Nuclear energy: Past, present and future

1. The rise and stagnation of nuclear power

Nuclear energy began with the development of nuclear bombs for the military. Since then, the technology has been used for civilian power generation. Unfortunately, the growth of the anti-nuclear movement has damaged its reputation and growth trajectory.

Here is a brief history of nuclear power in the United States and the anti-nuclear movement that plagued its existence.

The first appearance of violence and its transition to civilian applications

The world's first application of nuclear fission was the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Needless to say, the word "nuclear" has some less than satisfactory associations. However, the "atoms for Peace" agenda of the 1950s meant that the powerful properties of fission would soon be put to civilian use. In 1958, the first commercial power plant went online in Pennsylvania, along with optimism that "energy is too cheap to measure" and even direct-to-consumer products like nuclear-powered cars!

The birth of anti-nuclear attitudes

In the mid-1950s, the U.S. military conducted hydrogen bomb tests in the South Pacific, spreading dangerous levels of radiation onto inhabited islands. The test also directly affected a Japanese fishing boat, whose crew suffered radiation poisoning while returning to Japan. Needless to say, it was a public relations disaster for the nuclear weapons test, and the Pentagon's botched cover-up further eroded trust.

Nuclear weapons were also a defining feature of the Cold War, with the Soviet Union and the United States building stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction that could destroy the world many times over. At the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s, anti-nuclear protests proliferated in response to concerns about nuclear testing and proliferation.

Environmentalists are anti-nuclear

At the same time, a grassroots environmental movement began to take shape in the 1960s. Rachel Carson's best-selling books "Silent Spring" and "The Population Bomb" have brought attention to pesticides and overpopulation. In the early 1970s, Earth Day, Greenpeace, and the United Nations Environment Program were founded.

More and more environmentalists are turning against nuclear power. Many point to opposition to the proposed Bodega Bay nuclear power plant as the birthplace of the anti-nuclear environmental movement. Local community groups and environmental groups have protested the plant with classic "not in my backyard" opposition, arguing that it destroys flora and fauna, local identity and the livelihoods of fishermen.

While the Sierra Club initially supported nuclear power, some vocal members switched sides, fearing that this powerful and abundant energy source could lead to runaway growth. David Brower, executive director of the Sierra Club, is deeply concerned about overpopulation and immigration: "More power plants create more industry, which in turn leads to greater population density... The scenic character of the state will be destroyed."

Eventually, the Sierra Club changed its stance, and to this day, it and other major environmental organizations maintain an anti-nuclear stance. For decades, they have worked to shut down nuclear plants, put a moratorium on new ones, and generally contributed to an unwarranted fear of nuclear power.

A "catastrophic" misunderstanding

The Three Mile Island disaster in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 dealt several major blows to the reputation of nuclear energy. The overreaction and media coverage of these events has led to a huge misunderstanding of these events and how damaging they actually are.

For example, the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979 killed a total of 0 people. The radiation released by the accident was negligible - by some estimates, the local dose was equivalent to what you'd get in a chest X-ray, and far less than the background radiation levels typically experienced in a year.

However, the dramatic evacuation response, the permanent shutdown of the reactors, and the lack of clarification or attempts to accurately report what actually happened meant that many Americans remained convinced that Three Mile Island was a real "disaster."

The Chernobyl accident of 1986 and the Fukushima accident of 2011 have also been misunderstood, especially in the case of Fukushima, which was greatly exaggerated. Chernobyl did not operate according to today's safety standards. The plant does not have a containment vessel that can prevent the release of radioactive material. Even more shocking was the cause of the accident: the operation team was conducting an "experiment" that involved turning off automatic safety mechanisms and simulating an emergency. They did it without training or planning. The initial steam explosion killed three people and 28 firefighters died of acute radiation syndrome (ARS). In the 25 years since the accident, 15 people have died of thyroid cancer.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered meltdowns in tsunami-induced flooding, but only 0-1 people died from the accident, with more damage and loss of life caused by an excessive evacuation response to the accident. The earthquake that triggered the tsunami that led to the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactors was the largest ever recorded, killing more than 15,000 people and causing massive damage to Japan's built environment, including many industrial areas.