Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
France
Lithuania
Belgium
Slovakia
Ukraine
Bulgaria
Hungary
Sweden
South Korea
Switzerland
Finland
Germany
Armenia
Japan
Spain
Taiwan
United Kingdom
USA
Czech Republic
Russia
Canada
Romania
South Africa
Argentina
Netherlands
Mexico
India
Brazil
China
77
74
58
50
44
44
40
38
38
38
32
30
29
29
28
25
23
20
19
15
12
10
7
6
4
4
3
1
1
0
20
40
60
80
100%
Source: DOE, 2003
Figure 1.8 Nuclear Power's Share of Electricity Generation in 2000
would have to be renewed after this time. Therefore, a new power plant would
have to go on-line every day. In this scenario, politically unstable nations
would also acquire, as an unwanted side effect, access to nuclear technology.
This would increase the risk of nuclear accidents, sabotage or military use of
nuclear energy, resulting in unforeseeable associated costs which make this
option increasingly expensive.
As described above, Earth has limited uranium reserves. If the majority of
fossil energy sources were to be replaced by nuclear power, the uranium
reserves would be depleted in a short time, depending on the nuclear
technology employed. Therefore, nuclear fission can only be an alternative to
fossil fuels in the medium term.
Nuclear fission does not emit any carbon dioxide directly, but the building
of the power plant, uranium mining, transport and disposal result in the
emission of significant amounts of carbon dioxide. These indirect carbon
dioxide emissions are much lower than those associated with the operation of
a coal-fired power plant but higher than the indirect carbon dioxide emission
of, for example, wind turbines.
Transport and storage of radioactive materials bear further risks: uranium
and fuel rods must be transported to different processing plants and power
stations, and radioactive waste must be transported for further treatment and
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