Is Nuclear Energy Bad For The Environment
Disadvantages of nuclear energy.
Is nuclear energy bad for the environment. Nuclear plants create more jobs than other forms of energy. Of course with the good comes the bad and nuclear power is no different. 35 deaths from the windscale fire. Nuclear power plants are expensive to build prompting wall street to call new nuclear a bet the farm risk.
Every nuclear plant under construction in the united states is well behind schedule and at least 1 billion over budget. 600 000 people still suffering from the effects of chernobyl. The environmental impact of nuclear power results from the nuclear fuel cycle operation and the effects of nuclear accidents. They create 0 5 jobs for every megawatt hour of electricity produced.
4 000 fatalities in the chernobyl disaster. Nuclear energy has been proposed as an answer to the need for a clean energy source as opposed to co2 producing plants. Saves 12 billion dollars each year for energy costs because of nuclear power. Currently there are no long term storage solutions for radioactive waste and most is stored in temporary above ground facilities.
These materials can remain radioactive and dangerous to human health for thousands of years. 57 nuclear accidents since 1986 averaging out to just over two nuclear accidents each year. However there is a catastrophic risk potential if containment. A major environmental concern related to nuclear power is the creation of radioactive wastes such as uranium mill tailings spent used reactor fuel and other radioactive wastes.
This is in comparison to 0 19 jobs in coal 0 05 jobs in gas fired plants and 0 05 in wind power. Ten strikes against nuclear energy 1. Nuclear energy is not necessarily a clean energy source. Nuclear power plants actually emit fewer radioactive materials into the environment than a traditional coal burning plant.
The waste generated by nuclear reactors remains radioactive for tens to hundreds of thousands of years 1. The greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear fission power are much smaller than those associated with coal oil and gas and the routine health risks are much smaller than those associated with coal. Throughout the history of nuclear power plants there have been a few major events that have occurred with the most well known one being chernobyl. Nuclear energy produces radioactive waste.
It is estimated that nuclear facilities have saved 1 84 million lives since their inception by preventing the release of countless amounts of harmful pollutants emissions. Nuclear energy isn t just bad for the environment it s bad for our economy.