88
Sixteen countries depend on nuclear power for
at least one-quarter of their electricity. France gets
around three-quarters of its electricity from nuclear
energy; Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine get more
than half from nuclear, whilst Belgium, Czech
Republic, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and
Slovenia get one-third or more, while countries like
the USA, UK, and Russia regarded to be nuclear
great powers generate about one-fifth of their electricity from nuclear power (Fig. 4.13). Japan used
to rely on nuclear power for more than one-quarter
of its electricity and is expected to return to somewhere near that level in the near future.
Interestingly only Ukraine of the top ten countries using nuclear energy in significant ratio in
their electricity generation can be found in the list
of uranium mining countries in 2016 (Table 4.3).
The host mineral of uranium cannot be found
anywhere and the mining and milling process
includes significant environmental risks that
countries with more advanced environmental
regulation and public awareness cannot take.
Nuclear power plants, however, require high
investment costs and high technical level of construction together with a public attitude which is
very difficult to achieve. Although nuclear power
is considered to be an effective low carbon electricity generation technology its use is controversial in many countries worldwide.
On the one hand, its source mineral has radioactivity that can be harmful to health in the long
term, and nuclear fuels are even enriched in the
most active isotope (natural U-235 content is
around 0.7% in uraninite while the enriched content is around 4–5% in nuclear fuel, according to
WNA 2019a). People are also threatened by the
spent fuel which is still radioactive and has to be
stored somewhere in large quantities for a long
time (up to 100,000 years in certain cases). On the
other hand, if unwanted events occur the reactions
within a nuclear reactor could go fatally wrong
causing accidents the consequences of which are
too horrible for many communities. News, pictures and videos of such events in the past are still
available and generally shape public opinion
against nuclear power plants (see Box 4.1).
In 1986 a level 7 event on the International
Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)
took place near Chernobyl, Ukraine (Soviet Union
at that time). The accident is considered the most
disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history
in terms of both cost and casualties. The struggle
to safeguard against an even greater catastrophe
and later decontamination efforts of the surroundings the event ultimately involved over 500,000
workers and a cost estimated to be around 18 billion rubles. Fatalities associated with the disaster
are difficult to estimate as the sources of information were deliberately modified due to political
reasons and diseases and even casualties happened
years after the event could not be proved to be
direct or indirect consequences of the accident.
Environmental consequences, however, are much
clearer. About 400 times more radioactive material was released from the Chernobyl event than
by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Approximately 100,000 km
2
of land
was significantly contaminated with fallout with
the worst regions being in Belarus, Ukraine,
Russia and Scandinavia. Slighter levels of contamination were detected all over Europe. The
closed and covered reactor is still radioactive
inside and the surrounding shelter has to be maintained for thousands of years with strict control.
Even though nuclear energy is considered safe
today and the processes within a power plant are
completely understood and controlled, unexpected events can put people completely out of
control and operational disorders in nuclear
power plants result generally in not simple accidents but catastrophes as shown by the example
of Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Table 4.3 Top ten uranium mining countries in 2016
(Source: Brown et al. 2018)
Country
Uranium mining (tonnes of metal content)
Kazakhstan 24,575
Canada
14,037
Australia
6234
Namibia
3657
Niger
3478
Russia
3005
Uzbekistan
2404
China
1616
USA
1123
Ukraine
1005
World total 62,200
4 Changes on Earth as a Result of Interaction Between the Society and Nature
Sixteen countries depend on nuclear power for
at least one-quarter of their electricity. France gets
around three-quarters of its electricity from nuclear
energy; Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine get more
than half from nuclear, whilst Belgium, Czech
Republic, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and
Slovenia get one-third or more, while countries like
the USA, UK, and Russia regarded to be nuclear
great powers generate about one-fifth of their electricity from nuclear power (Fig. 4.13). Japan used
to rely on nuclear power for more than one-quarter
of its electricity and is expected to return to somewhere near that level in the near future.
Interestingly only Ukraine of the top ten countries using nuclear energy in significant ratio in
their electricity generation can be found in the list
of uranium mining countries in 2016 (Table 4.3).
The host mineral of uranium cannot be found
anywhere and the mining and milling process
includes significant environmental risks that
countries with more advanced environmental
regulation and public awareness cannot take.
Nuclear power plants, however, require high
investment costs and high technical level of construction together with a public attitude which is
very difficult to achieve. Although nuclear power
is considered to be an effective low carbon electricity generation technology its use is controversial in many countries worldwide.
On the one hand, its source mineral has radioactivity that can be harmful to health in the long
term, and nuclear fuels are even enriched in the
most active isotope (natural U-235 content is
around 0.7% in uraninite while the enriched content is around 4–5% in nuclear fuel, according to
WNA 2019a). People are also threatened by the
spent fuel which is still radioactive and has to be
stored somewhere in large quantities for a long
time (up to 100,000 years in certain cases). On the
other hand, if unwanted events occur the reactions
within a nuclear reactor could go fatally wrong
causing accidents the consequences of which are
too horrible for many communities. News, pictures and videos of such events in the past are still
available and generally shape public opinion
against nuclear power plants (see Box 4.1).
In 1986 a level 7 event on the International
Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)
took place near Chernobyl, Ukraine (Soviet Union
at that time). The accident is considered the most
disastrous nuclear power plant accident in history
in terms of both cost and casualties. The struggle
to safeguard against an even greater catastrophe
and later decontamination efforts of the surroundings the event ultimately involved over 500,000
workers and a cost estimated to be around 18 billion rubles. Fatalities associated with the disaster
are difficult to estimate as the sources of information were deliberately modified due to political
reasons and diseases and even casualties happened
years after the event could not be proved to be
direct or indirect consequences of the accident.
Environmental consequences, however, are much
clearer. About 400 times more radioactive material was released from the Chernobyl event than
by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Approximately 100,000 km
2
of land
was significantly contaminated with fallout with
the worst regions being in Belarus, Ukraine,
Russia and Scandinavia. Slighter levels of contamination were detected all over Europe. The
closed and covered reactor is still radioactive
inside and the surrounding shelter has to be maintained for thousands of years with strict control.
Even though nuclear energy is considered safe
today and the processes within a power plant are
completely understood and controlled, unexpected events can put people completely out of
control and operational disorders in nuclear
power plants result generally in not simple accidents but catastrophes as shown by the example
of Chernobyl and Fukushima.
Table 4.3 Top ten uranium mining countries in 2016
(Source: Brown et al. 2018)
Country
Uranium mining (tonnes of metal content)
Kazakhstan 24,575
Canada
14,037
Australia
6234
Namibia
3657
Niger
3478
Russia
3005
Uzbekistan
2404
China
1616
USA
1123
Ukraine
1005
World total 62,200
4 Changes on Earth as a Result of Interaction Between the Society and Nature