Why worry about nuclear energy?

Nuclear weapon test Bravo on Bikini Atoll. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy.

I recently finished watching Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War. It’s a nine-part series (I know - it’s long) on Netflix and it’s an excellent recap of the history of the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, with a focus on nuclear weapons. If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend it because not only is the history fascinating, but it gives much needed context for what’s currently happening in Ukraine.

The bomb is terrifying—there’s no doubt about that. But what is also frightening is the idea that our peacetime uses of nuclear energy, i.e. nuclear power plants, can also become a weapon.

Zaporizhzhia

In 2022, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was one of the targets of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a battle over control of the plant, both sides used heavy artillery including anti-tank missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. Artillery hit one of the reactors and a bullet pierced the outer wall of another. In addition, a fire broke out on the grounds of the plant.

Thankfully, the reactors themselves did not malfunction. Since then, the plant has been under Russian control and five of the six reactors have been put into a state of cold shutdown, meaning there’s no nuclear fission taking place and no electricity generation. A sixth is in hot shutdown—it’s also not generating electricity, but it is still producing steam for safety reasons.

The problem is that a) all the fissile material is still present and b) there’s an active war going on right outside. There are mines around the perimeter of the plant. On April 7 alone, there were three drone attacks on the plant. It feels like a game of chance, though, and at some point the odds are that an errant missile or an operator error will result in a meltdown.

Are humans responsible?

One of the questions I asked in Wild Thing: Going Nuclear is whether we humans are responsible enough to handle the power of the atom. To paraphrase the great Dr. Ian Malcolm, yes, we can do it, but should we?

Accidents have certainly happened in the eighty years that we’ve been messing around with nuclear reactors. Chernobyl—just 300 miles from Zaporizhzhia—is a terrifying example of how badly things can go. Fukushima is as well. And those truly were accidents. What if someone deliberately targets nuclear power plants, uses them as a weapon? Or even just happens to be fighting a war in the vicinity of one, knowing how destructive that could be? How do you weigh that possibility?

I don’t have a good answer for that question. But the current state of affairs does not give me a lot of confidence.