During my childhood I’ve read story of a Genie that
should be kept busy else it will finish our life. It is a very good story that I could relate
with the current nuclear power reactors.
Nuclear reactors are good and friendly until they meet a mishap, once
met we can’t even go near them, more importantly we can’t even just abandon
them.
The era of
Nuclear reactors could be classified as Before Fukushima and After
Fukushima. Even though Three Mile Island
(1979) and Chernobyl (1986) were Fukushima’s immediate predecessors in terms
Major nuclear incidents, Fukushima (2011) nuclear disaster has prompted to
rethink of nuclear energy policy in many countries. Germany decided to close all its reactors by 2022,
and Italy has banned nuclear power.
Following Fukushima, the International Energy Agency halved its estimate
of additional nuclear generating capacity to be built by 2035.
Ok lets consider various source of power generation
[other than Nuclear] at a high level.
Fossil: Do you know Coal,
Petroleum or Natural Gas power generators could cause hazardous impacts that
are equally dangerous as Nuclear power? “Coal
fired power plants are the single largest stationary source of pollution in any
country. The toxins this coal fired
power plants produce severely damage both human health and the environment and
contribute to a reduced quality of life.
Greenhouse gas emissions result from fossil fuel based electricity
generation.
How about the renewable power sources?
Hydro Electricity: It is hard to digest
that
Hydroelectricity could cause ecosystem damage and loss of land. Large reservoirs required for the operation
of hydroelectric power stations result in submersion of extensive areas
upstream of the dams, destroying biologically rich and productive lowland and
riverine valley forests, marshland and grasslands. The loss of land is often
exacerbated by the fact that reservoirs cause habitat fragmentation of
surrounding areas.
Wind
energy is not enough to feed our need.
Additionally it requires huge real estate and it cannot sustain the
amount of power thus generated. However
this is also impacting the ecology. A
study estimates that wind farms are responsible for 0.3 to 0.4 fatalities per Giga
Watt-hour (GWh) of electricity generated. Additionally the most obvious problem is the
noise pollution. The wind turbine syndrome
also includes sleep problems, irritability, and depression.
There are other renewable sources are Agricultural
biomass, Geothermal, Tidal.
Now which source of energy is Safe and eco friendly?
This is far difficult than electing the right
lawmakers. Scientists and big
corporations that employ them, stand to profit greatly by highlighting the
benefits of sources that they propose to be safe. Hence no wonder they try to hide the dangers
of the technology and suppress any open discussion of them.
Each source of energy has its own risks and of course
every technology has risks. We might be
willing to tolerate some small risk—if solar energy really represented a
permanent solution to our energy problems. However that is not the case. At best, solar energy is only a temporary
band-aid. Recent calculations indicate
that the "Sun Will Go Out in a Billion Years As Its Fuel Runs Out". As that calculation was made about 15 years
ago, we now have only nine-hundred ninety-nine million, nine-hundred
ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred and eighty-five years left during which we
could use solar energy. Wouldn't it be
better to put our human resources and scientific brains to work to find a safer
and more permanent solution to our energy needs?
Conclusion: If you know
what are the risks of the technology and have a clean disaster
recovery/management plan then any source of energy is safe. However we could minimize the impact by
optimally using the electricity only where and when required. Exorbitant utilization of energy leads to
wastage of the resources and cause serious side effects.
