How safe is nuclear?

With Hitachi investing over $1 billion into two new nuclear power plants in the UK, the issue of nuclear safety is raised once again

This week, Japanese company Hitachi bought the Horizon nuclear power project in the UK for $1.2 billion, which will create two new nuclear power plants in Anglesey, Wales and Oldbury, England, with around 12,000 jobs in constructing the sites and then 2000 permanent jobs once they are completed. Hitachi took over the project from German companies RWE and E.ON after they pulled out following the decision by Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear energy in Germany by 2022. This decision by one of Europe’s leading industrial powers to renounce nuclear energy in favour of renewables was made following the disaster at Fukushima, with fears raised about the safety of nuclear power. Now, with Hitachi opting to invest in this type of energy and start a ‘100 year commitment to the UK’ that question is brought up once again.

A typical nuclear power plant - but is it really that safe?

(Source - http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/NuclearEnergy.php)

Safety is the biggest factor in debates about nuclear power. Anti-nuclear campaigners state that the potential risk of a nuclear disaster (such as a complete nuclear meltdown – a nuclear explosion similar to an atomic bomb is a complete myth, as the uranium isn’t enriched enough in a power plant to explode) outweighs any benefits of nuclear power, as the damage that could be caused by a disaster would be catastrophic. That fear is understandable; a worst-case scenario would be a complete meltdown that contaminates the ground and water supply in the surrounding area, which would cause explosions as a result of radioactive material reacting with water and widespread exposure to radiation that could result in deaths. 

However, in nearly 15,000 cumulative nuclear reactor years, only three major accidents have occurred; Three Mile Island (USA, 1979), Chernobyl (Ukraine, 1986) and Fukushima (Japan, 2011), with only Chernobyl resulting in loss of life. These accidents weren’t caused by the nuclear power process itself, but by a series of specific factors. Three Mile Island was a result of human error, Fukushima was caused by damage from both an earthquake and a tsunami, and Chernobyl was the result of poor reactor design in an environment where safety regulations and security were a low priority. Nuclear energy is so much safer now with security measures and tight safety regulations in place.

The devastating aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster - but events like these are extremely rare

(Source - Liverpool Echo)

In terms of safety, renewable energy is much better than nuclear, as the only risk of damage or death from a wind turbine is if it fell over, which wouldn’t affect as many people as a nuclear meltdown would. With Germany looking to phase out nuclear power by 2022 in favour of renewable energy, they are showing they are willing to commit and support the development of renewable power (as nuclear energy currently provides a quarter of the country’s energy usage), which is a good thing, as it shows the country is prepared to move forward and is thinking about the future. 

However, nuclear power shouldn’t be ignored completely. There is always the worry that something could go terribly wrong with nuclear and, however safe nuclear energy can be made, the actual process of working with radioactive materials and the science behind it will always carry some level of risk. But with safety measures as tight and important as they currently are, the chances of something bad happening are very low. Nuclear power is still important to the world, as it is very efficient in terms of energy production. An average-size nuclear plant would produce the same amount of energy as around 2000 wind turbines. 2000 turbines would take up an area of land around 60,000 acres, whereas a power plant would take up only 1500 acres.

Hopefully in the future there will be a form of renewable energy so efficient and effective, with absolutely no risks, that nuclear power won’t be needed anymore. But until such a time, nuclear energy is still important, and still necessary.