Neuclear Power and its Social Impact

THE IMPACT OF THE NUCLEAR POWER ON SOCIETY Name: Course: Professor Name: (February 07, 2012) Outline Outline Introduction Social Impacts of Nuclear Power Conclusion The Impact of the Nuclear Power on Society Outline The essay discusses the various social impacts of nuclear power upon society. The essay contains an introduction, the main body and a brief conclusion. The introduction highlights the various social impacts of nuclear power on society briefly. The main body of the essay discusses the various social impacts of constructing and operating nuclear power plants which originate from the effects on several things. First and foremost, the effects are experienced on the socially valued aspects found in the physical environment. Secondly, the impacts are felt on the social structure itself. Some of the constructions of the power plants occur suddenly. This results into temporary growth of the populations especially in the rural areas. High increases in taxes occur due to the operations of the power plants that are owned by private companies. This in turn impacts on the structures of tax and the use of land balances in a site-specific manner. The assessment of these impacts constitute coming up with the dimensions of approximately fourteen descriptors. After this, analysis of the recipient group takes place. As a result of this, social costs and benefits dissociation normally occurs. This occurs though the lag of time which exists between benefits and costs. Additionally, it also occurs through institutional structures vagaries. Assessing the social costs and benefits normally involve the non-equal exchange of currencies. This in turn raises real methodological and analytical shortcomings for the final cost-benefit analysis. The alternatives of these social impacts are normally listed based on the need for thorough analysis of the social effects. Introduction Nuclear power contains a major threat to both the environment and humanity. In most cases, it has proven to be both successful and safe. On the contrary, it results into disastrous effects. Nuclear power generation is normally accompanied by the production of radioactivity. In the same way with the produced pollution when fossil fuels are combusted, radioactivity can be extremely lethal to living things. This is normally the case during nuclear accidents which have taken place infrequently throughout the current history (Pouting, 1991). Examples do exist where nuclear power plants have been disastrous to human beings. In 1957, the Windscale nuclear reactor in Britain caught fire. Afterwards, radioactivity spread in the whole of Britain. However, no official death cases due to radioactivity poisoning were released. Within the same year, another explosion took place at Kryshytym in the Soviet Union. The surrounding places were extremely contaminated. Many people had to be evacuated. However, a large number of people died. The deadliest disaster due to nuclear power took place in 1986 in Ukraine at Chernobyl. The explosion caused a radioactivity cloud which spread to the whole of Europe and Scandinavia. A lot of animals had to be slaughtered and destroyed as they had been contaminated by the radioactive material. Hence, many people in Europe are expected to get cancer as a result of the disaster. Despite the availability of the National Environmental Policy Act and other demonstrations of general public dissatisfaction concerning the existing disjoints in socio-environmental issues, little has been done to establish the connection between various technologies of energy and the social structure. Nevertheless, there exists the willingness within the Atomic Energy Commission and other national laboratories which participate in environmental effects to come up with advanced comprehensive study and analysis of the social impacts. Most of the specific effects of nuclear power are examined from the background of their impacts to a national economy. These arguments are not affected qualitatively or quantitatively by a question of whether the power plants are few or many. The impacts are examined in two different groups. The initial group constitutes those effects which have a link through models of microeconomics. The second category normally constitutes those which affect the wide economy. They are normally taken as exogenous and factors which may be unquantifiable. The health and environment factors form a set within the second group. On the contrary, they are usually treated differently. Social Impacts of Nuclear Power There are three main classifications of social effects which emerge from the activities of building and operating a nuclear power plant. The first group results from the effects upon socially-valued aspects on the physical environment. The next group takes place due to the effects on the social structure. The third group of effects is normally very queer to the nuclear power. It evolves from the expected danger of radiation. The effects during the phase of construction are the same to those which result from other lengthy and large construction projects. The extra institutional effects occur during the operation phase. This is because of the capital-intensive characteristic of a nuclear power station. In addition, many possible social impacts on the projects of public works normally apply to the projects of nuclear power generation. The social impacts of nuclear power are the observable qualitative and quantitative changes which occur in social set up relating to any project proposed. Consequently, most of the effects of constructing and operating nuclear power contain some level of social ramifications. On the contrary, only some of the stated environmental effects are currently recognized as being very significant. The statements of environment impact include long descriptions of the effects on water, land resources and air. This also includes the appropriate biotas which live in them. The direct effects on human beings have not been given much emphasis. The social or the human effects due to use resources for a different objective is normally dealt with on the basis of the analysis of the social impacts (Miller, 1987). There are many conflicts which arise due to the construction of a nuclear power plant at a given place. They include inadequate resource valuation by the public and the general resource knowledge. The next one is the varying resource valuation by the public especially the quick appreciation value of limited public goods resources. The last one is the hard nature of conserving alternatives for the future when it comes to decision making concerning resources. The growth in population and the resulting demands on the local services and communities constitute the main construction effects on social structures. Housing, schools, water supplies, utilities, commercial facilities, law enforcement and many others can be overloaded supposing a big construction project must stay temporarily in a little, underdeveloped rural area. A good example was the Mendocino scenario. In this case, there were no financial resources which were available to meet the effects until a long period later when the tax base would accumulate from the concluded plant analysed ...