Transportation

Hazardous Materials

Radiation Contamination. When nuclear weapons are detonated or nuclear containment systems are otherwise compromised, airborne radioactive particles (nuclear fallout) can scatter and irradiate large areas. Not only is it deadly, but it also has a long-term effect on the next generation for those who are contaminated. Ionizing radiation is hazardous to living things, and in such a case much of the affected area could be unsafe for human habitation. During World War II, United States troops dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, the radiation fallout contaminated the cities’ water supplies, food sources, and half of the populations of each city were stricken with disease. The Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus are part of a scenario like this after a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a meltdown in 1986. To this day, several small towns and the city of Chernobyl remain abandoned and uninhabitable due to fallout. In the 1970s, a similar threat scared millions of Americans when a failure occurred at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. The incident was fortunately resolved, and the area retained little contamination.

CBRNs. A term meaning Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear. The term is used to describe a non-conventional terror threat that, if used by a nation, would be considered use of a weapon of mass destruction. This term is used primarily in the United Kingdom. Planning for the possibility of a CBRN event may be appropriate for certain high-risk or high-value facilities and governments. Examples include the Halabja poison gas attack on the Kurdish purported by Saddam Hussein, the Sarin gas attacks in Tokyo and the preceding test runs in Matsumoto, Japan 100 kilometers outside of Tokyo, and Lord Amherst giving smallpox laden blankets to Native Americans.

An aviation incident is an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations, passengers, or pilots. The category of the vehicle can range from a helicopter, an airliner, or a space shuttle. One of the more devastating events occurred in 1977 on the island of Tenerife of the Canary Islands, when miscommunications between and amongst air traffic control and an aircrew caused two fully loaded jets to collide on the runway, killing over 500 passengers.

Space disasters, either during operations or training, have killed around 20 astronauts and cosmonauts, and a much larger number of ground crew and civilians. These disasters include either malfunctions on the ground, during launch, or in orbit with technology, or of natural forces. Not all space disasters result in human fatalities, for example, unmanned orbiting satellites that drop to the Earth can incinerate and send debris spewing across the sky. One of the worst manned space disasters, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion of 1986, cost all of the lives on board. The shuttle exploded several seconds after taking off from the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Another example is the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during a landing attempt over Texas in 2003, with a loss of all 7 astronauts on board. The debris field extended from as far as eastern New Mexico to Mississippi. An example of a space disaster killing nearby residents occurred on February 15, 1996, in Sichuan Province, China, when a Long March 3B rocket crashed during takeoff. The Nedelin catastrophe in 1960 also killed 126 when an R-16 ICBM exploded on the launch pad.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions:

1. What is a man-made hazard?

2. How can you define a man-made disaster?

3. What types of social hazards can you mention?

4. What is “crime”?

5. What is the goal of arson?

6. Could you give us an example of human-induced accidental fire?

7. What can the reason of riots?

8. How can you define the word “terrorism”?

9. Is terrorism a real threat to people?

10. What is “war”? How can you define it?

11. Why do you think industrial hazards often have an environmental impact?

12. What are the main reasons of structural collapses?

13. Could you give us an example of a structure collapse?

14. In what way does an extended power outage disrupt personal and business activities?

15. What can cause a mine fire?

16. Are casualties from fires great or minor?

17. What are some of the fire hazards that may exist in a building?

18. Why is radiation contamination deadly?

19. How can you define the term “CBRN”?

20. What can be some of the reasons of an aircraft crash?

21. Are space disasters frequent or rare? Could you mention at least one?

Exercise 4. Translate into English:

1. Очень часто причиной техногенной катастрофы является человеческий фактор.

2. Техногенная катастрофа – это результат техногенной опасности, которая существовала, но меры предосторожности не были приняты.

3. Поджог – это преступление и поджигатель несёт уголовную ответственность.

4. Терроризм является реальной угрозой всему человечеству.

5. Наша страна выжила в самой разрушительной войне в истории мировой цивилизации – второй мировой войне.

6. Кроме террористических актов, причиной обрушения зданий является человеческий фактор.

7. Примером огненной бури может служить Великий пожар города Лондона, 1666 год.

8. Радиация не только опасна на момент катастрофы, но имеет долговременные последствия на будущие поколения.

9. Только одна авиакатастрофа может унести жизни нескольких сотен людей.

10. Многих техногенных катастроф можно было бы избежать, если бы люди вовремя приняли должные меры безопасности.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27