Nuclear Energy

Site Map
Site articles
Credits
Home Page

The time factor in decision-making

One of the problems facing a country in the wake of a nuclear accident is the resettlement of the local population after the immediate evacuation of the contaminated areas. How long should access to a potentially dangerous sector be banned?
The Japanese authorities have begun cleanup operations in the “red zone” covering a 20-kilometer radius around the Fukushima plant, but no one knows when the area’s 110,000 former residents will be allowed back. At Chernobyl, nearly a thousand evacuated inhabitants returned almost immediately to live illegally inside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone, some literally in the shadow of the plant. These “samosioli” are entirely self-sufficient, preferring a known risk to an imposed exile. Nuclear energy requires a very long-term political investment and involves decisions whose effects span several decades. It is difficult to go back on such decisions, even after a serious accident like the Fukushima disaster. After taking all its nuclear reactors offline, Japan decided to restart two of them in June 2012, despite public outcry. Society’s responsibility to future generations is key in the debate on environmental issues, including nuclear power. In addition to the risk of an accident, the disposal of radioactive wastes — which remain hazardous on a time scale far beyond that of human life — is also a problem. Deep underground storage is being considered. For its proponents, it has the advantage of not burdening future generations with the management of today's waste products. Yet for its opponents, the burial of nuclear waste is not viable over the very long term..