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The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power

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Why nuclear power should not be a part of the “green shift” of energy sources

There seems to be agreement amongst experts that today’s greatest global threat is climate change and the effects it will bring. In an attempt to ensure sustainable development and reduce the impacts of global warming, more than 150 world leaders have adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While several of these goals can be related to climate change, this paper will focus mainly on the 7th. This goal is to by 2030: “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 25% of global CO2 equivalence (CO2e) is caused by the energy production sector …show more content…

It also mentions that cleaner, more energy efficient energy is a target. To meet these goals, one of the first things to decide on is what sources of energy will be supported, researched, developed and subsidized. A sector that is keen to cover the future energy supply is the nuclear one. Nuclear power has by many been hailed as a non-polluting, clean energy source that belongs in the low-emission society of tomorrow. The main goal of this paper will be to investigate how environmentally friendly this technology really is and whether or not it belongs in the next generation of energy suppliers. The first part will give an explanation of how nuclear power is produced from cradle to grave and hidden costs and emissions along the way. The second part will look at the risks involved with the industry (decommissioning, waste disposal, longevity and risk of terrorism with impacts both in terms of CO2e and …show more content…

What happens inside the symbolic reactors seems a field for experts where it becomes hard to have an opinion without excessive inside-knowledge. While what happens inside a nuclear reactor is highly advanced, it is not incomprehensible. It is basically an advanced way of boiling water, using the steam to turn a turbine which creates electricity. The water is boiled with uranium rods being placed in water to reach its critical mass (where there is enough fissile material to sustain nuclear fission). Lots of heat is produced, which then boils the water. In itself, this process causes no emissions*. However, the reactors don’t build themselves, the uranium does not magically turn up at the doorstep of the reactors, neither does it magically disappear when in the form of nuclear waste. This part of the paper will build extensively on chapter 1 of the book “Nuclear Energy Is Not the Answer” by Dr. Helen Caldicott and estimations by Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith. Much of the information about the nuclear cycle (the milling process in particular) is borrowed from Caldicott’s book and the numbers are from van Leeuwen and Smith amongst others. After looking at many sources and life-cycle estimates these were by far the most comprehensive available, as they included many factors overlooked in other

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