Discussion Of Current Issues

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Nuclear energy can be used to generate electricity. Sustained nuclear fission of the enriched Uranium released powerful energy. The energy supplied by the enriched Uranium is controlled and let it to heat water into steam. The steam drives the turbine which is able to generate electrical power by spinning a generator.

The Uranium is arranged in bundles inside the reactor core. The Uranium bundles are positioned in a container and submerged in the water, also known as the coolant. The coolant is necessary as overheating of the Uranium bundles will cause the reactor to melt. Different types of coolant can be used to allow operation at higher temperature.

Nuclear energy is one of the most efficient energy which can produce a large amount of reliable electricity from a small amount of Uranium and there are no greenhouse gases released into the environment. Nuclear waste is the main disadvantage of nuclear power as it is radioactive and it has to be contained for hundreds of years before it is safe to be disposed to the environment.

There are three well-known nuclear power plant accidents that prompted the world to re-evaluate the nuclear energy policy such as the Three Mile Island accident, the Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Both the Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster are classified as level 7 event based on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

After a series of disastrous nuclear accidents worldwide, there were several large anti-nuclear protests in Japan, Taiwan, India, Germany and Switzerland demanding an end to use nuclear power. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Germany decided to phase out nuclear power plants by 2022 and invest heavily on other renewable energies.

Discussion of Current Issues

Currently, there are 437 nuclear power reactors worldwide with total net installed capacity of 373 GW are in operation. Whilst, 68 nuclear power reactors are under construction and 1 nuclear power reactor is in long term shutdown, which is the Monju nuclear power plant. In December 1995, a major fire due to sodium leak forced to shut down the Monju nuclear power plant. Another accident happened in August 2010 and the reactor was shut down again. In the past two decades, it has only generated 1 hour’s worth of electricity and trillion of Yen (¥) was spent on the reactor as of the end 2010.

In 2012, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that United States of America (USA) has the most number of reactors in world with 19% of their electricity generated from nuclear power plants.

Germany did not solely rely on nuclear power and they have only 9 operational nuclear power reactors in the country. In 2012, IAEA reported that 16% of the electricity produced in Germany was using nuclear power plant. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, it is very surprisingly that Germany decided to abandon nuclear energy completely by 2022 and transformed into a renewable energy era. Yet, the world leading transformation toward efficient and renewable energies is encouraging and very much accepted by the local citizens.

Case Studies and Discussion

The April 1986 Chernobyl disaster is also known as the most terrible nuclear power plant accident in the past. On 26 April 1986, the operator performs a series of operations in the flawed nuclear plant, including deactivating the automatic shutdown mechanism. Then, when the operator shut down the reactor 4, the reactor experienced dramatic power surge, which led to explosions in its core. The accident caused large amount of radioactive materials released into the air for around 10 days and some of the lighter materials were carried all the way to Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and also the Europe region.

The Three Mile Island accident in the USA in 1979 had a major revolution on the design and operating procedures on the West, but the safety of the early Soviet Union reactor’s design was not under any concern. It is obvious that the flawed reactor design was identified much earlier prior to the incident and the Chernobyl disaster could have been prevented if there were close collaboration between the West and the East. Moreover, the insufficiently trained operators are blamed for violating the operating rules and regulations by disconnecting some of the technical protection systems.

On 11 March 2011, a strong earthquake with magnitude of 9.0 Mw and tsunami struck the Pacific coast of Tōhoku. At the time of the quake, reactor 4, 5 and 6 were not operating due to planned maintenance. Soon after the quake, the remaining reactors were shut down automatically. However, the tsunami quickly flooded the emergency generators in the low-lying rooms. The generators failed to supply necessary power to circulate coolant water through the nuclear reactors for a few days and the nuclear reactors started to meltdown. At this moment of time, one of the available option was to flood the reactors with seawater but it will ruin the reactors permanently. At last, the government ordered that seawater to be used to flood the reactors, but it was too late to avoid the meltdown.

Following the incidents, all the nuclear plants in Japan were shut down and the authority evacuated tens of thousands of residents from an exclusion zone due to release of radioactivity. In fact, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster could have prevented. First and foremost, the power plant was designed to withstand a tsunami with maximum height of 3.1 m only. Yet, according to the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, the tsunami in March 2011 had a height of 13.1 m. Even if the power plant managed to withstand such a tsunami, they should have anticipated that the low-lying rooms, where the generators were placed are vulnerable to water. In addition, it is not hard to notice that both the government and TEPCO have underestimated the threat of nuclear meltdown and taking immediate action to prevent it from happening.

As such, it is not surprising that the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission described the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster as a man-made disaster!

Conclusion and Suggestions

Most governments are in favour of nuclear power, including Malaysia, but the plan was postponed following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. According to my surveys, up to 90% of students agree that Malaysia is not ready for a nuclear power plant. In my point of view, students have no confidence against the capability of the government to manage such a major nuclear disaster as well as the nuclear power plant after a series of disastrous nuclear accidents around the world.

Without doubt, nuclear power is one of the most efficient energy available at this moment. However, in my opinion, nuclear power is only a green energy when extreme precautions are taken in the operation of the nuclear power plant as they are potentially tremendously hazardous to the environment.

The nuclear power plant has to be designed to encounter various potential natural disasters such as earthquake and tsunami, especially in the country like Japan, which lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has warned us not to underestimate the consequences of any nuclear accident and taking immediate actions to prevent catastrophic impacts on the environment.