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A satellite image of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility |
The question of whether or not countries have the explicit right to peaceful nuclear energy has been raised in light of the 2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference which is being held in the United Nations headquarters in New York from May 2 to May 27, 2005. Some countries believe that preventing the development of nuclear energy in certain countries is a part of the movement towards non-proliferation. However, the question remains about whether it is correct to deny countries the right to the development of peaceful nuclear energy.
There are more than 440 commercial nuclear reactors around the world and another 30 under construction. 31 countries, including the nuclear superpowers (USA, Federal Russia, France, Britain and China), own commercial nuclear reactors. Nuclear power provides over 16% of the world's electricity, almost 24% of the electricity in OECD countries, and 35% in the EU. 77% of France's electricity is provided by nuclear reactors, the remainder being hydroelectric. In Japan, which has little coal and no oil, nuclear power provides nearly 30% of its electrical energy needs. Australia, which has abundant and accessible domestic coal resources does not own any nuclear power plants but owns a research plant. Most of the planned reactors will be constructed in Asia due to increased electricity demands due to its fast growing economies. According to the Uranium Information Centre, fifteen countries depend on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity. France and Lithuania get around three quarters of their power from nuclear energy, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Japan, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get one third or more.
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| Nuclear bomb |
There are two types of nuclear reactors: research reactors and power reactors. Research reactors are used for scientific research, and for the production of isotopes for medicinal and industrial purposes. These types of reactors are not used for energy production. There are 284 research reactors found in 56 countries around the world. Power reactors are used to generate electricity. In addition to the previous uses, nuclear reactors are also used as nuclear weapons production facilities in countries that possess nuclear military programs. The first large-scale commercial nuclear power plant was commissioned in 1957 in the USA.
Nuclear reactors work on the principle of nuclear fission. During nuclear fission, the nuclei of atoms are split which leads to the release of heat energy. Uranium-235 is the main fuel used in nuclear reactors; plutonium-239 can also be used. The nuclear fission of uranium atoms can be achieved by shooting neutrons at them. As some of the atoms are being split they release neutrons, and when these neutrons strike other atoms they cause them to split as well, which releases even more neutrons. This causes a chain reaction that generates huge amounts of heat energy. The rate of nuclear fission in the reactor is controlled using 'control rods' which absorb some of the released neutrons. The rods allow the safe management and regulation of the fission process. A water-cooling system is used to remove the excess heat produced during the process and the generated steam is used to drive the turbines that generate the electricity. The main supply countries of uranium are Canada, the United States, South Africa, Australia, and Nigeria.
There are several advantages of nuclear energy over other forms of energy:
- The amount of nuclear fuel required to produce large amounts of electric energy is much less than the amount of coal or oil needed to generate the same amount of energy. For example, one ton of uranium would generate more energy than several million barrels of oil or several million tons of coal. Solar energy would also be significantly more costly than nuclear energy if it were to be relied upon for most of the world's energy.
- Well-operated nuclear power plants produce the least amount of waste when compared to any other energy generating process. No harmful gases are expelled into the air such as CO2, nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide, which cause global warming, acid rain and smog.
- Uranium ore is an abundant, low volume, easily extracted and transported fuel source, whereas the Earth has limited supplies of coal and oil. Nuclear power plants could still supply energy well after coal and oil supplies become insufficient.
- Nuclear power plants take up relatively small areas of land for as compared to solar and wind farms. "To build the equivalent of a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant, a solar park would have to be larger than 35,000 acres, and a wind farm would have to be 150,000 acres or larger. By contrast, the Millstone Units 2 and 3 nuclear power plants in Connecticut have an installed capacity of over 1,900 megawatts of power on a 500-acre site designed for three nuclear plants" (Nuclear Regulatory Commission).
Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy
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| A partial nuclear meltdown occurred in the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in 1979 |
The question of whether or not countries have the explicit right to peaceful nuclear energy has been raised in light of the 2005 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference which is being held in the United Nations headquarters in New York from May 2 to May 27, 2005. Some countries believe that preventing the development of nuclear energy in certain countries is a part of the movement towards non-proliferation. However, the question remains about whether it is correct to deny countries the right to the development of peaceful nuclear energy.
There are more than 440 commercial nuclear reactors around the world and another 30 under construction. 31 countries, including the nuclear superpowers (USA, Federal Russia, France, Britain and China), own commercial nuclear reactors. Nuclear power provides over 16% of the world's electricity, almost 24% of the electricity in OECD countries, and 35% in the EU. 77% of France's electricity is provided by nuclear reactors, the remainder being hydroelectric. In Japan, which has little coal and no oil, nuclear power provides nearly 30% of its electrical energy needs. Australia, which has abundant and accessible domestic coal resources does not own any nuclear power plants but owns a research plant. Most of the planned reactors will be constructed in Asia due to increased electricity demands due to its fast growing economies. According to the Uranium Information Centre, fifteen countries depend on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity. France and Lithuania get around three quarters of their power from nuclear energy, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Japan, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get one third or more.
Nuclear Facilities May Have Dual Use
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| Many children were deformed due to Chernobyl's nuclear disaster |
Commercial nuclear reactors could be used for nuclear weapons research and for the production of nuclear weapons. Different plutonium isotopes are produced in the reactor. Plutonium-239 is produced when Uranium-238 in the reactor absorbs a neutron and then quickly decays to plutonium. Nuclear reactors that are run specifically for creating nuclear weapons use this Plutonium-239, since it is the ideal isotope of plutonium for this purpose. In commercial reactors, other isotopes of plutonium such as Pu-240, Pu-241 and Pu-238 are produced since the reactor fuel is subjected to longer periods of neutron radiation. These other isotopes are not ideal for weapons production, however they can still be used to produce a nuclear explosive. The explosive would not be as stable as that produced from weapons grade plutonium and could blow up prematurely, however even if that was the case the explosive yield would have at least a radius of destruction roughly one-third that of the Hiroshima weapon, making it a potentially fearsome explosive (National Academy of Sciences).
As for now, the extension of nuclear power depends considerably on politics, and these politics have been very different in different countries. Which countries wish to own nuclear reactors or need them does not seem to be the key issue in many cases.
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