Nuclear Power
On 11 March, a 9.0 magnitude offshore earthquake hit Japan and crippled the cooling systems of two reactors in Fukushima nuclear power plant. It pushed Japan into a very dangerous situation and caused huge economic losses. As a result, people began to weigh up the economical benefits and potential dangers of nuclear power. (Financial Times, 2011)
The nuclear power was first developed and used as nuclear weapons in the World War Ⅱ.In the past decades, the development and application of nuclear power has incurred many disasters, creating an imponderable number of economic losses. During the end of the World War Ⅱ, the United States dropped two atom bombs on cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. These two atomic bombings showed the formidable power of nuclear energy, causing about 400,000 deaths and almost destroying the two cities. The economy of Japan took a heavy toll and Japan had to spend many years to recover. But destructions are far more severe than the loss of money. The psychological traumas resulted from the bombings shall not be cured for long. (Alperovitz, 1994）
Though Nuclear weapons are destructive to humanity, following American, many countries are eager to develop this new power just for nuclear arms race. At present, the total amount of nuclear weapons that has been created can destroy the whole earth many times. Besides, the useless nuclear arms races have prevented other technologies from developing and have had a very negative effect on economic growth. (Bernstein, 1995)
Another way to use nuclear power is to build nuclear power plants to generate electricity, but it means a large investment. Apart from the high input, the disposal of the contaminated wastes from the operation of the plants is also a challenging problem, as even the smallest error or omission at work will lead to serious radioactive contamination. (Snedden, 2002）What’s more, there is still no effective method to improve the heat energy efficiency so the problems of thermal pollution and heat energy waste are also big. What is the most threatening is that the radiation in the reactors is extremely high and any leak of the radioactive materials may cause fatal damages to the health of the staffs and the residents. (Peter, 1992) In 1986, the explosion of a reactor in Chernobyl attracted the world’s attention: 31 firemen died in this accident and thousands of people were exposed to radiation; the whole Europe and East Asia were affected by radioactive contamination and the Soviet Union spent about 18 billion dollars to cover the direct losses and indirect negative effects (Marples, 1987); the disintegration of the Soviet Union was also indirectly led by this explosion, and so was the serious devaluation in Russia then.
Nuclear power has brought many disasters to human, but it still exists and is used by human because it has also brought a lot of benefits to us, among which the economic profit alone will allow people to enjoy it for a long period.
Continue talking about nuclear weapons. Two atom bombs destroyed two cities in Japan, but the incident created a huge economic benefit. It sounds unbelievable, but it is true: The Japanese has surrendered unconditionally after the warning of the two atomic bombings, and the World War Ⅱwas thus ended. From 1939 to 1945, 4 trillion dollars were lost, so stopping the war is stopping losing money. Besides, the nuclear weapon’s deterrent effect can also prevent some ambitious countries from starting a war. (Bernstein, 1995)
In the modern society, with an increasing lack of oil resources, many countries are focusing on the development and utilization of other energy resources, among which the nuclear power is mostly considered. This newly discovered energy can provide the submarines and aircraft carriers with the motive power, allowing for a long distance travel. It provided a cheaper and cleaner solution to meet the needs of petroleum-based fertilizers for long distance and energy-intensive transportations.
Modern power plants are mostly fueled by coal-fired power, and they produce carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur-dioxide（SO2）and oxides of nitrogen when burning coals for electricity. Carbon dioxide is the major component （about 50%）of the greenhouse gas which will bring about the greenhouse effect, and the greenhouse effect will bring about abnormal climate change, which will cause floods, droughts, tsunamis, storms, earthquakes and the rise of sea levels, etc. As a result, many cities will be destroyed by these “natural disasters”. More specifically speaking, many counties or cities that are at low elevations will be destroyed by the rise of sea levels, for example the islands of Maldives, and they will disappear in one century, and it will cost our human an inestimable number of money to recover from the terrible aftermath. Sulphur-dioxide and oxides of nitrogen may cause acid rain, which will lead to acidification of lakes and soil, and then the death of fish and plants, and finally the reduction of agricultural yields and the polluting of environment. Meanwhile, the acid rain can also corrode buildings and infrastructures, for example the Statue of Liberty in American, and the costs for repair is quite high. (Great Britain. Department of Trade and Industry, 1995）
Greenhouse gas and acid rain appear when fossil fuels are burnt for electricity, and will bring about huge loss in economy. The nuclear power plant can solve this problem easily, because none of the gases will be produced by nuclear power plant. It is a great achievement to stop the greenhouse effect and acid rain, and people will get economic benefit from it for a long time. (Peter, 1992)
As fossil fuels are non-renewable resources and have limited reserves, many counties are in the mire of the lack of it, and some even became embroiled in wars, such as the Gulf war and the Iraqi war. Some experts once predict that the World War Ⅲ will break out if this energy supply become more and more limited, but wars are nothing but a waste of man power and money. It will only bring a negative effect to the economy of the belligerent counties.
Fossil fuels crisis is a true problem in modern society. Indeed, many counties are now busy exploring new energy resources such as the wind energy, solar energy and tidal energy and so on. But none is better than nuclear power. The reserve of the nuclear raw material- uranium is about 4.17 million tons. The power the nuclear raw materials can provide is about 100,000 times that of those fossil fuels. 1 kilogram uranium can provide the same amount of power as 2,400 tons of coal can. A one-million kilowatt coal-fired power plant will burn about three or four million tons of coal, but a nuclear power plant of the same scale only needs about 28 tons of uranium fuel. And electricity of nuclear power is much cheaper than that of others. For example, in France, the cost of one kilowatt hour coal-fired electricity is 0.25 franc and that of Gas-fired electricity is 0.22 franc, but the cost of nuclear power electricity is just 0.2 franc. Since 1974 when France began to widely use nuclear power for electricity, it has saved about 600 billion francs (about 80 billion pounds) for the country. What is more, the price of nuclear power will not be influenced by the international power price or the international situation, and this will help to create a stable developing environment for the country. (Snedden, 2002）
The radiation of nuclear power plant is less than that of X-ray physical examination in hospital if the plant runs normally(Steve, 2002).Although accidents did happen in the Soviet Union, American and Japan, they are caused by human factors or natural disasters instead of technical defects. As a widespread proverb goes, “Do not give up eating because of choking”, the nuclear power is no exception. So the contribution of nuclear power should not be covered by occasional accidents.
The argument about nuclear power will continue, but giving an overview of the analysis above, the economic benefit is greater than the potential danger, and moreover, with the development of technology, people will improve the safety of nuclear power. When people can take a total control of it, this new-emerged power will replace the fossil fuels and become one of the most economic energy resources in the world
Reference:
Alperovitz，G.（1994）Atomic diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam: the use of the atomic bomb and the American confrontation with Soviet power, London: Pluto
Bernstein, B. J. (1995) ‘Understanding the Atomic Bomb and the Japanese Surrender: Missed Opportunities, Little-Known near Disasters, and Modern Memory.’ Diplomatic History, 19（2）pp.227–273
Financial Times.(2011) Nuclear lessons from Japan. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/321f5ade-4daa-11e0-85e4-00144feab49a.html#axzz1Gu0Jvqty
Great Britain. Department of Trade and Industry（1995）The prospects for nuclear power in the UK, London: HMSO.
Marples, D. (1987) Chernobyl and nuclear power in the USSR, London: Macmillan Press in association with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.
Peter, B. (1992) Nuclear power：way forward or cul-de-sac，Dorset：The Ecologist.
Snedden，R.（2002）Nuclear energy，Oxford: Heinemann Library.
Steve，P.（2002）Nuclear, Oxford: Heinemann Library.