Aren’t Clean Energy Technologies Supposed To Be Clean For Everybody? Well, Not For Workers.
Solar power plants and units cause the most harmful radiation to workers, even more than coal- and nuclear-powered electricity-generating plants. And next in line are workers of wind power plants, says the latest report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
The report, finalised and released at the sixty-third session of the Committee held in Vienna, Austria, from 27 June to 1 July this year, says:
By far the largest collective dose to workers per unit of electricity generated was found in the solar power cycle, followed by the wind power cycle.
That's because these technologies require vast amounts of rare earth metals, and the mining of low-grade ores exposes workers to natural radionuclides during mining.
However, says the study, considering the total amount of electricity generated around the world by each kind of technology, the coal cycle (mining and transportation of coal to power plants, the generation process and disposal of fly ash) caused the greatest harm to the general public and workers, followed by the nuclear fuel cycle.
The UN Committee, formed in December 1955, was mandated to undertake broad assessments of sources of ionising radiation and its effects on human health and the environment. It had recently decided to initiate work on new estimation of human exposure to ionising radiation for electricity generation.