A few passionate words about Nuclear Energy

When you hear the phrase 'nuclear reactions' what comes to your mind? Many people have come to the conclusion that fossil fuels (Coal, gas etc.) = yay and nuclear energy = nay. This is WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG AND WRONG!!!! When talking about Nuclear power plant meltdowns, there have been multiple minor accidents over the course of time. However, most people will think of the two most well-known and dangerous nuclear accidents, Chernobyl and Fukushima. These two accidents were the deadliest in history. Let's break them down on why they were so deadly, and how fossil fuels are worse.

Chernobyl was an old nuclear power plant that was poorly designed and managed improperly. This led to a meltdown which caused more than 30 deaths from the direct blast. A further 30 people have died from radiation poisoning after the accident. But if the power plant was properly managed and designed, these deaths would have been avoided. However, Chernobyl was only the 2nd> most dangerous nuclear power plant disatster.

Fukushima was far more dangerous with a death toll of 2313 disaster-related deaths overall (World Nuclear Association). The nuclear power plant itself malfunctioned because of an earthquake, and although no-one died in the direct blast, the government wsa more concerned about reputation of the city than the safety of the citizens. This led to slow response times and poorly executed evacuations. If the government had more urgency and and control over these factors, the death toll might have been reduced by up to 80%. Coupled with Chernobyl, these sizeable death tolls have led many people to believe the dnager of nuclear meltdowns outweighs the large downside of fossil fuels. But if we look at the consequences of fossil fuels, these two nuclear accidents combined don't even make up the deaths of fossil fuels in a year.

Even though many people are aware of the imact of fossil fuel burning on the climate, the real impacts are mostly unknown. On an average year round basis, 12 000 people die because of fossil fuels impacting the climate (Kurzgesagt-in a nutshell). THIS IS RIDICULOUS. Coupled with the CO₂ being added to the climate, virtually the ONLY point to keeping fossil fuel energy is LITERALLY NOTHING!!! What is even more concerning is the fact that many countries are replacing nuclear power plants with FOSSIL FUEL POWER PLANTS.

In conclusion, nuclear power plants are MUCH safer than fossil fuel power plants, and in order to spread this information, action must be taken now, before it is too late.