Nuclear Power Advantages And Disadvantages

Nuclear power is the usage of nuclear reactions that releases nuclear energy which is especially used to generate electricity. It is considered to be a sustainable source of energy source that reduces the global emissions of greenhouse gases profoundly. Nuclear power stations have begun their operations in the 1950s and to date provides over 11% of the world’s electricity supply. Nuclear technology is mainly used in the production of electricity in nuclear power plants in order for the necessary transformation to the 21st century energy-supply system.

The stakeholders of nuclear power are the government, local residents, researchers and related companies. The government will be administering the funding of new power plants, the maintenance

Firstly, it is a sustainable source of energy which does not emit any greenhouse gases and creates lesser waste than conventional energy. Secondly, with the increased demand of energy and the scarcity of fossil fuel supplies, nuclear energy will be an alternative source of energy. On the other hand, the process of generating nuclear power involves mining and refining of radioactive raw materials and the disposal of radioactive wastes which harms the environment and people in the vicinity.

What is not known to us is the risks that entails with nuclear energy. The government and nuclear industry tend to downplay potential risks and withhold certain facts to the public in view of them rejecting the use of nuclear energy. Such tactics are used as ‘sweeteners’ for the public to believe on the huge benefits and little risks that comes with nuclear power. After the Fukushima disaster, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) withheld information regarding the scale of the radiation leaks and have not been updating the radiation leakage from the plant since April 2012. Not known to us is that, to contain the radiation leakage at the plants, water is being pumped to meltdown those reactors. But in fact, it created another issue of a huge amount of contaminated radioactive

Based on the ethical approaches of unilateralism, beneficence and non-maleficence, the following changes are proposed: 1) improve safety standards by implementing more stringent safety checks and review measures such as decommissioning old nuclear plants that fails to meet the minimum safety standards; 2) enhance international cooperation between governments, international organisations and law enforcement so as to ensure full compliance from nuclear regulators with regards to safety matters; 3) ensure proper radiation monitoring and follow-ups on affected population in the event of a nuclear catastrophe so as not to let the incident where TEPCO withholding scale of radiation leakage and not updating them; 4) develop new means of disposal of radioactive wastes which are detrimental to the health of humans and at least ensuring that they do not come close to human activity; 5) establish a Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) which defines the roles and responsibilities for documenting, maintaining & testing its contingency plans & recovery procedures and also regular training for DRF in activating contingency plans & executing recovery