Bridge to Global Governance: Tackling Climate Change, Energy Distribution and Nuclear Proliferation by Sovaida Ma'ani Ewing

Author:Sovaida Ma'ani Ewing [Ewing, Sovaida Ma'ani]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Political Science, Energy Policy
ISBN: 9780990943785
Google: Bgr-twEACAAJ
Goodreads: 40407739
Publisher: Center for Peace & Global Governance
Published: 2018-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Other Safety Concerns

Other concerns about the safety of nuclear power generation also need to be considered and addressed. These include locating nuclear reactors at appropriate and safe locations, handling CO2 emissions and other environmental harms from uranium mining and enrichment, avoiding mismanagement caused by greed, and compensating for damages.

Siting

The Fukushima disaster forcefully reminded us of the importance of decisions about where to locate nuclear reactors, as they can be critical in ensuring safe operation and in minimizing the chances of a nuclear disaster. Choosing inappropriate locations that increase or fail to address safety and security concerns can also result in strong local opposition, political demands for excessive licensing, and other requirements, which can dramatically increase the costs and delays of constructing power plants. Building a nuclear plant in an area that is prone to earthquakes or seismic activity, volcanoes or tornadoes, or that is exposed to the risk of tsunamis courts physical and political disaster.

Armenia is a good example of a country that relies almost entirely on its one nuclear power station for all its electricity and yet has unfortunately placed its nuclear plant on a geological fault prone to earthquakes. Even though Armenia decided to replace this reactor with a newer, in theory less accident-prone model, putting it in the same location still makes it vulnerable to earthquakes and leaves it fundamentally unsafe. A potential solution for siting problems of this kind is for countries like Armenia to collaborate with surrounding nations to share nuclear plant resources and place shared reactors in a location that maximizes environmental and public health and safety.

In choosing the location for a nuclear plant certain considerations should be taken into account. For example, nuclear reactors ought to be located where they are least likely to suffer from natural disasters or accidents and acceptable to neighboring populations. Locations with lots of sandy soil are better at absorbing radioactive materials. Sites should also be close to large quantities of water which are necessary to cool a reactor. It is also important to pick a location that affords the chance for implementing a satisfactory emergency evacuation plan. If you have to wait for a boat or ferry to get you out of the area, then it is not good enough.

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