Fallout: Drama documentary about nuclear accident in Sellafield

national | environment | event notice Thursday April 20, 2006 13:58 by Terence

Dramatises how Ireland might react to a major nuke accident across the water.

This is a 2 part drama documentary with the first showing on
RTE 1: Sun 23rd at 9:35 pm and part 2 on RTE 1: Mon 23rd at 9:35 pm

This promises to be a reasonably realistic account of how a major accident would unfold in Sellafield and the reactions in Ireland by the people and the government. The first we would hear of it would come as a newsflash over the radio and it poses the question to us all, as to how would we react and what would we do.

We should remember of course there are many precedents for accidents at Sellafield and in particular the most serious was the Windscale fire on Oct 10th 1957 which spread radioactive Iodine over the UK and NorthEast Ireland where it has been suggested the high rate of Down Syndrome in kids born around then in that area, may be related.

This programme comes in a timely manner just as the pro-nuclear campaign to suggest building a few nuclear power stations has got underway recently and on the back of the 20 year anniversary of the explosion on Chernoby where 6 million people continue to be affected in the surrounding areas of Belarus and Ukraine. Belarus which is close to the size of Ireland has contamination spread over up to 90% of it's area and the main contaminant is cesium which chemically is like potassium and is taken up by many organs in the body. As a result there are widespread restrictions on what people can do and eat so as to reduce their radiation exposure and should something equivalent happen in Ireland & UK, similar would mostly likely apply here.

Here's a summary of what is Part 1 and Part 2 from the RTE website:

Part One concentrates on the immediate aftermath of the accident. Initially, the story is told in the style of unfolding news coverage as well as captured by a documentary crew: a mixture of news footage, studio footage, and camera phone footage from eye-witnesses. Thus, we get a sense of the immediate aftermath as it unfolds in the media as the average citizen would experience the crisis.

Part Two is set one year after the fictional Sellafield accident. The focus is now on longer term economic, social and human repercussions. We revisit and get closer to some of the characters we met in Part One. Through these characters, as well as through 'official reactions' and commentary from economic, psychological and medical experts, we examine the economic and social impact of the disaster on Irish society over the course of the year.