3.6. Nuclear? http://www.ck12.org
Figure 24.10:Sizewell occupies less than 1km^2. The blue grid’s spacing is 1 km. © Crown copyright; Ordnance
Survey.
By April 2005,22 tonsof uranium had leaked, but still none of the leak-detection systems detected the leak. The
leak was finally detected byaccountancy, when the bean-counters noticed that they were getting 10% less uranium
out than their clients claimed they’d put in! Thank goodness this private company had a profit motive, hey? The
criticism from the Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations was withering: “The Plant was operated in a culture that
seemed to allow instruments to operate in alarm mode rather than questioning the alarm and rectifying the relevant
fault.”
If we let private companies build new reactors, how can we ensure that higher safety standards are adhered to? I
don’t know.
At the same time, we must not let ourselves be swept off our feet in horror at the danger of nuclear power. Nuclear
power is not infinitely dangerous. It’s just dangerous, much as coal mines, petrol repositories, fossil-fuel burning
and wind turbines are dangerous. Even if we have no guarantee against nuclear accidents in the future, I think
the right way to assess nuclear is to compare it objectively with other sources of power. Coal power stations, for
example, expose the public to nuclear radiation, because coal ash typically contains uranium. Indeed, according to a
paper published in the journalScience, people in America living near coal-fired power stations are exposed to higher
radiation doses than those living near nuclear power plants.
When quantifying the public risks of different power sources, we need a new unit. I’ll go with “deaths per GWy
(gigawatt-year).” Let me try to convey what it would mean if a power source had a death rate of 1 death per GWy.
One gigawatt-year is the energy produced by a 1 GW power station, if it operates flat-out for one year. Britain’s
electricity consumption is roughly 45 GW, or, if you like, 45 gigawatt-years per year. So if we got our electricity
from sources with a death rate of 1 death per GWy, that would mean the British electricity supply system was killing
45 people per year. For comparison, 3000 people die per year on Britain’s roads. So, if you arenotcampaigning
for the abolition of roads, you may deduce that “1 death per GWy” is a death rate that, while sad, you might be
content to live with. Obviously, 0.1 deaths per GWy would be preferable, but it takes only a moment’s reflection to
realize that, sadly, fossil-fuel energy production must have a cost greater than 0.1 deaths per GWy – just think of