NUCLEAR POWER: A Blessing or a Curse?

ENERGY GIRL

By Abrar Hasanat

Ever since the first nuclear power plant opened on June 27, 1954, in Obninsk, in the Soviet Union₁, the world has been highly divided on the nuclear power debate. While nuclear energy provides a greener alternative to fossil fuels, it is also linked to some of the world's most hazardous and lethal weapons, not to mention nuclear disasters. The extraordinarily high expense and prolonged process of building nuclear reactors are outweighed by the fact that nuclear energy is far less harmful than fossil resources. Should countries continue to rely on nuclear energy in the race to net-zero carbon emissions, or should they create room for more fossil fuels and renewable energy sources? Today, we have a detailed discussion on this question.

First of all, what is nuclear energy? Nuclear energy is the source of energy found in an atom's nucleus or core. Once extracted, this energy can be used to generate electricity in a reactor by causing nuclear fission via two types of atomic reactions: nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. We won’t get into the technicalities too much on how the entire process works, check the details here if you want to know more!₂

Now coming to the main topic, for centuries, fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum enabled the industrialization of economies all over the world, and only recently have governments opened up to alternate sources after the mass awareness regarding global warming. Early commercial nuclear power stations began operations in the 1950s, providing many countries across the world with an alternative to oil and gas import dependency and a significantly less polluting energy source than fossil fuels. 

However, what really pushed the nuclear energy concept was the 1970s energy crisis. The Western world, mainly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, experienced significant petroleum shortages and price increases during the 1970s energy crisis. The two worst crises of this time period were the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, when the Yom Kippur War and the Iranian Revolution, respectively, disrupted Middle Eastern oil exports.₃ This crisis sparked up the oil prices so high that more and more countries decided to embark on enriching their nuclear power programs. In fact, most nuclear power plants were built between 1970 to 1990₄ as a direct reply to the energy crisis. Nuclear energy now accounts for around 10% of worldwide energy consumption, with 220 nuclear units in over 50 nations currently functioning and approximately 55 additional reactors under development. In 2020, 13 nations produced at least one-quarter of their total electricity from nuclear sources, with the United States, China, and France clearly dominating the market.₅ 

But judging by how fast nuclear energy had started to grow in the 1970s, only 10% seems rather underwhelming. So what happened that stopped the rapid growth of nuclear power plants? We’ll come to the question a bit later, just after we know a little about the basic advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power. 

Advantages of nuclear power: 

1. Clean energy: Nuclear power is the most abundant source of clean energy in the United States. It accounts for more than half of emissions-free energy. This equates to offsetting the CO2 production of 100 million automobiles.₆

2. High power output: Nuclear power plants produce a lot more electricity relative to other sources of energy (particularly renewables), therefore they're a fantastic source of baseload power.₇

3. Reliable energy source: Nuclear power plants operate at maximum power output more frequently (93 percent of the time) than any other energy source, and this round-the-clock stability makes nuclear energy a perfect source of reliable baseload electricity for the grid.₈

Disadvantages of nuclear power:

1. Uranium is non-renewable: Whilst nuclear energy is a "clean" form of energy, it is not entirely renewable. Current nuclear technology relies on uranium ore for fueling, which is found in really finite amounts in the earth's crust and is diminishing as humans utilize it.₉

2. High costs: Maintaining a nuclear power plant is very inexpensive, but building one in the first place is extremely expensive. Nuclear reactors are complex technology that demand several standards of safety to be installed surrounding them, increasing the overall cost of new nuclear facilities.₁₀

3. Nuclear wastes: Nuclear waste is radioactive, posing a threat to the environment and public health. This is why nations invest large sums of money to securely handle and dispose of discarded nuclear material.₁₁

4. Meltdowns can be catastrophic: A nuclear meltdown occurs when the amount of heat produced by a nuclear reactor exceeds the amount of heat carried out by the cooling systems, causing the system to melt. Hot radioactive vapors can escape in this case, causing nuclear reactors to totally melt and burn while also spewing deadly radioactive pollutants into the environment. This is a worst-case scenario that is extremely improbable, and nuclear power plants are equipped with a variety of safety mechanisms to prevent meltdowns.₁₂

So yeah, nuclear energy isn’t without its obvious drawbacks. There is no denying that nuclear power involves issues that can lead to human deaths, but such dangers are shared by all major energy production methods.₈ As a result, the question should not be, "Is nuclear energy dangerous?" Instead, we should ask, "Is nuclear energy riskier than other forms of energy?"

