In a world facing dwindling fossil fuel reserves, air pollution, and global warming, there is a pressing demand for greener, cleaner and sustainable energies. Nuclear power is one of the options under consideration, as it does have some major advantages.
For starters, nuclear energy is tremendously powerful. With current nuclear fission technology, one kilogram of uranium fuel can give the same energy as 2700 tons of coal. This highly efficient energy source is perfect for meeting the world's growing energy demands.
Secondly, nuclear energy can be used to replace fossil fuels for electricity generation. This brings two advantages. The first of which is that we can conserve them for other purposes. At current consumption rates, we will only have enough fossil fuels for about a century or so. If we use nuclear power instead, the fossil fuels that we save can be used for other purposes such as powering aircraft or making plastics. The second upside is that skimping on burning fuel means cutting greenhouse emissions. In fact, nuclear power contributes neither to global warming nor air pollution.
Thirdly, it gets cheaper and cheaper the more we use it. As nuclear technology advances, matures and is more widely adopted, it will become cheaper by economies of scale. Fossil fuels, however, despite its more widespread adoption and simpler technology, is predicted to get (and is already getting) more expensive as fuel supplies dwindle. Moreover, fossil fuel prices are subject to frequent fluctuations due to wars, conflicts, and trade route stability. Nuclear power does not suffer from this as reactors need refueling only about once every 20 years.
Fourthly, nuclear power is potentially unlimited. The technology exists to process our nuclear waste into usable fuel. In fact, as much as 95% of spent fuel is recycled and turned into nuclear power once again. If this is maintained, it is possible to continue fueling reactors for a thousand years or even more despite our limited reserves. Advances in nuclear fusion, a yet-to-be-realized technology, will even enable us to use our vast resources of seawater as fuel.
However, nuclear energy has been a controversial ever since its introduction in the 1950s. Developed with the technology that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it provides 14% of the world's electricity. Although it can provide huge amounts of energy, it also comes with dangers and ramifications, as manifested in the 1989 Chernobyl disaster, and more recently in the Fukishima meltdown. In light of the latter tragedy, Germany has announced that it will shut down all its reactors by 2022, and other countries are debating whether to do the same.
The danger in nuclear power lies in the possibility of a radiation leak. Radiation can affect the molecular structure of everything it comes into contact with. This is a good thing as nuclear power depends on this property. However, when released into the environment, the consequences of radiation could be deadly. Though comics speculate that radiation could give people superpowers, in reality radiation poisoning is not that fun; excess exposure could lead to cancer, immune diseases, or even death. In the long term, it could make a region unfit for habitation for decades.
Moreover, the technical know-how required to build a reactor isn't very different from that needed to build a nuclear bomb. With this in mind, the world's existing nuclear powers have already signed a treaty agreeing to the non-proliferation of the technology. However this has not stopped certain authoritarian regimes, like Iran and North Korea, from striking out on their own, which upsets the balance of power in a somewhat unfavorable direction. Even without a working reactor or bomb, nuclear waste could also be used as dirty bombs, spreading deadly radiation into the air and water.
So now the world has to decide: is meeting our demands for energy and development worth the potential dangers of nuclear power?
Personally, I think that, at least for now, it is a necessary risk. As we face growing energy demands, depleting fossil fuel reserves and increasingly polluted air, we will have to let go of fossil fuels sometime soon. Renewable energies like wind and solar power are low in capacity, hydroelectric dams destroy ecosystems, geothermal energy is limited to only a few geographical hotspots and biofuels do not solve global warming, but rather contribute to it. Nuclear power is the only way we can solve our environmental problems while meeting our energy demands, that is, nuclear disasters aside.
When we are able to harness renewable energies on a massive scale that is both cost-effective and efficient, then it would be time for nuclear power to go as the cost of maintaining it – the potential of nuclear leaks – would be too much. But before that day comes, nuclear energy is the most environmentally and economically sustainable option to power our world.
