Nuclear Power Stations

Geographical Limitations
Global Warming

Risk factors

For
Do not require a lot of space

Against
Nuclear power plants have to
be built near a large body of
water for cooling process
-Less use of fossil fuels
The disposal of the radioactive
means lowering green house waste requires to be sealed
gas emissions(CO2and
and burried deep within
others)
stable rocks.As it is
-Do not contribute to carbon radioactive,it has to be
emissions-no CO2 is given
disposed of in such a way it will
out.It,therefore, does not
not pollute the
contribute to global
environment.Careless disposal
warming.
of the waste in the past has led
It is an alternative to fossil
to pollution of land,rivers and
fuels,so the consumption of the ocean.
fuels such as coal or oil is
-Both the nuclear waste and
reduced.By reducing the
the retired nuclear plants are a
consumption of fossil
life-threatening legacy for
fuels,we also improve the
hundreds of future
quality of the air affecting
generations.It is certain that
diseases and quality of life.
future generations have to deal
with dangerous waste
generated by preceding
generations.

-Nuclear power plants are
There is no risk to drinking
water pollutant.Reports say
water sources as they are
that radioactive waste take
usually founded on the
almost 10,000 years to get
coast.
back to the original form.
-Nuclear accidents or leaks can
spread radiation producing
particles over a wide area.This
radiation harms the cells of the
body which can make humans
sick or even cause
death.Furhermore,Illnesses can
appear or strike people years
after they are exposed to
nuclear radiation or genetic
problems can occur.
-Despite the high level of
sophistication of safety

systems of nuclear power

plants,the human aspect
always has an
impact.Management one of
the main disadvantages is the
difficulty in the management
of the nuclear waste.Also,the
constructed nuclear reactors
have an expiration date.Then
,they have to be dismantled,To
maintain a regular number of
operating reactors,about 80
new nuclear reactors should be
built during the next ten
years.Current nuclear reactors
work by fission nuclear
reactions.If control systems
fail,these chain reactions
generate continuous reaction
causing radioactive explosion.A
possible reactor disaster is
known as a meltdown in which
the fission reaction of an atom
goes out of control and leads
to a nuclear explosion releasing
great amounts of radioactive
particles into the
environment.(Chernobyl)Facing
an unexpected event or
managing a nuclear
accident,we do not have any
guarantee that decisions we
take are always the best.To
date,serious accidents have
happened and large areas have
been contaminated with
radioactivity.Two good
examples are
Chernobyl(Ukraine-1986) &
Fukushima(Japan-2011)
Reasearch has suggested that
different wrong decisions
during the management of the
nuclear plant caused a big

Cost

nuclear explosion in
Chernobyl.Referring to the
Fukushima nuclear
accident,the operation done by
the staff are highly
questionable

-The generation of electricity The energy generated through
through nuclear energy
nuclear power plants is cheap
reduces the amount of
compared to the cost of
energy generated from fossil fuel,but the recovery of its
fuels.(coal&oil)
construction is much more
-less fuel offers more
expensive.The power station is
energy.The production of
too expensive to build and to
electricity is continuous.A
safely dismantle afterwards (
nuclear power plant can
called decommissioning).(IN
generate electricity for
fact,none has been
almost 90% of annual
decommisioned yet)
time,which means reducing When the costs are taken into
the price volatility (
account ,the electricity
unpredictability) of other produced by the power station
fuels such as petrol.
is relatively expensive.

Sustainability
Sustainability

Renewable energy

Sustainable

Renewable

Nuclear power is not sustainable

as Uranium ,the source of
energy for nuclear power,is
available on earth only in limited
quantities.Since it is being
consumed during the operation
of the nuclear power plant,it will
not be available any more for
future generations.This
contradicts the principle of
sustainability.
Nuclear energy uses Uranium as
fuel ,which is a scarce
resource.The supply of Uranium
is expected to last only for the
next 30-60 years ( depending on
the actual
demand).Therefore,nuclear
energy is not a renewable
energy.