by Brett Bennett

In 1986, a nuclear plant in Chernobyl exploded, spreading harmful radiation and infecting the plants and animals in the area. It is the most famous nuclear disaster in Earth’s history, and twenty-five years later, the area is still contaminated. The explosion in Japan’s Fukushima plant has been determined to be as bad as this famous disaster. 

So the question now is whether this disaster will affect the growth and use of nuclear energy as an alternate energy source. 

Chernobyl caused fear of nuclear energy. The Huffington Post reports that in the 1970s, before the disaster, 30 of more reactors were being built per year [in the world]- but by the 1990s and 2000s only a few were being built per year. But things were starting to pick up. In 2008, 10 new reactors were built, the first double digit number since before the Chernobyl disaster. 

But this new nuclear disaster has changed things. Germany has said they are turning away from nuclear energy, and has started closing nuclear plants and Italy has announced a one-year moratorium on nuclear energy. U.N. General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon has called for a “global re-think” of nuclear energy.

In the United States, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin believes the crisis in Japan should be a warning. He wants the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to close after this year, especially since the reactor in Vermont was built similarly to the on in Japan. In Texas, a company called NRG Energy is abandoning its plan to add additional reactors to their nuclear plant. 

Nuclear energy lobbyists are trying to dispel these thoughts, stressing that United States plants are monitored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and that they have had a “superb safety record and performance” in the last thirty years. 

But thirty-two years ago, the United States had its own nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. While it was brought under control and there seemed to be few related health results, due to the low level of released radiation, it was a chilling reminder of the dangerous energy of nuclear energy. 

For some countries, Japan has had no effect on nuclear ambitions. China, Taiwan, India, and other Asian countries are still planning to build more nuclear plants in order to harness power for their growing populations. However, Asia is prone to earthquakes and many of new and existing Chinese nuclear plants are being built in the Manila Trench, right on a major fault line. According to the Associated Press, geologists warn that 32 plants in Asia are at risk of being hit with a tsunami. 

According to the World Nuclear Association, there are currently 62 reactors being built, mainly in Brazil, Russia, India, and China. 158 more are planned, and 324 more proposed. However, this data was collected before Fukushima, so as countries grow wary, these numbers could change. 

Perhaps some can seek solace in the fact that some companies are working on safer nuclear reactors. 

A company called Areva is working on an “Evolutionary Power Reactor” that has back up diesel generators and four emergency cooling systems. The creators claim it would have withstood the force of the Japanese tsunami, and the disaster would have never occurred. 

The EPR is having trouble getting funding, however, and is not expected to be available until 2013. Its main competitor is the AP1000, a nuclear reactor that has a 300,000-gallon water tank that will cool the reactor down in case of a meltdown. Four of these are already being built in China, and the company was recently signed on to build 10 more. 

It is still unclear whether the Fukushima disaster will cause a distrust of nuclear energy, but at the very least, the massive disaster has pushed safety concerns to the front of the nuclear debates.