The future of nuclear power is causing heated debate within Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel’s administration. Germany’s latest energy policy has been giving rise to new nuclear power controversies as the dangers, costs and benefits of nuclear energy debates resurface.
While many maintain that nuclear power can still be used as a means to enhance domestic energy security by producing large quantities of energy, there are still many experts that warn against the long-term health risks and hazardous disposal of long-lived nuclear waste. Support groups, however, say that nuclear energy is a good option as it emits very few greenhouse gas byproducts.
However, there is a third school of thought rising up in the debate that maintains that not enough comprehensive research has been done on the pros and cons of nuclear power to make a decision on its place in the future of energy. With new schemes arising in many countries and the debate still out on how long nuclear reactors should be allowed to exist, some are calling for a more coherent interpretation of nuclear power’s place in the green energy sector.
At present, the biggest controversy in Merkel’s administrations new nuclear energy policies is the question of disposal of the byproducts of energy production from nuclear waste. Even with closed fuel cycling of nuclear waste, which is now the predominate method in Europe, radioactive waste from the energy extraction process still retains a lifetime of about 10,000 years.
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