidents: The Case Of Greece

An assessment of the radiological consequences that would result for the population of Greece from postulated major nuclear accidents in the Kozloduy nuclear power station in Bulgaria is performed. Kozloduy lies at a distance of 225 km from the northern borders of Greece and contains six reactors, all of the Russian WWER type. The postulated accidents that are classified as level 7 accidents on the International Nuclear Event Scale, involve significant releases of radioactive materials into the environment, and widespread health and environmental effects. The analysis is performed by the MACCS code. The estimated consequences are compared to the corresponding actual impact of the Chernobyl accident in Greece. The results of the analysis indicate that, under the conservative assumptions adopted, the radiological consequences of the most severe accidents considered would be about 1.5 orders of magnitude larger than the actual radiological consequences of the Chernobyl accident.