Chernobyl is generally regarded as the worst disaster of the nuclear age. According to the 20-year report by the WHO, 50 people died as a direct result of radiation exposure—most of whom were rescue workers. 4,000 more will die prematurely due to their exposure. (One study, whose sources I can’t confirm, offers a seemingly inflated figure of 895,000 attributable deaths.) That’s bad. And scary. No one wants to suffer the horrible effects of radiation.
But roughly 50% or our energy is generated by coal. (Figures vary from 45-52% in the brief research I did.) According to an American Lung Association report, “over 386,000 tons of 84 separate hazardous air pollutants spew from over 400 plants in 46 states.” Coal “fly ash” contains radioactive thorium and uranium according to the EPA. The World Health Organization estimates that, “approximately 2 million premature deaths worldwide per year” are attributable to air pollution.
So how does that stack up? What if the current crisis in Japan is on the same scale as Chernobyl? The chart below compares the projected number of deaths attributable to the Chernobyl Disaster (both from the WHO’s figures and the New York Academy of Sciences report) to the WHO’s estimate for air pollution over a 40 year period.
Notice how small in scale the Chernobyl disaster is compared to our current policy? (I promise the WHO’s figures are there. They’re just too small to see in comparison.) These numbers don’t even factor in greenhouse gases or the number of deaths in the coal supply chain. Granted not all of those deaths will be due to air pollution from coal power plants, but a significant number of them will.
I don’t believe we can yet meet our energy needs with solar and wind yet. There is risk in all our current major sources of energy. Clearly there is a major problem with getting the majority of our energy from fossil fuels. I don’t like the prospects of the course we’re on and I see hope in nuclear to alleviate some of these problems. Unfortunately, I think fear will guide policy in the very near future.
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