In this age of global warming, nuclear power provides a clean fast alternative to produce massive amounts of energy, Mark Grima argues
The urgency of the current situation with regards to climate change should put nuclear power firmly at the top of the list of carbon-free energy alternatives. Nuclear power is still the only carbon-free energy source that can give us massive amounts of energy quickly. We are on a tight deadline, and renewables such as wind and solar power are not going to meet it on their own.
The misconceptions and fears surrounding nuclear energy are widespread, born in part from the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and more recently, the accident at Chernobyl. However, nuclear power plants are not bombs, and we can’t eliminate nuclear weapons technology, even if we stop building nuclear power stations. There is of course still the possibility of an accident, as Chernobyl has shown. However, the statistics from Chernobyl, although tragic for those involved, reveal that the long-term impact has not been as catastrophic as many predicted. The wildlife around Chernobyl is now thriving and the area supports greater biodiversity than similar habitats outside the exclusion zone. Life on earth is actually very tolerant of radiation. This is not surprising, when you consider that the earth was formed as the result of a massive nuclear explosion in space billions of years ago. The evidence for this supernova explosion comes from the large amounts of uranium, and other unstable elements still present in the earth’s crust. Life on earth emerged 4 billion years ago, under much more intense conditions of radioactivity, and without a protective ozone layer to shield early organisms from the intense ultra-violet radiation of the sun.
UN statistics show that 57 people died as a direct consequence of the Chernobyl accident. Compare this to the hundreds of thousands who have died in coal mines and on oil rigs, as well as countless more premature deaths due to illnesses linked to poor air quality in areas of intense fossil fuel use.
Those who dismiss nuclear energy because of the problems of waste disposal choose to ignore the 28 billion tonnes of waste jettisoned into the atmosphere by the fossil fuel industry annually. The consequences of this are now well understood. If not addressed very soon, the resulting catastrophe will be on a massive scale.
Nuclear waste disposal, although problematic, is not as insurmountable, or costly, as many imagine. The global nuclear energy industry produces around 40,000 tonnes of waste annually, of which 15,000 tonnes is spent nuclear fuel. This volume of spent fuel would fit into a modestly sized house. Furthermore, if stored retrievably, it represents a recyclable resource, as only about 2% of its contained energy has been utilized during its first pass in a reactor. To date, waste from nuclear power stations has been successfully managed and there has not been a single fatality associated with its storage and disposal.
Costs are an important part of the energy debate. Waste management is a key element of costs. However, the playing field is not even. If a carbon tax were applied, which reflected the true costs of pumping fossil fuel waste into the air, or if carbon-capture technology became compulsory in fossil fuel plants, nuclear energy would look very cheap by comparison. Wind and solar, although gaining, are still expensive compared to nuclear and fossil fuel energy.
The way forward is to promote a mix of carbon-free energy alternatives, coupled with a drive towards consumption efficiency. Wind, solar and biofuels have a growing and important role to play, but time is desperately short. We need massive amounts of carbon-free energy on-line quickly. Nuclear energy must surely play a major part in our progress towards this goal.
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