Nuclear energy has long been proposed as a viable alternative to fossil fuels for energy worldwide since the first commercial nuclear power stations began operation in the United States during the 1950s. At present, there are over 435 commercial nuclear power plants operating in 31 countries worldwide, generating 11 percent of the world’s power. Nuclear plants are able to generate large amounts of energy through the splitting of atomic nuclei in a process known as nuclear fission. The amount of energy released by nuclear fission is measured in units of electron volts, eV, and typical figures can range up to 200 million electron volts. Compared to the combustion of fossil fuels, which release only a few electron volts per reaction, nuclear power dominates in terms of power …show more content…
This storage time can last from several days to millions of years depending on the isotope of uranium used [14]. This can be problematic as many cases have been reported of nuclear waste being mishandled resulting in pollution to the surrounding environment, as was the case in France in 2008, when over 75kg of radioactive material seeped into the ground, polluting nearby rivers and land [15]. Though nuclear plants are subject to very rigorous safety testing, accidents still occur, most recently on 11th March 2011 in Fukushima, Japan, when a tsunami caused the malfunction of vital cooling equipment which resulted in three nuclear meltdowns and the release of radioactive material into the North Pacific Ocean [16]. All land within 20 kilometres of the plant, a total of 600 square kilometres, has been deemed a permanent exclusion zone by the Japanese government. Large amounts of radioactive Caesium-137 have detected in a range of Japanese foodstuffs, from tea leaves, beef, milk and freshwater fish as far as 300 kilometres from the Fukushima plant