Is Nuclear Energy application still a logomachy?

The majority of people misconceive that over 20-percent of the electricity in the US
is contributed by nuclear power, with over 100 nuclear power plants in operation in the
country. Nuclear power produced from nuclear fusion or fission resulted by modifying
materials on an atomic scale to initiate heat to convert water to high-pressure steam and
spin the turbines to generate electricity. The application of nuclear energy is still a
tendentious issue amongst society. Fossil fuel currently dominates the energy mix
comprised of coal, gas, and oil to meet the colossal and ongoing demand for electricity.
Nevertheless, those will result in environmental damage as well as causes health problems.
As the Conference of Parties (COP) 26th ends last November in the United Kingdom joined
by 197 nations, the 1.50C goal is alive to avoid worse global warming and climate change
concerns. Therefore replacing the non-renewable resources with sustainable ones is
something to perform. One of the breakthroughs to solve energy demand is to enhance the
practice of nuclear power plants to suppress the dependency on the conventional power
supply. The utilization of this type of resource can be beneficial to fight to be our principal
priority energy resource to engage, since it’s clean energy, continually, and proven safe in
numerous countries.

When you notice the “clean energy” label, what comes up to your mind? According
to the Nuclear Energy Institute (2021), the United States avoided more than 471.3 million
metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions and 240,000 metric tons of sulfur oxide (SOx)
in 2020 by using this type of power plant. Removing harmful air pollutants each year that
contribute to acid rain, smog, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease might be a great
output based on health and environmental point of view. As a comparison, the mean of
lifecycle GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions for nuclear technology is much less with 29 tonnes
CO2e/GWh, while coal power plants around 888 tonnes CO 2e/GWh (Mclyntire et al., 2011).
It must be a quantum leap since Indonesia getting a serious pollution issue with 760.5
million tonnes in 2010 and raised 1.24 times only in the next 5 years, while the total world
average elevated 1.05 times (Cho et al., 2021). Hence, the best way to assume this term is
energy which has the zero-carbon characteristic as a source of electricity.
 Furthermore, nuclear power is considered renewable un-intermittent. Unlike solar
and wind source energy, nuclear availability to generate electricity is independent of
changeable and unpredictable phenomena or weather, such as wind, rain, as well as cloudy.
Through this desirability, these atomic-energy power plants run 24 hours a day frequently
without any interruptions for long-term operation and are designed to operate for longer
stretches and refuel every 1.5 – 2 years.

Third of all, nuclear power is proven safe. Statista Research Department (2021)
reported that there are 441 operating nuclear reactors in 30 countries worldwide for now.
The threat of nuclear power plant accidents is dipping. One can elude the effects of
radiation on society due to the discharge of radioactive material. The distinctive fact was
studied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2013). They found that working at a Nuclear
power plant is safer than working at the grocery store or in food manufacturing fields.
Likewise, in line with Ritchie and Roser (2017), the measure of the death toll from accidents
and air pollution of nuclear energy from energy production per Terawatt-hour (TWh) is
much lower with nuclear power than with fossil fuels. It is 1/351 of coal, 1/263 of oil, and
1/40 of natural gas. That’s why it’s relatively safe since the expected numbers of accidents
in each year and compared these with the actual numbers of accidents.

First timely the concept of nuclear energy, which came up in the 1930s, was to
maximize efficiency and safety from previous designs and supply the electricity since the
demand increased. Plenty of investigation and data gather has been carried out and showed
considerable truth that nuclear energy service is favorable, for instance, play role as clean
energy, able to perform regularly, and the validated safety. Presently, the improvements
are still ongoing in keeping its maturity features. Although this technology meets the
contradictory from some communities, it’s our moment to take part in this to educate
others to accept this adaptation based on reliable statistics through socialization and
positive propaganda. So, I believe it would be a great step forward to get the public’s
awareness to support nuclear energy.
References:

Cho, I., Oh, S., Kim, S., Ardin, F., & Heo, E. (2021). Determinants of nuclear power expansion
in Indonesia. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 53(1), 314–321. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2020.06.008

Mclntyre, J., Berg, B., Seto, H., Borchardt, B. (2011, July). Comparison of Lifecycle
Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Various Electricity Generation Sources. World Nuclear
Association. Retrieved from
http://www.world-nuclear.org/uploadedFiles/org/WNA/Publications/Working_Grou
p_Reports/comparison_of_lifecycle.pdf

Nuclear Energy Institute. (2021, May). Annual Emissions Avoided by U.S. Nuclear Industry.
Retrieved from https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics/emissions-avoided-by-us-
nuclear-industry

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2020, November 28). Nuclear Energy. Our World in Data. Retrieved
from https://ourworldindata.org/nuclear-energy

Statista. (2021, December 1). Operable nuclear reactors worldwide 2021, by country.
Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/267158/number-of-nuclear-
reactors-in-operation-by-country/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021, November 3). TABLE 1. Incidence rates of nonfatal
occupational injuries and illnesses by industry and case types, 2020. Employer-
Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses (Annual). Retrieved from
https://www.bls.gov/web/osh/summ1_00.htm