Environmental justice issue
The world we live in is getting thronged with contradictions, and every good thing seems to have a bad side. One side of the globe is in the light of day while the other is in darkness at any instance. This reality appears to reflect on man’s advancement. Nuclear energy is one outstanding source of light and heat. There was a point in time when it was considered a potential substitute for fossil fuels. That it would somehow save the environment from pollution by carbon, or provide reliable energy where other means could not suffice (Buzz, 2009). While the latter is true and nuclear energy does work well to power large cities. Its side effects are far worse than those of other means. When compared, carbon compounds threaten the ozone layer, up high in the sky. People could always ignore its effect and deny any evidence of global warming. Siting perhaps, the worst won’t happen at their time.
But when something scorches the earth, destroying the ecosystem—violating all sought of organic matter to found within an area, and yet preventing recovery for hundreds of years to come. Such a threat is bound to catch the attention of the public near and far. The native residents of Navajo and Alaska know the catastrophe of this vice a little too well. The plateaus of Navajo have been to commissioned for nuclear development since world war two. The area, which was once a sacred ground for the tribes in the neighborhood is now unapproachable due to radiation risks. The lands have been used for testing and dumping nuclear wastes for decades. In the Marshall Islands, hydrogen bombs completely erased islands and displaced thousands of locals. The U.S government has invested exceedingly into nuclear activities dedicating 36000 square miles of the nation to these projects (Bolin, 2016). Many of these sites are near populated settlements and minority group lands.
Entire towns have suffered from contamination; some cases have seen the populations suffer different effects of radiation. The people come into contact with contaminated water from rivers. Their livestock and animals are not spared either with gross mutations causing the death of many cattle. People who get exposed to these radioactive materials develop radiation sickness and cardiac diseases as well as cancer. Leukemia, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, and chemical burns are common in such instances. Without proper care, the individual dies a slow and painful death, not to mention mutation of ovum and sperm, causing disfigured births (Buzz, 2009).
A nuclear reactor is a significant risk to the environment on a regular day. Large amounts of water, up to 20,000 gallons, are required to cool the reactors. The water gets ionized and forms 5000 gallons of tritiated water each minute (Bolin, 2016). Several rare gases get emitted by the factories all day, and all these can cause real trouble. The Locals are at risk of two kinds of health hazards. The first arises from daily exposure to radioactive substances from the factories, especially plutonium materials. There have been reports of children playing in unsealed uranium mines and cattle grazing on contaminated fields. The rivers are now and then defiled with groundwater with radioactive compounds. Such exposure causes an array of diseases, many of which are chronic and have no cure. The second risk arises from accidents in nuclear plants; the most recent occurred in 2011. The Fukushima Daiichi disaster was a clear illustration of the kind of damage a nuclear plant accident can cause. Apart from the immediate death of any life form within a considerably wide radius of the plant, the aftermath is equally terrifying.
The fact that most of these sites get located on minority group land raises an environmental justice issue. The National Congress of American Indians is the oldest organization that got founded to protect the American Indian community. Since the first nuclear explosion ever recorded happened on the sacred burial grounds of the natives. The NCAI has been seeking to curb atomic activities without much success. Their lands are rich in uranium; the large deposits inspire crafty business people to come up with new ways to continue every day. Companies such as Kerr-McGee’s Sequoyah Fuels Plant continue to run their processes quite near native American settlements. In the period between 1986 and 1990, the department of energy gave the NCAI nearly two million dollars to ensure the participation of the native communities in the nuclear waste disposal activities. These amounts managed to silence the community, although people continued to suffer.
References
Kyne, D., & Bolin, B. (2016). Emerging environmental justice issues in nuclear power and radioactive contamination. International journal of environmental research and public health, 13(7), 700.
Buzz, P. (2009). Nuclear energy: Pros and Cons. Triple Pundit.