Nuclear power - No solution
The rise in oil prices to over $75 a barrel at the end of April and the threat of peak oil has re-ignited the discussion about nuclear energy as a possible source of cheap ?environmentally friendly? energy.
By Matt Waine, Socialist Party IrelandThe ironic thing is this debate has begun on the 20th anniversary of the world?s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in April 1986. This hasn?t detered Forfas, the state?s advisory body on science and technology, from stating that ?… Ireland should consider the possibility of developing nuclear energy as a more long-term solution.?
Plans were also announced in early April to redevelop the Sellafield site in Cumbria, part of British Prime Minister Tony Blair?s plan for a new-generation of nuclear power plants that would be several times more powerful than Sellafield. Ireland is already at risk from contamination if a leak occurred at Sellafield, with the possibility of thousands dying as shown in the RTE drama Fallout! Many so-called specialists have been wheeled out to declare nuclear energy as the ?safest of all? forms of energy production. There are over 440 nuclear power stations in the world which produce 16% of the world?s electricity.
However, between 1950 and 1976 there were 177 incidents in Britain that were serious enough to warrant an investigation. As late as last year there was a leak of 83,000 litres of highly radioactive liquid from a tank at the Thorp plant in England. Whilst there are no exact figures of deaths caused by the Chernobyl accident, it is estimated by the President of the Australian Medical Association for the Prevention of War that between 34,200 and 38,500 people have, or will die. The figure could be as high as 60,000. And that?s not including the countless lives affected by non-fatal diseases!
Whilst bleating about the enormous damage done to the enviornment by the burning of fossil fuels, the nuclear industry and their scientific backers have yet to address the question of the vast amount of highly radioactive waste that is a byproduct of nuclear fission. This waste remains deadly to human health for hundreds of thousands of years.
Socialists have always argued that to leave a key economic industry like energy in the hands of multinationals and coporations is a recipe for environmental disaster. Instead, The Socialist Party argues for the phasing out of nuclear energy and fossil fuel consumption to be replaced with investment in existing forms of renewable energy supplies like wind and wave generators and for serious investment into research and development of new forms of energy generation like hydrogen cells and bio-fuels. As part of a socialist plan of production, which would take economic power out of the hands of the profiteers, this could achieve all our energy requirements whilst protecting our environment.
