Dispelling

the Nuclear
Horror
The Weekly Academic
Will My Baby Be A Gecko?
Despite popular dramatization from movies like Godzilla, and real-life
incidents like Three Mile Island accident, the risk of massive public harm
(through meltdowns or mere proximity) by nuclear reactors is actually
miniscule.

In ~50 years of civil use, we have only seen three major incidents: Three Mile
Island, Fukushima Daiichi, and Chernobyl. Of these three, only the last directly
resulted in the casualties. Consider France, where a whooping 78% of their
energy is nuclear - and despite that, they have seen no major health hazards to
the public.

As nuclear reactors evolve, and safety measures becomes stronger, the risk of
health hazard -either through pollution or more explosive means- decreases
further.
Graphic comparing deaths caused by nuclear energy to other power sources.
Mount Yucca’s Gonna Blow
The storage and disposal of spent nuclear materials, admittedly, marks one of
the largest roadblocks to the widespread use of nuclear energy, as uranium
takes hundreds of thousands of years to decay.

But there are people who advocate an alternative to throwing away spent fuel
rods - molten salt reactors, which use salt as opposed to water. They are more
efficient and can use spent fuel rods. Using just what the world has today in
spent nuclear fuel, enough molten salt reactors could power the entire world
for 73 years, a not-inconsiderable feat.

That said, the amount of waste produced by fusion per watt is still remarkably
small compared to other sources like oil and coal.
Graphic showing what percentage of spent fuel is actually reusable.
Those Steam Stacks Burn Money
Nuclear energy is associated with big energy, but also big costs. A traditional
nuclear plant can cost tens of billions to get off the ground and running. In
addition, who needs thousands of megawatts of energy in a region that might
only have a few hundred homes?

Introducing the Small Modular Reactor! Or SMR, for short. SMRs are, as they
sound like, small reactors made of premade pieces. Because of their size and
make, SMRs are cheap. A $25 million SMR could power 20000 homes, which is
great because according the 2000 census, more than half of US towns are just
under 20000 residents. SMRs are cheap, and ideal for small communities and
hard-to-reach places. They are less costly, and produce less waste per watt
than traditional reactors as well.
Graphic comparing the geographical footprint of an SMR to other clean energy
alternatives.
Graphic comparing the capital costs of many energy sources.
Graphic comparing consumer costs for different power sources in Ontario.
Nuclear Winter-
- isn’t going to happen, at least not due to nuclear energy.

When operating correctly, nuclear power plants pose no threat to nearby (or
far away) residents, and better safety measures have decreased the risk or
malfunction. You’re more likely to die from coal, hydroelectric, or natural gas
than from nuclear energy. Storage also poses no problem, because we can
reuse most traditional nuclear “waste,” greatly decreasing the amount of
actual nuclear waste. Furthermore, nuclear energy is far cheaper per watt than
most comparable energy sources.

All in all, the potential and possibilities when it come to nuclear energy are,
well, glowing, though we shouldn’t give up on other renewables by far.
Citations
- http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetail
sWindow?disableHighlighting=&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&docInde
x=&source=DirectLinking&prodId=&mode=view&jsid=47c4b35c49e3040c
11949026572392c4&limiter=&display-query=&contentModules=&action=
e&sortBy=&windowstate=normal&currPage=&dviSelectedPage=&scanId=
&query=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&catId=&u=hamp56260&displa
yGroups=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010706212&activityType=BasicSear
ch&failOverType=&commentary=
- https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=nuclear_environ
ment
- https://d1o50x50snmhul.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/28
053601.jpg
Citations
- https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/leslie-dewan-explorer-mo
ments-nuclear-energy/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_modular_reactor
- http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/New-Plants/Small-Modular-React
or
- https://regfizx.wikispaces.com/Nuclear+Fission
- https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-total-estimated-cost-for-a-nuclear-r
eactor
- http://nuclearenergyinfo.blogspot.com/2010/10/
- http://www.newgeography.com/content/00242-america-more-small-tow
n-we-think
-