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Three reasons why we should stop using nuclear energy.

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One: Nuclear weapons proliferation.

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Nuclear technology made a violent entrance onto the world stage.

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Just one year after the world’s first-ever nuclear test explosion in 1944,

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two large cities were destroyed by just two single bombs.

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After that, reactor technology slowly evolved as a means of generating electricity,

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but it’s always been intimately connected with nuclear weapons technology.

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It’s nearly impossible to develop nuclear weapons

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without access to reactor technology.

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In fact, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

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serves the purpose of spreading nuclear reactor technology

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without spreading nuclear weapons with limited success.

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In 40 years, five countries have developed their own weapons

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with the help of reactor technology.

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The fact of the matter is that it can be very hard

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to distinguish a covert nuclear weapons program

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from the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

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In the 1970s, the big nuclear powers were happily selling peaceful technology

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to smaller countries, which then developed weapons of their own.

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The road to deadly nuclear weapons is always paved with peaceful reactors.

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Two: Nuclear waste and pollution.

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Spent nuclear fuel is not only radioactive,

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but also contains extremely poisonous chemical elements like plutonium.

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It loses its harmfulness only slowly over several tens of thousands of years.

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And there is also a process called reprocessing,

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which means the extraction of plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.

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It can be used for two purposes:

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to build nuclear weapons or to use it as new fuel.

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But hardly any of it is used as fuel,

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because we don’t have the right kind of reactors for that.

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A milligram will kill you; a few kilograms make an atomic bomb;

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and even an inconspicuous country like Germany literally has tons of the stuff,

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just lying around, because reprocessing sounded like a good idea decades ago.

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And where will all the waste go?

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After dumping it into the ocean was forbidden, we’ve tried to bury it.

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But we can’t find a place where it will definitely stay secure

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for tens of thousands of years.

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Over 30 countries operate nearly 400 reactors,

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managing several hundred thousands of tons of nuclear waste

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and only one is currently serious about

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opening a permanent civilian waste storage: tiny Finland.

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Three: Accidents and disasters.

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Over 60 years of nuclear power usage, there have been seven major accidents

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in reactors or facilities dealing with nuclear waste.

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Three of those were mostly contained,

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but four of them released significant amounts of radioactivity into the environment.

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In 1957, 1987, and 2011, large areas of land in Russia, Ukraine, and Japan

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were rendered unfit for human habitation for decades to come.

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The number of deaths is highly disputed, but probably lies in the thousands.

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These disasters happened with nuclear reactors of very different types,

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in very different countries, and several decades apart.

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Looking at the numbers, we may as well ask ourselves.

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Are 10% of the world’s energy supply worth a devastating disaster every 30 years?

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Would 30% be worth another Fukushima or Chernobyl somewhere on Earth every 10 years?

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What area would have to be contaminated, so we say "no more"?

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Where is the line?

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So, should we use nuclear energy?

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The risks may outweigh the benefits

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and maybe we should stop looking into this direction

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and drop this technology for good.

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If you want to hear the other side of the argument

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or a short introduction to nuclear energy, click here.

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