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PUBLIC AWARENESS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

Fethiye AYKOL, M.Levent AKSU*, Ediz TANKER, Resat ÖZKAN,

Berrak ATILA, Olcay SEÇKIN, Zeki GÜREL
Turkish Atomic Energy Authority
*
University of Gazi

The history of civilization is full of striking examples of nations which were not able to develop
their technology either disappeared from the stage of the history or lost their independence and
were forced to live under the domination of others. The major cause of the wars that caused the
lives of millions of people in 20th century is, to possess the energy sources, which are the basis
of social and economic development. Ataturk has shown a personal interest to energy issue
saying "to be industrialized is a must for the development". The encouragement of industry act
in 1927 stated "the most important priority of Turkey is the energy problem".

the population of our planet reached 6 billion today according to the world energy council the
energy demand will have increased by 65% by the year 2020 even if the present energy sources
are used in the most efficient way possible. This increase is estimated to be 150% in the
developing countries. How and with what technology will this demand be met? Turkey, is trying
very hard to establish sufficient, sustainable and independent energy politics with minimum
damage to the environment.

64% of the total energy of the world is produced by fossil fuels such as coal, petrol and natural
gas, which is, followed by hydro power with 19% and nuclear power with 17%. There are 436
nuclear power plants in the world today under the supervision of the international atomic energy
agency. Other means of energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, wave and tide energies, for
which we were very hopeful, did unfortunately not pass the stage of pilot plants. The nuclear
energy created so much controversy and had to face so many barriers and objections in many
countries all over the world and turkey is not an exception to it. There has been and still is an
overwhelming reaction against the construction of npp provoked by certain groups since nuclear
technology has unfortunately been related to wars, arms and nuclear accidents.

There is also a very biased view developed in the society fuelled by irresponsible, unscientific
and sensational journalism and science fiction movies made in the same manner. The concept of
nuclear energy is a very complicated and is not very easy to visualise in solid manner in the
minds of the people except the experts of the area. For instance the coal is mined from
underground and burnt in our stoves. Petrol is refined and used in our cars. This is not the case
for the concept of e= mc2 and it is very alien to the people. The concept of nuclear energy
always remained behind an haze throughout its historical development. Due to the fact that
nuclear energy is frequently associated to the military use, the technological authorities were
forced to remain silent against the reactions. The disasters caused by atom bombs and chernobyl

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incidents affected the people in a very adverse manner. This makes the public information a
very sensitive and an important issue and it should be taken very seriously. One should consider
the socio economic structure of the country before taking the appropriate steps. This should be
done in following manner as mentioned by oecd.

-don’t patronize, but talk

-don’t lecture, but inform

-don’t describe, but explain

-don’t simplify but clarify

-don’t condone but tell the truth

Mihama nuclear power plant-japan

In other words the way the message is given, is, as important as the message itself. It should be
timely, targeted and clear. The feeling of confidence to be established between the industry,
people and related authorities, which will take the public health as its prime responsibility, is the
biggest precondition for the future of nuclear technology. The approval of public is a must, in
order to eliminate the damage incurred for not being able to establish this sort of ties and
include the nuclear energy in the strategy of sustainable development.

It is important for a country that its citizens be informed on the social issues such as nuclear
energy from their early school days and the teachers bear a gigantic task of educating the

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children in this respect. Therefore the education of teachers is of utmost importance. This
education ranges from giving the necessary background to making site visits.

The second portion of the society to be informed is the parliamentarians and the local
authorities. They play an important role as decision makers. Therefore it is absolutely essential
that they be informed in precise and accurate manner by the utility and regulatory bodies such as
turkish electricity organization and the turkish atomic energy authority.

Media Goverment Political

Member of
You Local
Parliament

Special Electors

Turkey consumes 120 billion kwh of electricity every year. The electricity production of turkey
is 116.5 billion kwh per year and she has to import 2 billion kwh of energy every year. It is
obvious that turkey is in an energy bottleneck. When the increase in population and economical
growth is taken into account it is estimated that turkey will need 290 billion kwh in 2010 and
550 kwh in 2020. The means of obtaining this energy is one of the hotly disputed subjects in
turkey today.

