Risks

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The risks from nuclear energy are real, inherent and long-lasting. The only way to mitigate them is to end the nuclear age and reject all nuclear technology.

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The risks from nuclear energy are real, inherent and long-lasting

Transportation

Transporting nuclear material tools is risky for human health and the environment. Just one container of highly radioactive spent fuel rods elements contains about as much radiation as was released at Chernobyl. Imagine what would happen if a ship carrying that waste were to sink in the waters of the Middle East or be deliberately attacked?

Proliferation

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is dedicated to expanding nuclear power. But it is also the official watch-dog for illegal nuclear weapons development.

Nuclear Terrorism

"Nuclear terrorism is still often treated as science fiction - I wish it were. But unfortunately we live in a world of excess hazardous materials and abundant technological know-how, in which some terrorists clearly state their intention to inflict catastrophic casualties." These are not the words of Greenpeace. They are the words of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Storage

The burial of radioactive materials is touted as a solution by a radioactive waste disposal site in New Mexico; Yucca Mountain in Nevada; Gorleben in Germany, and proposed sites in the UK, Russia, Australia and elsewhere are on the list of places where nuclear engineers say they have 'solved' the waste problem.

Waste

Each stage of the nuclear fuel cycle creates nuclear waste. From uranium mining and enrichment, to reactor operation and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, the nuclear industry brings us nuclear waste. Much of it will be hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years.

Health Impacts

Excessive exposure to radioactivity leads to radiation sickness. Early symptoms are nausea, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhoea; hair loss, haemorrhage, inflammation of the mouth and throat and loss of energy may follow. In severe cases, death can come in two weeks.

Safety Vs. Accidents

Safe reactors are a myth. Accidents can occur in any nuclear reactor, each carrying the threat of deadly radiation spewing into the environment. Even when they are working as they are designed to, radioactive materials are regularly discharged into the air and water. But the industry is still shrouded in the military-like secrecy that created it in the 1940s.

Greenpeace Worldwide

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