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| Control room in nuclear power plant. Click on picture for full size. |
Nuclear energy technology does not have to be developed before wide usage because it is very well developed and available to most countries. The first nuclear power plant built for civil purposes was launched on June 27, 1954 in the Soviet Union. It produced around 5 MW. So, we have more than 50 years of experience in producing electricity from nuclear energy, and only one major accident with this technology - Chernobyl.
Each year up to 50,000 Americans die from respiratory diseases due to the burning of coal, and 300 are directly killed in mining and transportation accidents. No Americans have died or been seriously injured because of a reactor accident or radiation exposure from American nuclear power plants. Small accident rate is because there are number of various active and passive safety measures that must be implemented in nuclear power plants, leaving virtually no space for large scale disaster like Chernobyl. US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) studies confirmed that the likelihood of both damaging the reactor core and releasing radioactivity that could affect public health and safety is low even in case of attacks by large airliners fully loaded with fuel.