No energy source, which contaminate or destroy the environment, which is the most important
factor for civilized life can provide wealth to the people. Carbon dioxide and methane and nox
gases coming from the chimneys of thermal power plants cause the green house effect and
change the climate of the world. The resulting ash decreases the quality of air which we breath,
acidifies our lakes, contaminates our seas and destroy our forests.

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Although less harmfull to the environment compared with the thermal energy the hydro energy
dams occupy our most fertile land and cost the people their homes their and land. It destroys the
biological diversity and equilibrium, which took millions of years for nature to establish.

A 1000 Mw Thermal Power Plant Emits Harmful Materials Such As

40.000 TONES OF SO2

22.000 TONES OF NO2

400 TONES OF HEAVY METAL

320.000 TONES OF ASH

6.500.000 TONES OF CO2

The area required for a plant producing 1000 mw energy is as in the following:

HYDRO-ENERGY DAM 1000 KM2

SOLAR ENERGY 50 KM2

WIND ENERGY 150 KM2

BIO-MASS 6000 KM2

NUCLEAR POWER 4 KM2

PLANT

If we compare the fuels as regards to the energy produced per unit mass.

1 kg wood gives 1 kwh

1 kg loal gives 3 kwh

1 kg petrol gives 4 kwh

1 kg uranium gives 50.000 kwh

1 kg plutonium gives 6.000.000 kwh

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When the sustainable energy sources are evaluated as regards to the environment, the situation
is also very bleak. In order to obtain 1 billion kwh of energy produced by only one reactor of a
eighth reactor nuclear plant, one has to construct 8000 wind terminals covering a thousands of
square meters of land.

The probability of nuclear accident is 1 to one million. There is a four-stage safety system in
new reactors, which requires no human factor, which makes the risk of a nuclear accident,
causing harm to the environment and people nearly zero.

as a first stage in the case of an accident the nuclear fuel itself adsorbs the nuclear residue. In the
second stage is the closed cooling system takes place. The third stage is the reactor protection
vessel. The final stage is the 25-cm thick steel container. None of these systems was present in
Chernobyl.

Turkish atomic energy authority, which duties are, to determine the principles, regulations and
the politics and carry out technical, scientific and administrative studies related to nuclear
energy. Established an early warning system in 1986 after the chernobyl accident. This system
was wholly designed and completed by the turkish scientists. There are 36 stations, located all
parts of the country and furnished with latest computer technology, carry out radiation
measurement 24 hours a day. The system is capable of detection any danger which may
originate from the neighboring countries and warn the relevant authorities immediately.

For economic and social wealth, freeing the country from the dependency on other countries
and solving the energy bottleneck, the turkish media is to know the nuclear technology rather
than being scared of it and realize that it is the integral part of the solution of the energy
problem.

The nuclear technology has so many advantages ranging from, increasing the yield of plant and
feedstock, and developing new species, irradiation of the food to increase their shelf life, to
chemical and metallurgical analysis.

Some irradiated foods Nuclear applications

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Nuclear technology is an indispensable tool in medicine for the diagnosis and treatment of
diseases. How can we disregard this technology, which is even used to check the fetus in the
womb.

Some application of nuclear treatment for patients

In conclusion turkey is to realize and do necessities of the nuclear era in order to catch a bright
future. Due to these facts, this study aims to furnish the public with bare facts of nuclear energy
and technology to eliminate the biased wiew regarding to nuclear technology

Taek has been contuining its efforts on the public averaness on nuclear energy in turkeysuch as

- Organising seminers the cooperation of iaea

- Publishing many kind of brochures and holding workshops for the public information
on the subject

- Preparing video cassettes and cds on nuclear energy and environment. They were
shown on various tv channels. There have been eleven cassettes, obtained from the
public information department of the iaea, translated in to turkish. They will be dubbed
and shown on tv.

Also our experts and especially our president have appeared on tv and other media many times
in order to clarify the worries in the minds of the people concerning the nuclear energy. The
studies to establish an exhibition center have been initiated.

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