Sustainability - Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy: How does it work? Is it safe? Is it effective? Can Australia support a nuclear-driven power system?


Nuclear power is a form of electricity produced by creating controlled (in other words, non-explosive) nuclear reactions, which are then used to heat up water, which produces steam, which is harnessed to produce energy. Commercial and utility power plants that harness this power use nuclear fission, the splitting of an atom's nucleus. They usually use uranium, the only naturally occurring mineral which is fissile (able to be used in nuclear fission). Australia holds 23% of the world's uranium.


Normal production of nuclear power is, essentially, completely safe. The only problems with it are the waste it produces, the health risks and environmental damage uranium mining causes. There is also the extremely odd chance that a nuclear meltdown, or an accident in the plant, may occur. Only nine major accidents have occurred in nuclear power's history (over 50 years), and only of which (the Chernobyl disaster) caused more than ten immediate deaths and major, permanent environmental effects. Chernobyl only happened because of a major, unusual systems test they attempted, rather foolishly. If nuclear power is in the right hands, it is as safe as any other power production.


The effectiveness of nuclear power is a subject of much debate. When compared to others at first glance, nuclear power is a lot cheaper than all other power sources. But this doesn't always take into account the "hidden costs" of waste disposal and upkeep. Unlike other power sources, the disposal of nuclear waste and upkeep of plants can not be skimped on, otherwise disasters such as Chernobyl could happen again. But cost shouldn't be the way sources of energy are judged.
Nuclear energy is also fairly clean, releasing a lot less CO2 into the atmosphere, the only real environmental risk it causes, apart from a meltdown, being radiation. It is also a lot more effective in its energy output, creating a lot more energy per ton than oil or coal (some sources claiming that one ton of uranium creates the same amount of energy as one million tons of oil).