Preview

How Does Nuclear Energy Affect The Economy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
343 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Does Nuclear Energy Affect The Economy
Nuclear energy has a significant role in the economy. The nuclear energy industry leads to job creation and economic growth. 400 to 700 permanent jobs are required by the operation of one nuclear power plant (Nuclear Energy Institute, 2014). There are more than 63,000 highly skilled workers involved in the civil nuclear industry throughout the UK. In addition, there over 80,000 jobs linked to the industry directly or indirectly (Nuclear Industry Association, n.d.). Nevertheless, a large amount of money will be invested due to the expanding of nuclear energy. For example, experts have forecasted that approximately 1180 billion of pound will be invested in building new nuclear reactors and decommissioning those coming off line over the next 20 years (Nuclear Industry Association, n.d.). …show more content…
However, several disastrous nuclear incidents which had occurred in the past had caused a significant impact on the economic. For instance, the economy of Japan was undermined by the tragic Fukushima Daiichi power plant incident. A huge amount of money was required in order to handle the aftermath of the incident. The expenses of cleaning up the nuclear radiation and decontaminating the crippled nuclear plant were $23 billion and $48billion, respectively. Further to this, $47 billion was paid to the residents in the affected area of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as a compensation (RT News, 2014). This indicates that the disaster had caused a loss of more that $100 billion. Nonetheless, most of the nuclear disasters can be prevented. For example, the operating company (TEPCO) of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants has stated that the Fukushima disaster could have been avoided if safety improvements were implemented (McCurry,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although this Nuclear disaster has affected the use of Nuclear energy and the economic market in Japan in 2011.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are further issues implied by the trend shown for nuclear power. The use of nuclear power has fluctuated in the past 60 years, rising by 10 million tonnes between 1970 and 1990, and then decreasing back 10 million tonnes by 2030. This is because the first stations in operation at 1990 had a short life and are now beginning to expire. This poses an issue for energy security in the UK as even with immediate investment into nuclear energy; the stations take 15-20 years to build. This leaves a gap as shown in the trend (nuclear only at 10 million tonnes in 2030) where the UK will be without nuclear power, irrelevant of…

    • 619 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tucker Nuclear Summary

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In order to remain at the forefront of technological innovation and industrial prowess, the United States must become cognizant that the use of nuclear energy is by far the most efficient policy regarding the creation of power despite the possible risks. This is the belief of William Tucker, the author of the New York Times published article, “Why I Still Support Nuclear Power, Even after Fukushima”.…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Global nuclear power plants and its industry have been a high expense for government subsidies,tax credit, or any form of public support in favor of the industry. A half century later, we have noticed that nuclear power is, instead, too expensive to finance. The first generation of nuclear power plants proved so costly to build that half of them were abandoned during construction. In addition , huge cost overruns are discovered which were passed on to utility customers…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    labouring the Walmart way

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Today nuclear power as an efficient and low consumption energy has been used widely, however, nuclear energy has potential and serious problems which people can not control.…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Image Analysis Essay

