Current Debate About Nuclear Power the Issues and Proposed Solutions

Nuclear Power

Nuclear energy: The Current Debate

Energy creation and consumption has been the primary driving force of political and military action since the Industrial Revolution, and arguably for centuries before this shift mechanization and the widespread use of fossil fuels. In the twentieth century, mankind acquired the ability to harness the power of atomic splitting and nuclear chain reactions seemed to many a promise of freedom form the problems of fossil fuels, including their expense and their unwanted effects on the world (i.e. pollution). Some were even so optimistic about nuclear energy's potential that they envisioned a world where electricity was free, and energy meets were easily, cheaply, and entirely met by nuclear means. Reality has not been so rosy, of course, and concerns regarding the environmental and health safety of nuclear energy -- especially in the light of recent seismic events in Japan -- are now a major cause of debate regarding the wisdom of continuing to utilize nuclear power plants.

Analyses of the earthquake-readiness and overall security of nuclear power plants have been ongoing since their inception, yet in many well-developed countries these facilities are woefully out of date in terms of structural integrity and safety (Bommer et al. 2011). The nuclear disaster that occurred in Japan was the result of a massive tsunami, not simply an earthquake, but the result is the same -- failures to maintain control over the reactions led to dangerous levels of radiation that are difficult if not impossible to contain. Major expenditures of financial, labor, and material resources are needed by countries in order to make nuclear plants safer in light of such threats, and there will still be a potential for failure (Bommer et al. 2011).

It is possible to make nuclear energy safer, then, but only at tremendous expense and with the level of risk for a catastrophic failure always present. On the other hand, fossil fuels remain the only viable alternative energy source for powering the world's industry and travel. In fact, researchers have found that oil price increases have had a directly positive impact on nuclear energy consumption, as nuclear energy is cheaper to produce for a variety of reasons than many energy production methods that utilize oil-derived fuels (Lee & Chiu 2011). This means that in order to provide a real incentive to eliminate nuclear energy, there would either need to be a massive reduction in the cost of extracting, transporting, and refining oil, or a development of power plants and infrastructures that operate on entirely different fuel sources and mechanisms (e.g. solar, wind, or hydroelectric generation). Economically speaking, nuclear energy still makes more sense for most developed countries than expanding more traditional fossil fuel energy sources or moving to other alternatives, even with increased safety costs (Lee & Chiu 2011).