Australia has one of the world’s highest greenhouse gas emission footprints comparative to its population on earth. As of 2006, Australia's emissions were the highest of any OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) nation with 26.7 tonnes per person per year of equivalent carbon dioxide (Garnaut report 2008). In comparison, the United States had just 20.6 tonnes per person per year of equivalent carbon dioxide in 2006 (Garnaut report 2008). The largest contributor to Australia's emission footprint is the energy sector, accounting for 45.5% of emissions between 2005 and 2006 (Garnaut report 2008). Further breaking this number down, we can see that ~79% of our electrical generation is done via coal (Garnaut report 2008).
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The only thing nuclear energy emits into the atmosphere is steam. However, once we take the entire nuclear cycle into consideration, the environmental dangers of nuclear energy become clear. Once used, nuclear fuel can remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years and over that period it is important for it to be stored in a secure facility away from populated areas. The majority of Australia's population lives on the coast line, with the interior of the country being mostly inhospitable for humans. This factor does provide the perfect opportunity for a storage facility in Australia, or we could simply ship our waste to another nation such as the United States to be stored. The main danger with nuclear waste, however, comes from transporting it from the nuclear power plant to the storage facility. If we were to transport it by rail or truck, what happens if said vehicle has an accident. What about if we were to transport the waste via ship overseas and it was to sink. It are these what if scenarios that must be taken into consideration when deciding on whether nuclear energy is beneficial for our environment. If we compare this to other renewable sources of energy, we find that they have minimal environmental risk associated with them. Solar and wind farms do
The only thing nuclear energy emits into the atmosphere is steam. However, once we take the entire nuclear cycle into consideration, the environmental dangers of nuclear energy become clear. Once used, nuclear fuel can remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years and over that period it is important for it to be stored in a secure facility away from populated areas. The majority of Australia's population lives on the coast line, with the interior of the country being mostly inhospitable for humans. This factor does provide the perfect opportunity for a storage facility in Australia, or we could simply ship our waste to another nation such as the United States to be stored. The main danger with nuclear waste, however, comes from transporting it from the nuclear power plant to the storage facility. If we were to transport it by rail or truck, what happens if said vehicle has an accident. What about if we were to transport the waste via ship overseas and it was to sink. It are these what if scenarios that must be taken into consideration when deciding on whether nuclear energy is beneficial for our environment. If we compare this to other renewable sources of energy, we find that they have minimal environmental risk associated with them. Solar and wind farms do