For me, nuclear power is kind of controversial, but it is undeniably one of the most suitable options now – as 2050 is the deadline for us to become zero-carbon. For three destructive nuclear accidents in the past – Three Mile, Fukushima, and Chernobyl – nuclear energy bear a kind of unamiable look from many people. However, noncarbon and high productivity are the two biggest advantages that we should not ignore. It emits no emission in the energy-generating process, requires less input compared to any other energy sources, requires less land, and is even much more productive than any renewables (as it is not intermittent like wind or solar power). Electricity generated from nuclear is also much cheaper compared to renewables. Two examples we can look at are France and Germany. Frances produces approximately 70% of its electricity consumption from nuclear energy, the highest in the world. It is also one of the countries bearing the lowest electricity cost in the EU, 25% lower than the EU average. While electricity cost of Germany – moving from fossil fuels and atomic energy to renewables, is 79% higher than that of France and also the highest in the world. For nuclear negative sides, the two which most people are concerned about now are radioactive waste and reactor accidents (some are also afraid of the nuclear weapon, but I would say it nearly impossible to happen now as firstly uranium enrichment process for making weapon is not easy to reach – about 70-90% of uranium 235 – and secondly there are up to 9 countries possessing nukes so these countries should acknowledge that they are not the monopoly in nuclear weapons). At this moment, we still haven’t found a safe way to process the waste, so we have to put it underground temporarily, and definitely, it is also hard to say that risks from nuclear plants are completely avoidable. However, the fatalities caused by nuclear energy are far fewer than those from pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. The fact that we are afraid of nuclear power so continuing to consume non-renewables is like we are afraid of taking a flight (due to some reported accidents) and using cars instead (when on-ground transportations accidents in fact are commonplace and even cause much more fatalities than any other means of transports). It is estimated that uranium can give us a more than 200-year supply till it becomes undiscovered. That is enough amount of time for science and technology to make more innovations for nuclear power (like how to manage and recycle the waste more safely and effectively or how to minimize risks risen from the reaction process) or find any different clean sources of energy. Another concern is that uranium 235 accounts for only 0,7% of the uranium in nature and the more exploited it is, the more carbon-intensive its mining process is, which also should be taken into consideration. Therefore, finding other replaceable resources is also a mission we are moving forward to. But we should not have to concern too much as those are responsibilities of humans during the next two centuries. Our responsibility at this moment is to become zero-carbon in the next 30 years and I would say we have enough input resources and technological advancements to make it.
