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To Nuke or Not to Nuke: The Real Cost of Nuclear Energy
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
With the advent of climate change and global warming, we are now forced to look into alternative sources of power that are both clean and efficient. Solar, wind, geothermal, are some of the words scientists throw around today. In some circles, however, nuclear energy is once again coming into vogue. France, for example, continues to be the champion of the nuclear age, with over 59 nuclear power plants in operation, making up over 85% of the country’s electrical needs. If countries such as France can make it work, should everyone follow suit ?
Nuclear energy is supposedly clean, safe and efficient – it could be the solution to climate change – true, nuclear reactions create no carbon emissions, but is that really all we need to know?
We’ve all heard the horror stories, and the worst of that is Chernobyl. Even now, twenty years after the accident, the effects can still be felt. Dubbed the “Worst Nuclear Accident in the World”, a study son the aftermath of the disaster, conducted by the World Health Organization found that many people in the area (or who were in the area) have not only been diagnosed with many diseases (particularly thyroid cancer and leukemia), but many fetuses exposed to the radiation experienced developmental problems. To this day, measurements of the radioactivity levels in the air in affected areas remain the same as it did 20 years ago. Many nuclear proponents are saying that nuclear technology is safer today then it was when reactors were first built, when in fact, there is no such thing as “safe” nuclear technology. The process still remains more or less the same; only the technology to keep them contained differs. Sure, there are many safeguards in case something goes wrong, but what about human error?
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
Then, there is the countless waste generated by the nuclear process, from mining of the uranium all the way up to the waste from the power plant itself. If you thought that since our governments spent billions of dollars creating these plants, they’d have some sort of waste management strategy in place, right? Well, the truth is disposal options are quite limited, mostly involving burying the tons (about 220,000 in 2000) of nuclear waste underground. Yes, you read that right – we dig holes in the ground and cross our fingers. Such a plan is reckless and in the long run unfeasible. Other waste disposal facilities in France and the UK have already shown signs of leakage, showing that such a plan is not viable. Even now, in the US, plans to create a nuclear dumpsite called Yucca Mountain have been on going for 20 years. Billions of dollars spent on the project have resulted in…well nothing.
Finally, remember what nuclear technology was originally used for? Weapons. Nations stockpile nuclear materials for many reasons, mostly for “civilian” purposes but that hasn’t stopped countries such as Japan and North Korea from developing weapons capabilities. Russia and the United States, who have supposedly ended the cold war decades ago, are neck-in-neck in the race of “Who Has the Most Nuclear Materials?” The current political situation all over the world is on thin ice as it is, having nuclear weapons just makes it worse.
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
So, does nuclear energy still seem “safe”, “clean” and “efficient?” If you’re still not convinced, then chew on this: Global Chance, an independent think tank whose members include France’s own nuclear experts, recently published a report detailing how the French nuclear program is all an illusion – the program is expensive, riddled with inefficiencies, unsafe and generally has no positive impact on climate change. According to the report, “The French nuclear programs’ image is first and foremost that of a highly successful industry, but this is a sham. The development of nuclear power in France has been marked by a succession of technological blind alleys, planning errors and all kinds of difficulties, which are generally noted and corrected without any public discussion.”
By Maria Belgado
Additional resources:
GreenPeace UK’s Page on Nuclear Energy
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Sortir du Nucléaire
Tags: chernobyl, nuclear energy, nuclear power, nuclear waste
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It is a shame that such misperceptions about nuclear energy persist. Commercial nuclear plants are not bombs, and used fuel from commercial plants has never been used to make nuclear weapons. Used fuel contains more than 90% of the potential energy as new fuel and recycling makes the final “waste” much smaller and easier to store.
The effects of the Chernobyl accident are routinely overstated by the anti-nuclear crowd (as they were here). The greatest impact was the result of irrational hysteria instigated by the same people who comtinute to oppose nuclear energy today, and are well funded by fossil fuel providers.
John Wheeler
Producer of This Week in Nuclear
Since the commenting rules remind me to “be nice” I will do some self editing here and attempt to remain inside the rules.
Though it is possible to spin all kinds of scary stories about nuclear energy, people should remember that real choices must be made about energy supplies that do not include the use of a magic material called “unobtainium” that produces reliable energy for free without any negative side effects.
