Warnings about the danger of global warming consider the limitation of carbon dioxide emissions, which are responsible for the greenhouse effect, one of our most urgent tasks in respect of environmental protection. There are growing voices calling for the gradual replacement of the traditional coal-fired and fossil fuel power plants. However, the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is at odds with the ever-growing hunger of humanity for energy. A solution might be the substitution of the energy production of coal-fired power plants with an increased capacity of nuclear facilities. This is backed by the fact that nuclear power plants operate without an environmental burden, except for the disposal of used fuel elements, for which no final and safe solution has been found yet. France has chosen this way. At the moment 57 nuclear reactors cover three-quarters of the whole country's electricity needs.

Nevertheless, tragic accidents in the past cast a shadow over the more than 50-year history of the peaceful use of nuclear energy (1957 - Windscale, 1976 - Harrisburg, 1986 - Chernobyl). All of these accidents were caused by the negligence or wrong decisions of the operating crews. Has nuclear technology now reached a level where power plants may produce electric power in a completely safe way and problems caused by human mistakes are ruled out? Do you think that atomic energy is green?

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The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is one of our most important tasks in the field of environmental protection, which is closely related to the gradual replacement of traditional coal-fired and fossil fuel power plants. The production of coal-fired power stations can be substituted, for instance, by an increase in the capacity of nuclear power stations, for nuclear facilities operate without carbon dioxide emissions. Is atomic energy really green? Its opponents often refer to the tragic accidents casting a shadow over the history of nuclear power plants, and they also frequently come up with the argument that there is still no final solution for the safe disposal of the used fuel elements. Do you think that we have reached a point where we can practically rule out nuclear accidents and build a future where, instead of coal-fired power stations, safe and "green" nuclear power plants produce electricity?

Related lectures of Encompass:

László Jéki: Living in a Torrent of Radiation
Gyula Bencze: Do We Need to be Afraid of Nuclear Energy?
Antal Tombor: What is Behind the Socket?