I have been blogging about nuclear issues for two years now. As I have researched for my posts, I have discovered that there are many more problems with the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity than are widely known. Beyond concerns with environmental impact of mining and refining nuclear fuel, lax governmental regulation, corporate incompetence or misbehavior, lack of a permanent disposal system for spent nuclear fuel, danger of natural disasters or deliberate sabotage, etc. there are also problems with the cost of decommissioning, dangers from fires and floods, damage to the ecosystem from hot water from reactor cooling, falling uranium fuel production, etc.
With so many reasons not to use nuclear power, why are we still building more nukes around the world? As I see it, there are several main drivers for expanding the use of nuclear power. One of these drivers is simply money. There are billions of dollars involved in construction, fueling and operating nuclear reactors. Among other things, this means that there is plenty of money to grease the palms of anyone who can contribute to the expansion.
Another driver is the desire of governments and corporations to have centralized control of important resources. With fossil fuels under fire for contributing to global warming, nuclear power is another centralized power generation system based on a scarce fuel. During armed conflicts such as invasions and civil war, power generation facilities are one of the prime target for bringing a civilian population to its knees.
A third driver is the use of nuclear power reactors as a bargaining chip in international trade and foreign policy. Several major nuclear nations including France, Russia, China and Japan are working hard to sell their reactors to third world countries. Given that cutting off fuel has already been used as an economic weapon in Europe and other parts of the globe, it would seem to be a questionable proposition for a third world country to buy one of these power reactors since it would make that country very vulnerable to "energy blackmail" in the future.
A democratic government is supposed to yield to the will of the majority with suitable protection for minority interests. Recently in the United States, there are examples of eighty and even ninety percent of people polled wanting something done that still does not get done because of the influence of money in our national politics. I am afraid that nuclear power is one of these failures of democracy. In Japan, the vast majority of the people want an end to the use of nuclear power but the government is pressing ahead with nuclear power and nuclear exports.
It is encouraging to note that not only that many citizens of countries using nuclear power are opposed to it, but also a lot of the financial community is wary of investing in nuclear power because it is failing in the only arena that they respect; the marketplace. When another major nuclear accident occurs as will certainly happen, the public backlash will be too big for even the bought politicians to ignore.
Nuclear power is going to be abandoned. The only question is when and how much more money and lives will have to be wasted before it happens.