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages

    On March 11, 2011, a tragedy struck Japan that will never be forgotten. Ocean ridges and mountain ranges below the surface of the ocean caused the waves created by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan. These two factors together caused a deathly Tsunami that Japan is still struggling to recover from. The earthquake and tsunami together killed 15,840 people and set off a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Six million households, more than 10% of the total in Japan, were without electricity. In Tokyo, rail service was suspended overnight, elevated highways were shut down and streets remained jammed as commuters who spent the night in shelters fought to get to their homes. To make matters worse, the terrifying natural disaster had sparked a human-caused crisis, as radiation leaks from crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant 's six reactors overheated and their fuel melted down causing hydrogen explosions to blow the tops off three reactor buildings, which lead to a major leak of radiation at levels not seen since Chernobyl in 1986. The authorities hugely underestimated the risks tsunamis posted to the plant. Tokyo Electric had assumed that no wave would reach more than about 20 feet, but little did they know the tsunami would hit more than twice that height. Also, the workers left at Fukushima Daiichi had not been trained to handle multiple failures, causing them to panic. A communication breakdown meant that workers at the plant had no clear sense of what was happening (Tabuchi web). Japan had been scanning for radiation exposure by medical teams because of the risk when radioactive iodine enters the body and settle in the thyroid. Children are especially vulnerable. Thousands of citizens were forced into radiation screenings before they could get help at a shelter or even return to their homes. The Japan tsunami crisis not only destroyed one of Japan’s…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Nuclear power generates around one sixth of the United Kingdom's electricity, using 16 operational nuclear reactors at nine plants (approximately 16% in 2009)…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many disasters have occurred involving nuclear energy, the two most publicly known ones are the disasters in Chernobyl, Ukraine in 1986 and Fukushima, Japan in 2011. The…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    2. In “Small Recactors Make a Bid to Revive Nuclear Power”, the Obama Administration and the Energy Department are working on making America the leader in advanced nuclear technology and manufacturing (Biello 2012). They are considering switching the large reactors, which are currently the predominant technology, to small reactors, which will save money. These reactors would contain enough power to power more than 200,000 U.S. homes for a year (Biello 2012). This strategy will cause less nuclear waste and will increase safety issues as well. In another article, “Time to revive, not kill, the nuclear age”, it is stated that a world without nuclear power would be less secure. Neither fossil fuels nor renewable resources will be able to replace the 14 percent of global electricity generated by nuclear reactors (Financial Times 2011). This article sides with MacFarlane by saying the Chernobyl accident was bad, but since then things…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    While there is no doubting that solar and wind will create jobs and bring in its own income, ultimately nuclear power will be more beneficial for the United States. In order to bring wind generated energy production up the tax payer will pay a heavy price, to raise the wind energy production level from just 1.5% to 4% over the next ten years it will cost at least $29 billion in federal subsidies (Alexander). Nuclear power is better suited for the economy as it is a cheaply produced source of energy, yet the United States is not capitalizing on it. This lack of nuclear energy investment on the United States is resulting in other countries to capture the benefits of this cheap energy source; China, Russia and Japan are all cashing in on nuclear power for its cheap energy. The benefit of cheap energy is that energy intensive industries have an incentive to set up sites using nuclear energy for the lessened power bill they have to pay. If other countries continue to produce cheap energy American industries may want to consider moving to these countries with lower energy costs. If businesses move over seas the United States losses jobs to other countries and we are no better…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The myth that "all men are equal" has created false hopes for the people of color, who continually seek opportunities to excel, that just aren't there. They have been led to believe that intelligence and ambitions are key contributors to one's success. Even if they do possess ambition and intelligence, the dominant majority of the white population oppresses them. This type of oppression points out that new methods of struggle are needed, such as whose employed by Martin Luther King, Jr., Franz Fanon and W.E.B. Du Bois.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Paul L. Joskow & John E. Parsons. “The Future of Nuclear Power After Fukushima”. MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. (2012): 1-30.…

    • 3083 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fukushima Causes National Concern: Time for New EPA Policy ERIC ZOPPI DECEMBER 9TH, 2013 SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY Holy Fukushima: Statement of the Problem  March 11th, 2011 - Töhoku Earthquake & Tsunami wreaked havoc upon Japan, resulting in the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl  The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant experienced crippling structural damage, as well as subsequent meltdowns of several nuclear reactors and steady leakage of Iodine-131, Cesium-137, Cesium134, Tellurium, Uranium, and Strontium into the Pacific Ocean. Research Design/Method: Major Fukushima Arguments Argument#2 Argument #1 The leaked radioactive material will not have a significant impact on the U.S. due to the relatively short half-lives of the isotopes and the likelihood of natural dissemination, specifically in the Convergence Zone of the Pacific Ocean •…

    • 1370 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fukushima Disaster

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages

    On March 11th, 2011, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami caused a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials. According to the International Business Times (Australia) "Fukushima is not the worst nuclear accident ever but it is the most complicated and the most dramatic disaster.” (IBT, 01) On April 2011 The Nuclear Institute rated the disaster a Level 7 “Major Accident” on the International Nuclear Event Scale.…

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the world, countries are leaning towards nuclear energy due to the amount of energy it can produce with very little resources. This topic is worth investigating since energy is basically a must, now in the 21st century. It is now considered an essential to have energy in our lives to maintain our standards of living. We have gone to many different sources of energy other than nuclear energy such as coal, solar, wind, oil and more, but many of those energy source have flaws too. Some sources of energy will reach the peak of their production due to resources and will eventually fall, others pollute the environment just like nuclear energy and some just don’t produce enough energy for us to fully rely on them. Many countries needed a new source of energy since…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays