Nuclear Power as Carbon-Free Energy?

A Waste Unless We Deal With the Waste

In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a famous speech before the United Nations, entitled “Atoms for Peace,” in which he promoted the use of nuclear power as a peaceful and beneficial response to the growing global fear of nuclear weapons. Today, nuclear power is being proposed as a response to another growing global problem: the issue of human-caused climate change.

The undeniable truth we must face when dealing with climate change is that demand for energy is increasing dramatically worldwide, especially in countries that rely primarily on carbon-intensive fossil fuels. Proponents of  nuclear power contend that it presents the only reliable “carbon-free” way to meet growing energy needs. Technological and political advancements, proponents argue, have addressed issues of proliferation and public safety. But there is one consequence of nuclear power that has clearly not been dealt with: the disposal of dangerous nuclear waste. More than half a century has passed since the first commercial nuclear reactor opened, but there is still no   permanent disposal method for nuclear waste.

In 2002, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that 47,000 metric tons of nuclear waste existed in the United States. Experts estimate that this amount increases by 2,000 metric tons annually, so today the total is probably closer to 59,000 metric tons. Nuclear waste is problematic because it contains radioactive materials that emit dangerous ionizing radiation. Although humans are  constantly exposed to a very small level of natural background radiation, exposure to high intensity radiation can kill human cells, causing gruesome radiation sickness and death within days. Low intensity radiation damages cells, leading to cancer and birth defects. Because nuclear waste remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years, permanent isolation is critical for safeguarding public health and providing a reasonable basis for increasing production.

The 59,000 metric tons of nuclear waste in the U.S. have not been permanently isolated from the public. Instead, the waste is being “temporarily” stored at nuclear power plant sites, awaiting final disposal. This means that some 160 million people in 39 states live within 75 miles of temporarily stored nuclear waste. If nuclear power  capacity is allowed to expand without first dealing with the waste issue, this problem will literally grow by the metric ton daily.

After decades of study, scientists have recommended that radioactive wastes be placed in a geologic repository: an excavated geologic formation designed to permanently isolate the waste from the rest of the environment.   

See Student Comment, Page 8

Energy Security & Climate Change:

The Nuclear Option?

Stephen Sewalk, CEES Research Associate

      Since the reactor accident at Three Mile Island, no new nuclear power plants have been commissioned or built in the United States. However, due to current energy policy legislation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates that it will receive a total of 32 new nuclear power plant applications by 2009.

While increased nuclear power may very well provide the U.S. with a secure domestic source of energy without further contributing to climate change, there are significant barriers to widespread implementation of nuclear power, including public perceptions of health and safety,  disposal of waste, and the potential for proliferation and terrorism. Can nuclear power supply energy in a safe manner while addressing these issues? To find out, CEES invited three internationally renowned experts on nuclear power to address and debate these important issues before a packed auditorium on February 1, 2008.

The first speaker, David Caron, is the C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law at Boalt Hall at the University of California at Berkeley. A Fulbright Scholar and former navigator and salvage diver for the U.S. Coast Guard, Caron is a vice president of the American Society of International Law, Chair of the Advisory Board for the Institute of Transnational Arbitration of the Center for American and International Law, and a member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on Public International Law. He is also the Director of the Nuclear Oceans Program at UC Berkeley.

Caron discussed the legacy that nations have left behind from nuclear testing (exploding nuclear bombs on remote islands and in the oceans), dumping of low level nuclear waste, the accidental loss of nuclear weapons, and nuclear powered vessels in the oceans and seas of the world. He also addressed the transport of nuclear materials and waste, the potential for terrorism and nuclear proliferation, and coastal nuclear power plants being  proposed and built by Russia. Caron is greatly concerned that this continued  dumping, combined with the fact that there are few if any maps  accurately showing where materials have been dumped or buried, may lead to a serious leak of radioactive materials in the event that oil and gas exploration or sea bed mining interferes with an unknown dumping location. Caron also discussed sinking ships and the dangers that shipping nuclear fuel and waste materials potentially poses to the world’s oceans.    

See Nuclear Solution?, Page 7