ABSTRACT
Radioactivity and its impact upon the environment and humans is probably the most exaggerated problem of our time. The word radioactivity conjures up all sorts of horror in many people’s minds. The horrors (i.e. hazards, see Chapter 1) are all true, but the risk of their happening is very much less than the press and some environmental groups would have us believe. For example, the hazards associated with the intake of a-emitting isotopes (e.g. some plutonium nuclides) are great: if inhaled they are capable of causing lung cancer and therefore death. The chance of this happening (i.e. the risk) is very low when the isotopes are used in the generation of electricity. The risk assessment therefore points to low risk. If we introduce the benefit into the equation the result is even more favourable. We live in a world where our traditional energy sources (fossil fuels: coal, oil, gas) are rapidly running out. We have to develop a viable alternative quickly (i.e. on a century scale). Nuclear power is an excellent alternative. It uses a sustainable (or even producible) fuel (plutonium), is clean (produces no toxic exhaust gases) and can be phased into our current power networks with minimum disruption. The risk:benefit equation is therefore very far on the side of benefit.
