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Going Nuclear

Going NuclearT  Eneergy Bangla 21 Jan 09 René B. AzurinWhat a nuclear power plant does is boil water. The boiled water becomes steam, the steam turns a turbine, and the rotating turbine spins conductors in a magnetic field to generate electricity. What makes this simple process complicated is that a nuclear reactor boils water in a complicated and dangerous way. Going nuclear, therefore, shouldn’t be a foregone conclusion. Yet, that is precisely what is implied by the proposed bill that effectively mandates the commissioning of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant………………………

………Opponents argue that operating a nuclear plant is inherently risky and requires a strict adherence to a stringent and complex set of safety measures if one is to avoid nuclear accidents (like the 1986 Chernobyl explosion that scattered radiation to large parts of Europe) or radioactive contamination (like the 1997 and 1999 incidents at Takaimura that leaked radiation to the surrounding community). They dispute the safety argument, pointing out that accidents and near-accidents at nuclear plants occur with disturbing regularity every few years or so. They also point out that nuclear plants may not emit carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere but they create even more toxic pollutants that remain deadly for millenia not only to humans and animals but also to flora and fauna……

…………….In any event, whether the rehabilitation and eventual operation of the BNPP is technically and economically advisable is still a question mark. More fundamentally, the operation of a nuclear power plant remains a controversial issue for most. Generating electric power from nuclear fission needs to be measured against cleaner alternatives like power from renewable and perpetual sources like wind and sun. The recently passed Renewable Energy bill makes those even more viable. And, given the current state of technology and relative costs, an array of wind farms and solar farms may now be better alternatives to nuclear plants, even for base-load power. It has been demonstrated that we can economically turn turbines with the wind. And we can boil water in simpler fashion using the sun.

Energy Bangla – Going Nuclear

January 21, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics