Essay Sample on Ethical Issues Related To Nuclear Energy

Introduction

The welfare and development of society are dependent to a large extent on industrial processes and technological contributions such as the production and widespread use of electricity. However, the use of fossil fuels for such processes is having severe and potentially irreversible effects on the planet. Thus there has been a need to shift to alternative means of green energy production. Nuclear energy is one such alternative that has gained popularity as a sustainable energy source that decreases greenhouse gas emissions and produces less waste compared to conventional energy. Additionally, the production of large amounts of electricity with reasonably small amounts of fuel is the significant advantage of nuclear energy. However, there are various debates on the ethical concerns on the use of nuclear energy. Such ethical issues include the environmental and health threats of nuclear energy, as well as the safety and long term sustainability of nuclear energy.

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A major ethical issue on the use of nuclear energy is its impact on the environment. As noted earlier, nuclear energy is sustainable in the sense that it does not produce greenhouse gases and produces significantly less waste as compared to energy sources such as fossil fuels. Additionally, it is sustainable in that it is not an intermittent energy source as compared to other green energy sources such as wind and solar. However, nuclear energy is not an entirely green source of energy. It involves the mining, transportation, and refining of highly radioactive raw materials as well as the disposal of radioactive wastes (Flanagan). Such radioactive wastes pose high and severe risks to the environment and public health.

Thus although nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse emissions, it produces vast amounts of radioactive waste that is extremely hazardous and takes an extremely long time to deteriorate. Furthermore, the current method of dealing with radioactive waste does not guarantee safety. The existing method of disposing of radioactive waste involves long term storage. Such storage sites require that they are left completely undisturbed and guarded against acts of terrorism and war. Additionally, these sites also have to be safeguarded from natural and geological processes such as earthquakes and glacial movements. However, since such safety measures have to be ensured for thousands of years into the future, there is no guarantee of the safety of the radioactive wastes. For instance, in the United States, the current storage site at Kentucky has shifted since its construction, and a reaction at a waste facility in the Ural Mountains has resulted in a completely uninhabitable piece of land approximately twenty square miles in size (Flanagan).

The catastrophic nature of nuclear accidents is also another ethical issue regarding nuclear energy. Nuclear facilities are susceptible to malfunctions that can be as a result of human error or natural disasters. To date, there have been several nuclear accidents such as the Three Mile accident, the Chernobyl disaster, and the recent Fukushima Daiichi disaster. It is impossible to fully prevent nuclear accidents through safeguarding against human error and natural disasters. As a result, nuclear accidents are bound to happen and result in disastrous effects that span large geographical regions over a long period. Such nuclear accidents result in the release of huge amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere that leads to death and mutations in humans, plants, and animal as well as the long term effect of prolonged exposure to low doses of radiation (Xiang and Zhu). Although such disasters could be categorized as infrequent and arbitrary, a fundamental question arises of how to justify nuclear energy if events so uncontrollable such as human error and more precisely natural disasters can threaten the livelihoods of so many individuals across numerous generations.

Fact disclosure and impact on the local community are also ethical issues to be considered in the use of nuclear energy. The full disclosure of potential risks, as well as offering training on self-help methods to reduce injuries and save lives, can help to decreases public hesitation in the adoption of nuclear energy. However, most governments often downplay the potential risks and impacts of nuclear energy to the local population. As stated earlier, nuclear energy involves the mining refinement and transportation of radioactive raw materials and the disposal of radioactive waste. Consequently, communities near such nuclear facilities are put under the risk of health complications such as cancer due to long term exposure to low-level radioactivity. In the United States, for instance, this risk is increased as legislation requires that radioactive waste is temporally stored at the nuclear power plant site. This storage further increases the health risks of nearby communities (Xiang and Zhu). Thus, the only ethical way to address the society's concerns, as well as ensure public health, is to readily make available accurate and objective information on nuclear energy and the safety and risks of nuclear power plants to the public promptly.

Conclusion

Ultimately, although nuclear energy is seen as a suitable alternative to fossil fuels in the production of sustainable energy, it does nevertheless produce radioactive waste that causes significant damage to the environment as well as well as public health. Consequently, in light of the ethical issues related to nuclear energy, stakeholders in the nuclear energy industry need to implement more strict approaches to nuclear energy to ensure safety, improve risk management and guarantee full disclosure and open communication with the society.

References

Flanagan, K. A. (2013, April 25). Ethical Considerations for the Use of Nuclear Energy. Retrieved from Global Ethics Network: https://www.globalethicsnetwork.org/profiles/blogs/ethical-considerations-for-the-use-of-nuclear-energy

Xiang, H., & Zhu, Y. (2011). The Ethics Issues of Nuclear Energy: Hard Lessons Learned from Chernobyl and Fukushima. Online Journal of Health Ethics, 7(2). Retrieved fromhttp://aquila.usm.edu/ojhe/vol7/iss2/6