Is Nuclear energy the way forward?

The evolution of human beings can be seen with how they have gone on to utilise principles of science to their benefit, humans have come a long way from being afraid of fire to splitting an atom for energy. Talking about sources of energy that has been deployed for various purposes, nuclear energy has entered into the discourse, there have been discussions over the viability of nuclear energy as an energy source over fossil fuels.

The world appears to be going in two different directions, on one side we have developing economies like India and China investing in civilian nuclear reactors to meet their ever-increasing energy demands, but on the other hand, we have countries like Germany who are decommissioning and making a categorical commitment to put nuclear energy behind them, there are equally meritorious discussions on either side backing their respective decisions.

Nuclear energy’s low cost, low carbon, relatively clean nature is countered by storage, contamination issues and not to forget the proliferation angle and security issues that come with it. Coming to the specifics, nuclear is a zero-emission clean energy source. It generates power via the fission process, wherein the energy is produced by splitting uranium atoms. The heat released by fission is used to generate steam that in turn spins a turbine to generate electricity without the harmful byproducts emitted by fossil fuel.

Nuclear energy when seen in comparison with fossil fuels of coal, natural gas, and renewable energy sources, nuclear-generated electricity comes with price stability because only around one-third of production costs are fuel costs, while it goes up to 80 to 90 per cent for fossil fuel-fired generation, making electricity from fossil fuels highly susceptible to fluctuations in prices of coal and gas.

However, with all the positives that come with nuclear energy, the concerns cannot be brushed aside, therefore, moving forward there needs to be a global regulatory body working in tandem with the International Atomic Energy Agency to look into cross border flow of fissile material and also provide for safety protocols for nuclear reactors.