I signed up to receive great weekly articles by Dr. Muriel Newman at the NZ Centre for Political Research. This weeks column was about Nuclear Power: will NZ ever talk about it?
Some thing NZ should consider it. From Dr. Newman:
"I began to wonder why it is that here in New Zealand we have never really had a sensible discussion about whether nuclear power is an option that we should be considering at some stage in the future. After all, there are some 436 reactors operating around the world with a further 47 under construction, 133 planned, and 282 proposed.
The US currently operates the most nuclear reactors with 104, followed by France with 59, Japan with 53, Russia with 31, South Korea with 20, the UK with 19, Canada with 18, Germany and India with 17, Ukraine with 15, China with 11, Sweden with 10, Spain with 8, Belgium with 7, the Czech Republic with 6, Switzerland with 5, Finland, Hungary and Slovakia with 4, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Mexico, Pakistan, Romania and South Africa with 2, and Armenia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Slovenia with 1.
The nuclear fear factor has been grossly over-represented by opponents. The only two major nuclear accidents to have occurred in the 50 year history of civil nuclear energy generation were at Three Mile Island in the US in 1979, where no deaths occurred, and Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986, where 56 deaths can be attributed, most of them firefighters. In comparison, a study carried out between 1970 and 1992 on energy industry deaths, showed that there were over 10,000 in the oil industry, largely from fire, over 6,000 in the coal industry, largely from methane explosions, over 4,000 as a result of hydro-dam failures and flooding, and over 3,000 from LPG and natural gas explosions.
Modern day New Zealand has many uses for radioactive materials in medicine, industry and scientific research. Currently more than 3,000 such shipments arrive every year.
Whether New Zealand decides that nuclear technology is the right way to go is a moot point. The issue is that in 2010, shouldn’t we be at least having a discussion about these “sacred cow” subjects?"
"I began to wonder why it is that here in New Zealand we have never really had a sensible discussion about whether nuclear power is an option that we should be considering at some stage in the future. After all, there are some 436 reactors operating around the world with a further 47 under construction, 133 planned, and 282 proposed.
The US currently operates the most nuclear reactors with 104, followed by France with 59, Japan with 53, Russia with 31, South Korea with 20, the UK with 19, Canada with 18, Germany and India with 17, Ukraine with 15, China with 11, Sweden with 10, Spain with 8, Belgium with 7, the Czech Republic with 6, Switzerland with 5, Finland, Hungary and Slovakia with 4, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Mexico, Pakistan, Romania and South Africa with 2, and Armenia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Slovenia with 1.
The nuclear fear factor has been grossly over-represented by opponents. The only two major nuclear accidents to have occurred in the 50 year history of civil nuclear energy generation were at Three Mile Island in the US in 1979, where no deaths occurred, and Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986, where 56 deaths can be attributed, most of them firefighters. In comparison, a study carried out between 1970 and 1992 on energy industry deaths, showed that there were over 10,000 in the oil industry, largely from fire, over 6,000 in the coal industry, largely from methane explosions, over 4,000 as a result of hydro-dam failures and flooding, and over 3,000 from LPG and natural gas explosions.
Modern day New Zealand has many uses for radioactive materials in medicine, industry and scientific research. Currently more than 3,000 such shipments arrive every year.
Whether New Zealand decides that nuclear technology is the right way to go is a moot point. The issue is that in 2010, shouldn’t we be at least having a discussion about these “sacred cow” subjects?"
Great questions, Dr. Newman and really great weekly articles! It is so refreshing to read smart and conservative viewpoints in NZ. Keep it up! I am a fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment