Nuclear Power Effects Nuclear Power Effects

Outline

Nuclear Power and Its Effects

Nuclear Power and Human Health

Nuclear Power and Environment

Nuclear Power and Economy

Waste

Cost

Flexibility

Energy Efficiency

Nuclear Power and Its Effects

Introduction

The risk of harmful health effects from exposures to nuclear radiation has been the subject of scientific uncertainty and disagreement for many years. Scientists have long known that exposure to very high levels of ionizing radiation causes serious illness and death within a few days, and that lower doses of radiation can cause health effects such as cancer that may take many years to develop. Ionizing radiation, which includes X-rays and gamma rays, can cause damage in living cells by making atoms in molecules release electrons and become ions. This process can cause cell death in high doses in the short time and errors in the reproductive process called mutations in lower doses over longer periods. The mutations can eventually lead to cancer.

While these effects are clear for high-level radiation doses, many scientists have questioned whether there is a risk of health effects from chronic or continuing exposure to very low doses of radiation. The scientific debate has focused on how much exposure to low-level radiation could cause health effects. We all know that energy production in the world is weighed in terms of profitability. No energy producers in the world, including governments, see environmental protection and preservation as the topmost priorities for the production and distribution setting. Although there is an “environmental protection” string attached to any new or old energy production source setup or functioning, by means of law or public protest/demonstration, respectively, this string is never followed strictly. In poor countries, where livelihood is measured by food security only, governments turn a blind eye to the environmental damage that is caused by energy production; for example, polluting the air by setting up coal-fired thermal power plants or inundating vast tracts of natural resource-rich land by constructing huge hydropower plants. They do this because their main goal is to produce energy or supply irrigation water to produce food. Even in rich countries, governments do not forcefully apply environmental protection or carbon emission laws to safeguard industries' profitability; for example, allowing nuclear power plants to dump nuclear waste in unsafe ways, not forcing automobile companies to produce higher-mileage automobiles, or allowing coal-fired power plants to flourish, as coal is abundantly available. Therefore, the time is now ripe to enforce these environmental protection measures forcefully and with sincerity.

Nuclear Power and Human Health

The effects of nuclear radiation on living organisms are harmful to their physical integrity. They can be immediate or delayed, depending on the dose. When the human body suddenly receives high-radiation doses, death can occur. High amounts received in tiny fractions spaced late effects, such as leukemia, cancer, cataracts and other degenerative processes. Low doses and spread out over time can cause late effects or abnormalities in future generations. Radioactive materials that decay spontaneously producing ionizing radiation, this radiation have sufficient energy to break chemical bonds. Any living tissue of the human body can be ...