Question

1) Is nuclear power relatively well understood? Please explain.

2) Is nuclear power proven hard to build and operate? Please explain.

3) Does nuclear power plants benefit those people and nations who utilize the electricity they produce? Please explain.

4) Can nuclear power harm a larger group of people exposed to the radioactive materials they produce? Please explain.

5) Is spent radioactive fuel of nuclear reactors a challenge for international cooperation might this unique storage problem pose? Please explain.

Answer 1

Concept required- The question requires the concept of nuclear power and its intricacies. Lets look into them one by one :)

Solution
1) There are 2 aspects of nuclear power - Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Now Nuclear fission is relatively well understood than nuclear fusion which is still in its nascent stage. And if we compare to other power sources like hydroelectricity and solar energy we can easily express the nuclear process in a mathematical model- like when does the fuel will decay, how much energy will be obtained and how to moderate or control the reaction. All of this, however applies to nuclear fission and not fusion, because the process to contain tremendous energy of fusion is still not known to be possible in earth like conditions

2) Nuclear power poses many challenges- first off the ways to control and cool down the reactor are already very sophisticated methods. we have recently seen disasters like that in Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan,and the infamous Chernobyl disaster in Russia. Things can go out of hand fairly quickly. Moreover there lies the problem of dumping the nuclear waste. Many ways are being innovated to find a solution, but as of now, its still a hard and complicated process.

3) Some recent studies have pointed out that per unit cost of nuclear power is very high when compared to other sources like Solar energy for which huge research is being undertaken, and thus rendering it much much more cost effective that the nuclear power. Also the number of man hours of employment by nuclear power is not much when compared to other sources. Besides these, there is always an added responsibility of security of such plants from falling into hand of terrorists and misuse of such reactors for proliferation of nuclear weapons. There are benefits also like its very clean source of energy ( taking nuclear waste out of equation) and can provide energy to a wider group of people, yet not much proponents are talking about this mode of power generation. Nuclear fusion on the other hand, is much much better because it just cant simply go out of control. One mistake and the reaction stops itself, also its source cant be enriched for proliferation into nuclear weapons. Thus we can say its a balance of things, if nuclear fusion becomes attainable. as of now, the cons outweigh slightly the pros of nuclear power.

4)One of the inherent risk of nuclear power is in its fuel- the Uranium-235 and the products of reaction- plutonium. Both of these are radioactive elements and stored either deep in earth or beneath the ocean surface with special arrangements. This not only makes the entire process costlier, but also poses a risk of radiation to those affected. This radiation causes mutation in humans leading to cancer, skin burns, genetic disorders which are seen to be persisted in many generations owing to a large half life of such products. Effects are, to this date, seen in generation of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even a small exposure to such radioactive elements is enough to kill. Thus it can easily and effectively harm a larger group of people exposed to them.

5)Spent nuclear fuel has been a big headache for international world as it poses several challenges like-

• High radioactivity for thousands of year
• Nuclear Waste policy act of 1982 has seen governments looking for a permanent repository to house the nuclear waste and the search was stalled after a decade and half with no resolution in sight.
• Even reprocessing the fuel is a headache, it gives plutonium which can be re-used as nuclear fuel but in wrong hands can wreak havoc as its the chief source for nuclear weapons

So we see the problems concomitant to the nuclear spent fuel

And that's how we get the answer :0