The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. There is a wide spectrum of concerns over nuclear power and it remains a controversial area of public policy. Many studies have shown that the public perceives nuclear power as a very risky technology and, around the world, nuclear energy has declined in popularity since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Anti-nuclear critics see nuclear power as a dangerous way to generate electricity. Opponents of nuclear power have raised a number of related concerns, such as radioactive nuclear accidents, pollution from uranium mining, radioactive waste disposal remaining dangerous for thousands of years,
… Read more and the vulnerability of nuclear reactors. Anti-nuclear groups also favour the use of renewable energy, such as hydro, wind power, solar power, geothermal energy and biofuel. Of these concerns, nuclear accidents and disposal of long-lived radioactive waste have probably had the greatest public impact worldwide. Anti-nuclear campaigners point to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear emergency as proof that nuclear power can never be 100% safe. Costs resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster are likely to exceed 12 trillion yen ($100 billion) and the clean up effort to decontaminate affected areas and decommission the plant is estimated to take 30 to 40 years.
Risks of Nuclear Power:
- Nuclear accidents: a safety concern that the core of a nuclear power plant could overheat and melt down, releasing radioactivity.
- Nuclear Fuel Mining: mining waste of nuclear fuels like uranium and thorium, results in its radioactive decay. That causes radium pollution and radon pollution in the environment and ultimately affects public health.
- Radioactive waste disposal: a concern that nuclear power results in large amounts of radioactive waste, some of which remains dangerous for very long periods.
- Nuclear proliferation: a concern that some types of nuclear reactor designs use and/or produce fissile material which could be used in nuclear weapons.
- High cost: a concern that nuclear power plants are very expensive to build, and that clean up from nuclear accidents are highly expensive and can take decades.
- Attacks on nuclear plants: a concern that nuclear facilities could be targeted by terrorists or criminals.
- Curtailed civil liberties: a concern that the risk of nuclear accidents, proliferation and terrorism may be used to justify restraints on citizen rights.
Degrowth is a term used for a social movement that critiques the paradigm of economic growth. It is a political, economic, and social concept that advocates the reduction of consumption. Born in the 1970s, it is based on the idea that economic growth (measured by macro-indicators such as the GDP or the population level) does not guarantee or thwart the improvement of the living conditions of humanity. According to the actors of the degrowth movement, the industrialization process has three negative consequences: dysfunctions of the economy (mass unemployment, precariousness, etc.), alienation at work (stress, moral harassment, multiplication of accidents, etc.), and pollution, responsible
… Read more for the deterioration of ecosystems and the disappearance of thousands of animal species. Human action on the planet would threaten the human species itself, so degrowth aims to stop making growth a goal. It is based on political ecology, ecological economics, feminist political ecology, and environmental justice, pointing out the social and ecological harm caused by the pursuit of infinite growth and Western development imperatives. Degrowth emphasizes the need to reduce global consumption and production and advocates an ecologically sustainable society. The movement arose from concerns over the perceived consequences of the productivism and consumerism associated with industrial societies such as the declining quality of the environment (global warming, pollution, threats to biodiversity). Degrowth thought is in opposition to all forms of productivity, including the current form of sustainable development. Sustainable development is rooted in mainstream development ideas that aim to increase capitalist growth and consumption. Degrowth, therefore, sees sustainable development as an oxymoron, as any development based on growth in a finite and environmentally stressed world is seen as inherently unsustainable.