In the heyday of nuclear energy, it was thought to be the future of carbon-free power generation. Countries and companies around the world were investing billions into this technology. However, fast forward to today, and nuclear energy seems as dormant as DVDs or landlines. What happened?
The basic premise of nuclear energy is a neutron collides with a Uranium atom which splits it releasing heat energy and two or three neutrons which continue the reaction. The heat energy warms up water to generate steam which spins a turbine creating electricity. To prevent the neutrons from travelling too quickly there is a moderator which slows down the reaction.
This however, creates radioactive waste, some of which may last thousands of years and hence have to be buried underground. When this waste gets released or a reactor explodes a nuclear disaster takes place. About 30 nuclear incidents have taken place but two are the most infamous: Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi.
Chernobyl was caused due to negligence and improper safety norms. As with all things Soviet, the RBMK-1000 reactor was faulty and ill-made. The government was more concerned about image than actual evacuation. Despite this only 31 people died directly due to the explosion and studies estimate a figure of around 4000 premature deaths, whereas Fukushima had a much better reactor and the evacuation effort was far more efficient. Hence, 573 people died due to non-radioactive causes such as the stress of the evacuation process and most of these were older people. The premature death figure sits at a range of none-1000.
All of this is in stark contrast to the 4,000,000 deaths caused by air pollution, a direct consequence of fossil fuel use. If you look at the deaths caused by different energy sources every 50 years per a unit of one terawatt hour, you would find that other renewable energy sources cause 1-2 deaths (mostly due to construction related incidents, nuclear 3.5, and coal 1230.
When looking at the problem from this point of view it is obvious that nuclear power is the more favourable option. Until we have time to further develop other renewable energy sources, nuclear energy can serve as a transition source providing us with clean, green energy far safer than fossil fuels. It is better to fill underground pits with sealed radioactive waste than to fill our atmosphere with toxins and poisonous gases.
#NuclearEnergy#NuclearPhysics#MediaMisrepresentation
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