How Oppenheimer addresses the paranoia around nuclear power - New Scientist
How Oppenheimer addresses the paranoia around nuclear power | New Scientist
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) watches a nuclear test in progress Universal Pictures
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) watches a nuclear test in progress
Universal Pictures
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan
On general release
Nuclear Now
Oliver Stone
Video on demand
RADIATION isn’t a pestilence, but read the medical studies following any accidental release of radioactive material and you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. In the UK, for instance, around 12 kilograms of uranium oxide escaped via the towers of the Windscale power station from 1954 to 1957, giving about 300 people terminal cancer. The explosion at Chernobyl in 1986, which killed over 30 people immediately, is likely to have caused terminal cancer …
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear
Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.