In the real world of human endeavor that includes our seemingly insatiable need for electricity, heat, light and transport, we need to build and operate equipment that runs on real fuels or that captures natural forces – when they are available. For thousands of years, humans have used fire and burned materials that are either fresh hydrocarbons (trees, grass, etc) or well aged and compacted hydrocarbons (coal, oil, methane). These materials produce a vast quantity of waste, they expose people to excessive heat and they sometimes poison them. However, we put up with the negatives so we can make use of the positives.
Humans have also gathered sunlight, solar heat, and wind with as much skill as possible, but we have found those diffuse, weather dependent forces to be unreliable and unavailable when needed. We have also figured out that gathering them takes far more material and time than we would like to devote to the endeavor (in other words, it costs too much).
In 1942, a small group of scientists finally proved what some had suspected for several decades – it was possible to create a self-sustaining and controllable reaction that released the massive quantity of energy stored inside heavy metal nuclei. Pound for pound, uranium fission releases about 3 million times as much energy as coal combustion. A tiny pellet that sits on my desk inspires me – it represents the size of a uranium dioxide fuel pellet that will release as much energy as 1 ton of coal, even with our current rather primitive nuclear technology. (With breeder reactors, that same pellet would release as much energy as 20-40 tons of coal.) That pellet, even with allowances for all of the refining and storage after use, costs less than 1/3 as much per unit of heat as “cheap” coal that is burned in a plant without any pollution control devices.
Chernobyl may be a loaded word that causes instant fright, but the WHO study showed that the total number of early deaths so far is less than 50, which is quite a bit fewer than the 3500 people that die in Chinese coal mines every year. The mass of used fuel material (about 65,000 tons so far in the US) that some call nuclear waste may sound impressively large until you find out that a single coal fired power plant will produce approximately 45,000 tons of uncontrolled waste every single day. It has taken us 50 years and 104 operating plants to produce that little pile of used nuclear fuel – all of which could comfortably fit on a single football field and not even bury the goal posts.
One final thought – the entities that benefit the most from efforts to slow nuclear development are those that are involved in finding, extracting, transporting, refining, marketing, advertising, and investing in fossil fuel development. Every time a new nuclear plant begins to operate, it removes a market for natural gas or coal worth between $200 and $800 million per year depending on the location and the market price of the substitute fuel.
Rod Adams
Publisher, Atomic Insights
Host and producer, The Atomic Show Podcast
Nuclear power, I believe is the best, safest, most reliable, current technology to provide energy. The plants operating now are safe and the new designs are even safer.
Building 100′s of new nuclear power plants would improve the economy, reduce or eliminate dependence on foreign oil, create jobs, reduce pollution, and provide for future technological advancement.
I have been working with nuclear power for about 30 years, I would be glad to have a Nuclear power plant or high level waste disposal facility in my backyard. My family and I live in a home within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant. (where I work) I have a great understanding of the risks involved and am completely comfortable with a plant “in my backyard”. I have confidence that my grandchildren’s grandchildren will be smart enough to treat the nuclear “waste” as a valuable resource or at least smart enough to handle it safely. If the cavemen thought their children would be too stupid to use fire safely, where would we be now?
Using Chernobyl as a reason not to build is like saying because of the Hindenburg I will never fly in a commercial airliner.
Nuclear power has the smallest environmental impact of any current energy production method per unit of energy produced. One fuel pellet about the size of a pencil eraser produces the same energy as about 1 ton of coal, and if reprocessed 2/3 of what’s left can be reclaimed. Nuclear power is our best option for reliable, environmentally friendly base-load electrical power. The major cost in nuclear is not fuel, it is highly qualified people to operate and maintain the plants. New nuclear provides more and better jobs than any other option.
I’ve always had mixed feelings about nuclear power. On the one had many experts (and not just industry spokespeople) feel it is a very good and relatively clean option. Others warn against it. Obviously it’s not 100% safe and a bad disaster is a VERY bad disaster indeed. Chernobyl and Mayak/Kyshtym disaster are all the evidence we need for that.
Technological development is inevitable and the potential for its ill use is also. However, I think research should continue. Maybe someone will figure out cold fusion