434 CHAPTER 17 Nonrenewable Energy Resources
However, nuclear energy generates radioactive waste
in the form of spent fuel. Nuclear power plants also pro-
duce radioactive coolant fluids
and gases in the reactor. These
radioactive wastes are extremely
dangerous, and the hazards of
their health and environmental
impacts require that special measures be taken to ensure
their safe storage and disposal.
International crises, such as the Gulf War of the
early 1990s and the Iraq War in the 2000s, occasionally
threaten the supply of oil to the United States. Some
supporters of nuclear energy assert that our dependence
on foreign oil would be reduced if all oil-burning power
plants were converted to nuclear plants.
However, oil is responsible for generating only about
3 percent of the electricity in the United States. Replac-
ing electricity generated by oil with electricity generated
by nuclear power would do little in the short term to
lessen our dependence on foreign oil because we would
still need oil for heating buildings and for gasoline. Tech-
nological advances could change nuclear power’s poten-
tial contribution in the future.
As electric heat pumps and hydrogen and electric
motor vehicles become more common, however, nuclear
power plants could provide a much larger f raction of
heating and transportation energy demand, thus de-
creasing our reliance on foreign oil.
Safety and Accidents
in Nuclear Power Plants
Although conventional nuclear power plants cannot ex-
plode like atomic bombs, accidents do happen in which
dangerous levels of radiation are released into the envi-
ronment and result in human casualties. At high tempera-
tures, the metal encasing uranium fuel can melt, releasing
radiation; this is called a meltdown. Also, the water used in
a nuclear reactor to transfer heat can boil away during an
accident, contaminating the atmosphere with radioactivity.
The nuclear industry considers the probability that a
major accident will occur low, but public perception of the
risk is high for several reasons. Nuclear power risks are in-
voluntary and potentially catastrophic. In addition, many
people are distrustful of both the nuclear industry and the
government agencies that regulate them. The consequences
of such accidents are drastic and life threatening, both im-
mediately and long after the accidents have occurred.
/
ÀiiÊ iÊÃ>`]Ê
iÀLÞ]Ê>`ÊÕÕÃ
>Ê
Daiichi Three major nuclear accidents have occurred
since commercial nuclear power production began
around 1970. The most serious commercial nuclear reac-
tor accident in the United States occurred in 1979 at the
Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania, as a result
of human error after the cooling system failed. A partial
meltdown of the reactor core took place. Had there been
a complete meltdown of the fuel assembly, dangerous ra-
dioactivity would have been emitted into the surrounding
countryside. Fortunately, the containment building kept
almost all the radioactivity released by the core material
from escaping. Although a small amount of radiation en-
tered the environment, there were neither substantial en-
vironmental damages nor immediate human casualties.
Numerous studies have failed to link abnormal health
problems (other than increased stress) to the accident.
In the aftermath of the accident, public wariness
prompted construction delays and cancellations of sev-
eral new nuclear power plants across the United States.
New safety regulations were put in place, including more
frequent safety inspections, new risk assessments, and
improved emergency and evacuation plans for nuclear
power plants and surrounding communities.
Another major nuclear power plant accident took
place in 1986 at the Chernobyl plant, located in the for-
mer Soviet republic of the Ukraine. One or possibly two
explosions ripped apart a nuclear reactor and expelled
large quantities of radioactive material into the atmo-
sphere (}ÕÀiʣǰ£È). The effects of this accident were
not confined to the area immediately surrounding the
power plant: Significant amounts of radioisotopes quickly
spread across large portions of Europe. The Chernobyl ac-
cident affected and will continue to affect many nations.
Although cleanup in the immediate vicinity of Cher-
nobyl is finished, the people in Ukraine face many long-
term problems. Ultimately, more than 170,000 people
permanently abandoned their homes. Much of the farm-
land and forests are so contaminated that they cannot be
used for more than a century. Inhabitants of many areas
of Ukraine cannot drink the water or consume locally pro-
duced milk, meat, fish, fruits, or vegetables. Mothers do
not nurse their babies because their milk is contaminated
by radioactivity. The frequency of birth defects and mental
retardation in newborns has increased in affected areas,
and children exposed to the Chernobyl fallout e xperienced
increased incidences of leukemia, thyroid cancer, and ab-
normalities of the immune system (}ÕÀiʣǰ£Ç).spent fuel Used fuel
elements that were
irradiated in a nuclear
reactor.