Are there any health hazards associated with the way they produce energy?

Question

Are there any health hazards associated with the way they produce energy?

Answer 1

There are hazards in everything we do. It is important to put those hazards into context, then trying to make an assessment to risks.

Lets look at some of the hazards of Nuclear Energy.  

There are environmental costs, not just monetary costs of actually building more Nuclear plants. In both environmental and monetary terms they are incredibly expensive to build, maintain, run and decommission. This is also because in terms of the environment, nuclear reactors have a very limited life, only about fifty years. Anything that is an environmental cost will impact negatively on human health.

The waste must then be contained and stored for thousands of years. So there will always be waste management issues and health hazards regarding radioactive waste. Whilst there is strict legislation, there will always be hazards associated with human error, poor design, poor systems and lack of knowledge. (We can't know the affect it will have in thousands of years on either the environment or on human health).

Transportation of radioactive materials has to be a key risk issue  because of the increased levels of risk to human health and safety.  Similarly you have to factor into Nuclear Energy production that security is another high risk to human health as nuclear plants can become  terrorists' targets.

Uranium is mined. There are health risks associated with this.

Everybody thinks about the accidents such as Chernobyl which contaminated large areas with radioactivity. The impact on the environment and human health is a hazard that we can not fully consider because we will not be around to see the effects in thousands of years.

Careless disposal of waste in the past has led to pollution of land, rivers and the seas which again impact on human health.

You then have to compare these risks with those associated with the production of other energies so for example: The risks of Nuclear against burning fossil fuels. Then the resulting greenhouse emissions will not only result in droughts and floods, but may result in climate changes such as temperatures that will not sustain living things including human life . When you put them into context like this, it is easier to understand the risks.

So assess the risks of nuclear energy production, which is hazardous to human health, but it is a localized hazard, (it affects only those in the immediate area/working with it).  With those of burning fossil fuels which result in CO2 emissions which affects people GLOBALLY when looking at health hazards associated with the way energy is produced.

Answer 2

Power plants emit a lot of CO2, which causes global warming, but it's harmless to humans' health.

Answer 3

There are lots of ways to generate energy.  I'm not sure what you meant.

Most power plants use fossil fuels to generate electricity.  Fossil fuels come from a time when it was hot and humid and the air had a lot more CO2 than it does now.  All that was tied up in decaying vegetable matter that got buried, and the air changed to something more like what we have now.  When we burn fossil fuels, we are changing the planet back to the way it was back then.  The heat comes first, with increasingly turbulent weather and uncontrollable forest fires.  Later the fires with stop as ocean water levels will rise, filling in now-dry inland seas.  CO2 will build up - folks with respiratory illnesses will be the first casualties.

No wonder everyone wants a world war.

Answer 4

Yes. for example, a fossil fueled plant puts tons of pollutants into the air each year. They also produce CO2 which many think caused global warming. Of course we (And all animals) produce CO2 when we breath.

I guess the solution is for all of us to stop breathing, then we will not need the power, the only CO2 will be "Natural" CO2.