Running head: RISKS AND BENEFITS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY 1

Risks and Benefits of Nuclear Energy

Alex Mosher

Excelsior College
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Risks and Benefits of Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy has a long and complex history as both an energy source and a potential

disaster throughout the world. The first nuclear reactor to produce electricity started up in

December 1951 and nuclear energy now accounts for over 10 percent of the world’s electricity

production. However, the public often overlooks this sizeable contribution when faced with well-

known nuclear disasters. People cannot and will not forget Chernobyl, where 39 workers died

immediately, and up to 5,900 more people died following the incident due to radioactivity, or

Fukishima, where a partial meltdown of the on-site reactors led to Japan officially upgrading it to

the same level as Chernobyl. About eight dozen major accidents beyond these two have been

recorded in the forty-year history of operational commercial power plants, and these accidents

often receive more attention than any potential benefits of nuclear energy (Hester & Harrison,

2011). The potential danger of nuclear energy to people and the environment compared to its

importance as an energy source has led to an ethical dilemma for everyone involved, though

ultimately its importance and benefits outweigh the risks involved.

On one side, there are risks associated with using nuclear energy through operational and

transportation accidents. Indeed, nuclear power plants are themselves so complex that every

reactor has had some accident or failure in its history. There is likely no nuclear plant design that

is completely risk-free, because of technical and workforce issues, as effective regulations,

safety-minded management, and skilled workers are necessary to ensure safe operations (Hester

& Harrison, 2011). Additionally, plant sites carry their own risks, particularly in the face of

global warming. Nuclear power plants require lots of water to maintain proper working

conditions and to decrease danger in an emergency. Because of this, almost all plants in the

United States have been built near large bodies of water, especially the oceans, but the predicted
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rising sea levels due to climate change may cause deeper and more frequent flooding in these

plants. Should it materialize, this rise would affect the plant’s buildings, storage areas, access

roads, security, backup systems, and even the electricity required to operate the plant. Scientists

predict that ocean levels could rise by up to six feet by 2100, which presents real problems. The

Fukushima disaster began with a tsunami, but plants in the future may face tsunamis that have a

starting point six feet higher (Kopytko, 2015).

Furthermore, radioactive waste is produced at every point in the nuclear fuel cycle, and

its transportation and disposal is a key concern because it is the most long-lived, toxic, and life-

endangering waste byproduct known to man. Most countries prefer to dispose of nuclear waste in

facilities designed in rock formations deep in the earth, but Finland is the only country working

on such a facility. The United States, which has the most nuclear waste in the world, rejected a

disposal site, so 70,000 tons of waste is being stored on-site at plants and other facilities with

nowhere to go (Hester & Harrison, 2011). Regarding the risks posed by nuclear power, Crowson

(2014) conducted a poll asking participants to rate the risk associated with an operational

accident and transportation accident within the next twenty years. On a scale from 0, meaning no

risk, to 10, meaning extreme risk, participants rated the operational accident at 6.42 and

transportation accident at 6.19. The risks associated with nuclear energy are well known by the

public and prohibit a lot of forward momentum for the energy source.
On the other side, nuclear energy provides a necessary service and a cleaner alternative

for energy, especially in the face of growing climate concerns. The world is rapidly developing

and requires energy to meet growing needs, but people want to reduce greenhouse gasses at the

same time. Climate policy assessments conclude this will not be possible without nuclear energy,

as it creates no greenhouse gasses during energy production and is more reliable than wind and

solar energies. Wind and solar are not coming online fast enough to create an effective transition
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from a carbon dominated market to a low carbon market, but nuclear energy can help in that

transition (Hester & Harrison, 2011; Kopytko, 2015; Lester, 2016). Nuclear energy can

potentially meet the electric needs of the future, and it can also help the United States become

less dependent on oil and natural gas, which will decrease its dependency on foreign energy

sources.
Additionally, though there have been accidents and some of them highly publicized,

nuclear power still has an impressive safety record that has greatly improved over time. Safety

concerns have also been addressed with upgraded reactor designs, including safety systems

specifically developed to avoid previous errors that led to accidents. A global network for peer

review of designs, sites, and operating procedures has been established to ensure continued safe

practices as well (DiPalma, 2014; Hester & Harrison, 2011). While the risks and dangers remain

clear in the public’s mind, the benefits are nonetheless there and just as important.
In the end, nuclear energy is simply too important as an energy source to discount

because of the risks involved. Though highly publicized, accidents are not common and

improvements are always being made to prevent operational and transportation problems.

Nuclear energy is a cleaner, safer alternative to the common coal-burning power plants, as it does

not produce greenhouse gasses directly, making it a solution to climate change. It also provides

energy security, and a means to meet increasing energy demands (Hester & Harrison, 2011).

There will always be risks associated with nuclear energy, but as physicist Joe Romm (2015) said

in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, “we're on the path to zero fossil fuels and we mean it....we

simply are not going to burn all the fossil fuels that companies keep spending tens of billions of

dollars to extract" (Stover, 2015, p. 55). Nuclear energy poses an ongoing ethical dilemma for

everyone involved, but ultimately, its importance as a safe energy source outweighs the risks, and
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people need to realize that it is going to play a big part in supplying our energy needs in the

future.
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References
Crowson, F. (2014). Nuclear energy, facility siting and waste storage: Public attitudes and

preferences. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

DiPalma, S. R. (2014). Nuclear energy as 'green' energy: A content analysis of nuclear energy

frames from 1991 to 2008. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press.
Hester, R. E., & Harrison, R. M. (2011). Nuclear power and the environment. Cambridge, UK:

Royal Society of Chemistry.

Kopytko, N. (2015). Uncertain seas, uncertain future for nuclear power. Bulletin of the Atomic

Scientists, 71(2), 29-38. doi:10.1177/0096340215571905

Lester, R. K. (2016). A roadmap for U.S. nuclear energy innovation. Issues in Science &

Technology, 32(2), 45-54.

Stover, D. (2015). Joe Romm: Why nuclear power will not be the whole solution to climate

change. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 71(6), 52-58. doi:10.1177/0096340215611079