Nuclear Energy Regulation, Risk and The Environment

Abdullah Al Faruque

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351240048
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

Analyzing the impact and benefits of nuclear energy on environment, this book examines nuclear treaties in relation to environmental protection, highlights legal framework on non-proliferation and denuclearization, explores treaties on nuclear safety and nuclear security, discusses legal regimes on management of nuclear wastes, assesses the third-party liability regime and discusses the role of IAEA, EURATOM and NEA in regulating nuclear energy. It explores nuclear energy in the context of climate change and sustainable development. This book also examines the international legal framework on notification, assistance and emergency preparedness in the event of nuclear accidents, considers legal aspects of decommissioning of nuclear power plants and main legislative trends on nuclear energy use in selected countries. It also addresses regulatory responses to nuclear energy in the wake of the Fukushima power plant nuclear accident in Japan.

1 Nuclear energy in context

Introduction

The linkage between energy and the environment is well established and undeniable as the use of any energy source has some effect on the environment albeit the degree of effect may vary depending on the particular form of energy used. The symbiotic relationship between energy and the environment can be further explained by the fact that use of non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels can emit carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. The international community is increasingly pursuing energy security and sustainable development through deployment of cleaner, more efficient and low-carbon energy technologies. Thus, in the energy sector, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions remains a main factor in choices about energy options for electricity generation. Although reduction of greenhouse gas emission is not the main driving force in current use of nuclear energy by the States, it’s potential role in promoting sustainable energy source will be of central importance in the coming decades.¹

The environmental aspects of nuclear power plants and the facilities of the associated fuel cycle are not very different from any other large-scale industrial activity. However, the radioactive materials that are part of the various fuel cycle operations, particularly those radioactive materials generated during the operation of nuclear reactors, have to be strictly controlled.²

The growing global demand for energy, the issue of combating climate change and the gradual decline of dependence on fossil fuels has warranted a renewed emphasis on nuclear power. Nuclear energy is currently contributing about 17 per cent of the total global electricity production. Nuclear material and technology is also useful for medicine and agriculture. The justification for a nuclear revival has been based largely upon two policy priorities: climate change mitigation and security of energy supply.³ Nuclear energy is often considered a clean non-renewable energy source in terms of emissions. From an emission standpoint nuclear energy is more environmentally friendly than coal, oil or gas. The importance of nuclear energy is increasing since it is capable of meeting a significant portion of the energy needs of a country. Thus, nuclear power should be considered as one of the significant options for meeting future world energy needs at low cost and in an environmentally acceptable manner. Nuclear energy has assumed growing significance as emission-free energy in an era of serious concern about global warming.⁴ In order to improve public perception of the nuclear industry, the issue of safety and waste management need to be further developed and addressed and the industry must continue to pursue a policy of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Risk factors in nuclear energy

Although nuclear technology is currently applied in diverse areas of human activity, such as medicine, nuclear research, agriculture and food preservation, the main risk stems from the generation of nuclear energy from the nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant is the main part in the nuclear fuel cycle chain, and it is the place where the fission process occurs.⁵ Other parts of the nuclear fuel cycle include the transportation of nuclear materials and the management and transportation of spent fuel and nuclear waste.⁶ Thus, the sources include all types of nuclear facilities, such as power reactors, research reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, etc, as well as medical, research and industrial sources, and defence-related sources where appropriate. After the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, public concern about nuclear energy has increased significantly. There are widely varying perceptions of the risks and benefits of nuclear energy. The catastrophic nature of the risk of exposure from a nuclear power plant that can potentially bring great destruction and untold human suffering to humanity and the environment makes this risk unacceptable to humanity.⁷ The opposition to nuclear power plant has been expressed in the following ways:

First, the long-term disposal of radioactive wastes remains a major challenge for the international community. A nuclear power plant creates spent nuclear fuel at the reactor site. Spent nuclear fuel is considered high-level waste that has many potential negative effects on the environment. The resulting waste from use of nuclear energy can last thousands of years and can pose some danger to present and future generations. No state has found a solution to the problem of long-term disposal of nuclear waste.

Second, a major concern of nuclear energy is the long-term effects of radiation on the people living near or working in a nuclear power station. Although nuclear power plants emit low levels of radiation into the environment, long-term exposure to low-level radiation can be a health risk. While sources of ionizing radiation are essential to modern health care, they can be detrimental to living organisms if the production and the use of radiation sources and radioactive material are not covered by measures to protect individuals exposed to radiation.⁸ Ionizing radiation and radioactive substances have a permanent effect on the environment and the risks associated with radiation exposure can only be restricted, not eliminated entirely.⁹ Radiation protection from nuclear energy has become an important concern from the perspective of both human and environmental health.

Third, every operating nuclear power plant poses some risk of a severe or large-scale accident. But the risk of such accident is extremely low or insignificant. The nuclear industry estimates the chances of a severe reactor accident to be about one for every 10,000 reactor years of operation.¹⁰

Fourth, nuclear power plants may not emit carbon dioxide during operation, but high amounts of carbon dioxide are emitted in activities related to building and running the plants. The process of mining the uranium which is used in nuclear power plants also releases high amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment. The mining needed to extract uranium may itself have some negative environmental impacts. Some carbon dioxide emissions occur in various stages of the nuclear fuel chain – mining, milling, transport, fuel fabrication, enrichment, reactor construction, decommissioning and waste management. Uranium mining and milling of uranium mill tailings have radioactivity and this remains after uranium is extracted by milling.¹¹ Another type of radioactive waste consists of tailings generated during the milling of certain ores to extract uranium or thorium. These wastes have relatively low concentrations of radioactive materials but they remain for long period of time.¹² Thus, uranium mill tailings can adversely affect public health.¹³ Nuclear fuel is a kind of enriched uranium but plutonium is a by-product of nuclear power generation. Apart from uranium, which is the primary source of supply for nuclear energy production, plutonium from spent fuel and re-enriched tails from processing residues, stockpiles and ex-military weapons is a secondary source of supply.

Fifth, nuclear power has higher overall lifetime costs compared to natural gas and coal. The nuclear reactpr is more expensive to build than conventional fossil fuel units. Thus, nuclear energy may be the most expensive way to produce electricity.

Sixth, the illegal trade in nuclear material and the proliferation of nuclear weapons is another global concern. Many countries are aspiring to nuclear energy and any increase in the number of states with nuclear energy capacity increases the likelihood of nuclear proliferation through weaponization of civilian nuclear energy materials. The current international legal framework is not fully adequate to eliminate the risk of such proliferation and to meet the security challenges of the expanded nuclear energy programme.

Seventh, transportation of radioactive material raises another public concern over the environmental impacts of such transport. Transport of nuclear fuel to and from nuclear power plants requires adequate packaging and regulatory measures to protect humans and the environment from the hazards of exposure to radiation. The volume of transportation of radioactive material is increasing rapidly and will continue to increase with the growth of the nuclear power industry.¹⁴

Eighth, potential terrorist and cyber-attacks and sabotage on nuclear power plants pose additional risks.¹⁵ There is a fear that nuclear weapons or enriched uranium or plutonium may reach terrorist groups who can make small and unsophisticated nuclear bombs. The possibility of diversion of nuclear material through terrorist acts cannot be ruled out.¹⁶ Furthermore, risks posed by human error and natural disasters can also be significant.¹⁷

Finally, there are unknown and unpredictable safety and environmental risks associated with nuclear energy production that may have long-term consequences.¹⁸ Use of nuclear energy also raises public health concerns with regard to uranium mining and reactor safety, as well as transport and disposal of nuclear waste.¹⁹ Some epidemiologists point out the statistically significant increase of cancer among workers in the nuclear fuel cycle and people living close to nuclear waste reprocessing plants.²⁰ Some public health scholars suggest that nuclear power plants expose people to ‘low-level ionizing radiation, with increased health risks attendant to this exposure’.²¹ Harvard and MIT scholars have stressed that modern reactor designs can achieve a very low risk of serious accidents but have admitted that, although technological progress has made nuclear reactors safer, they are not totally risk free and the risk of a reactor leak or other kind of accident can never be dismissed completely.²² Thus, nuclear technology is seen as ‘inherently hazardous’ given its potential for large-scale damage to human health and the environment.²³ Although nuclear risk per se has a low probability that is difficult to estimate, its foreseen damages are of an extreme magnitude in the event that it occurs.²⁴ In other words, whereas the risk of a nuclear catastrophe is low, its impact on public health remains unknown.²⁵ Risks posed by nuclear energy production are very difficult or even impossible to quantify.²⁶

Although since the Chernobyl accident the nuclear power industry has strengthened its safety practices and standards, some risks are inherent in nuclear energy. The scope of nuclear risk is now broader than merely the risk of nuclear accident.

Nuclear ac...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• List of abbreviations
• List of cases
• List of international instruments
• List of statutes and regulations
• 1 Nuclear energy in context
• 2 Theoretical relationship between international nuclear law and environmental law
• 3 Legal framework on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and denuclearization
• 4 Management of nuclear wastes
• 5 Legal regime on safety and security of nuclear installations
• 6 Decommissioning of nuclear installations
• 7 Legal regime on third-party nuclear liability
• 8 Notification, emergency preparedness and response to nuclear accident
• 9 Institutional framework of regulation of nuclear energy
• 10 Legislative trends on nuclear energy in selected countries
• 11 Review of regulatory responses to the Fukushima accident
• 12 Concluding remarks
• Bibliography
• Index