Study on Nuclear Power and Radioactive Contamination

Nuclear power was designed to produce electric power. Each part of the chain from uranium mining to
handling of the waste is linked to serious contamination risks, however. Uranium mining is generally
linked to local to regional contamination. The fuel production also produces depleted uranium at a
ratio of 1:7. The reactors are operating under danger of accidents. Numerous minor accidents and
endless temporary shut-downs are occasionally mixed with disastrous accidents. The Chernobyl
(1986) and Fukushima (2011) accidents are notorious. The radioactive contamination from those
accidents is still incomprehensible and will keep serious destructions of the environment for centuries
to come. The handling of the high-level nuclear waste remains unsolved. Methods proposed in
Sweden, Finland and France seem likely to lead to disastrous radioactive contaminations in the
future. The only way out of this dilemma seems to be a disposal where the waste, though effectively
sealed-off in the bedrock, remains accessible and controllable. At present, the “cost & benefit”
balance seems strongly tilted over to the “far too costly side”, however.