The short answer is no, nuclear energy isn’t riskier than other forms of energy. Fossil fuels have plenty of issues of their own. Toxic pollutants such as ozone, toxic organic particulates, particulate matter, and heavy metals are produced as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels.₉ Furthermore, under typical operating conditions, the radioactive waste problem connected with burning coals actually outnumbers that of nuclear energy.₁₀ In fact, on a per kilowatt/hour of energy-produced basis, nuclear power is the least deadly major energy source in use.₁₁

Now, another question arises. If nuclear power is actually safe, then why are people so afraid of it?₁₂ Many people feel it's because nuclear power facilities have a long history of being associated with nuclear weapons and the use of such forces is a sensitive topic for many. The nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima left people untrusting of nuclear energy plants and wary of possible consequences. Nonetheless, the disasters demonstrated nuclear energy's relative safety, rather than its relative hazard. Nobody was killed as a result of radiation at Three Mile Island or Fukushima, and less than 50 people died as a result of the Chernobyl disaster in the 30 years since the accident.₁₃

So, why are these disasters seen as huge catastrophes? The answer is due to how governments reacted to them. Governments panicked and evacuated hundreds of thousands of people instead of encouraging the population to be calm and carry on. There seems to have always been a group actively campaigning against nuclear power, making over-the-top claims about the hazards the source possesses in an attempt to create public opinions against it. Furthermore, the governments of the countries already using nuclear power are also reluctant to increase its production or usage due to numerous reasons. 

SO FINALLY, who wins the nuclear debate? There are numerous benefits and drawbacks to nuclear energy, and the discussion over whether to preserve this technology or find other options is certain to continue in the coming years. Nuclear power has the potential to be a tremendously devastating weapon, yet the dangers of a nuclear disaster in a nuclear power plant are rather modest. While historic nuclear disasters may be numbered on one hand, they are memorable for the devastation and the life-threatening repercussions they triggered. However, it is vital to remember that fossil fuels such as coal and oil pose a considerably greater threat and murder millions of people silently every year around the world.₁₄

Another important factor to consider, and one that is now being debated by world leaders, is the reliance of some of the world's major economies on countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran for fossil fuels.₁₅ This reliance allows the countries to have a leverage or bargaining chip regarding one of the most important things in modern life, energy. This is further proven in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Nuclear enthusiasts say that depending on nuclear energy will reduce reliance on third-party countries. However, raw materials such as uranium, which is required to power facilities, would still need to be supplied from nations such as Canada, Kazakhstan, and Australia.₁₆ Thus, the debate switches to another issue: which nations should we depend on for imports, and, more crucially, is it worthwhile to maintain these dependencies? That’s something to be discussed another day!

Works Cited:

1. https://www.wired.com/2012/06/june-27-1954-worlds-first-nuclear-power-plant-opens/

2. https://www.endesa.com/en/blogs/endesa-s-blog/futur/nuclear-power

3. https://www.history.com/topics/1970s/energy-crisis

4. https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=30972

5. https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx#:~:text=Nuclear%20energy%20now%20provides%20about,in%20about%20220%20research%20reactors.

6. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable#:~:text=Nuclear%20is%20a%20zero%2Demission,byproducts%20emitted%20by%20fossil%20fuels.

7. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/infographic-how-much-power-does-nuclear-reactor-produce

8. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-power-most-reliable-energy-source-and-its-not-even-close#:~:text=Nuclear%20Has%20The%20Highest%20Capacity%20Factor&text=This%20basically%20means%20nuclear%20power,than%20wind%20and%20solar%20plants

9. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/non-renewable-energy/

10. http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter9.html

11. https://www.epa.gov/radtown/radioactive-waste#:~:text=Activities%20that%20produce%20or%20use,human%20health%20and%20the%20environment.

12. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nuclear-energy-primer/

13. https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/what-are-the-effects-of-nuclear-accidents.aspx#:~:text=In%20the%20history%20of%20civil,which%20resulted%20in%20no%20casualties.

14. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/09/fossil-fuels-pollution-deaths-research

15. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/17/infographic-how-much-of-your-countrys-gas-comes-from-russia-interactive

16. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1143422/leading-uranium-exporting-countries-based-on-value-worldwide/#:~:text=As%20of%202020%2C%20the%20country,used%20to%20produce%20nuclear%20energy.