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Questions tagged [nuclear-energy]

Questions about the politics of using nuclear power. Since nuclear reactor accidents can render an area uninhabitable, there is often a divided political viewpoint on building and using them.

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Did any Western country ban Japanese seafood as a result of the release of nuclear wastewater?

Russia on Monday followed its ally China in suspending all Japanese seafood imports over Tokyo's release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan has been sharply critical of ...
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136 views

Is there some kind of law that restrict the use of nuclear power in Middle Eastern countries?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_by_country I noticed that the UAE and Egypt are the only countries that use nuclear power and that are allowed to use it without sanctions. Iran, however, ...
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2 votes
3 answers
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Is there a stronger measure that Japan can take to obtain legality or justification for releasing treated radioactive water?

Japan will soon begin releasing treated radioactive water into the ocean following approval from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog for a controversial plan that comes 12 years after the Fukushima ...
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22 votes
1 answer
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What does Corbyn mean by "can't we go back to when Ukraine was a nuclear-free country!?"?

In a talk show (apparently on BBC One) Corbyn said "Can't we go back to the point when Ukraine was a nuclear-free country?" I'm at a loss as to what he means by that. Is he talking about ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
45 votes
11 answers
11k views

Why is Germany still opposed to nuclear power despite the energy crisis?

Germany has recently announced that while they’ll keep two of their nuclear power plants operational during the winter, they’re still planning to shut them down in the spring. But why aren’t they ...
JonathanReez's user avatar
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Which damage specifically at Zaporizhzhia NPP is of contested origin?

As I understand it, both Russia and Ukraine have admitted carrying out some limited shooting in the vicinity of the reactors. Russia admitted shooting on some nearby "training buildings" in ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
231 views

Will the IAEA or another third party investigate the attacks on Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant?

There is a lot of talk about Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the IAEA now being on scene. With the IAEA there, will they make a determination about who has been attacking the nuclear plant? If ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is Western nuclear energy policy backfiring?

Official nuclear energy policy in the Western countries with little investments and continuously changing requirements has, with time, pushed into bankruptcy most of the major actors. The only left ...
FluidCode's user avatar
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-6 votes
3 answers
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Could a party other than Ukraine really be shelling the Zaporizhye NPP? [closed]

ITV says (yesterday) that Russia and Ukraine trade blame over shelling near Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Call me a Russian stooge if you will, but - Russia holds the plant, the surrounding grounds ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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3 answers
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Does any NATO country assume being under an "armed attack" if it suffers casualties due to a radiation leak?

As the title says, does any NATO country's defense doctrine identifies radiation leaks occurred elsewhere, but presumably causing casualties in such country, as an equivalent of armed attack against ...
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
738 views

Does Japan have the capability of manufacturing nuclear weapons in a short period of time?

I read from here that Japan does not possess any programs for the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), but it is the only non-nuclear weapon state in possession of a full nuclear fuel ...
No One's user avatar
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2 answers
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Why did Russia inform the IAEA about taking control of the territory around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station two days before attacking it?

On March 2: Russia has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that its military forces have taken control of the territory around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), ...
Keith McClary's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
477 views

Have any high-level EU politicians said what the response would be if Russia damages an Ukrainian nuclear reactor, releasing a massive radiation wave?

The questions seem less than theoretical, with news reports of a fire at Ukrainian nuclear reactor (at Zaporizhzhia), which can't be extinguished due to fighting. (N.B. insofar the fire is localized ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
5k views

Has anyone besides the EU classified nuclear as a "green investment"?

From the New York Times article "Europe Plans to Say Nuclear Power and Natural Gas Are Green Investments": The European Union has drawn up plans to classify some nuclear power and natural ...
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47 votes
5 answers
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Why did Germany hurry to phase out nuclear energy usage increasing the risk of fossil power use and Russian gas dependency?

This article mentions the difficulties posed by Germany's decision to phase out nuclear energy usage: Germany's decision to phase out nuclear power means that it must replace the energy source with ...
Alexei's user avatar
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3 answers
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Is Iran's claim of civilian uses for 60%-enriched Uranium valid?

(This is a followup question, I suppose, to: Are there non-military uses of 20%-enriched Uranium?) Following the US pulling out of the JCPOA agreement in 2018, and the other signatories enabling ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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0 answers
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Has the US transferred any more naval nuclear reactor technology to the UK besides that S5W reactor piece that powered HMS Dreadnaught (S101)?

I've read that the first UK nuclear powered submarine HMS Dreadnaught (S101) was powered by a US made reactor, but that subsequent UK ships of that kind used UK-made ones. Wikipedia claims: During ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
132 views

How was the ACT party's 2005 proposal to repeal the nuclear propulsion ban in New Zealand defeated?

I was able to find a proposal from 2005 of the ACT party that would have repealed the nuclear propulsion ban in New Zealand's waters. I'm fairly sure this proposal/repeal was defeated, but how did ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
37 votes
7 answers
10k views

Why are other countries reacting negatively to Australia's decision to deploy nuclear submarines?

Recently Australia decided to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, attracting several negative comments, such as: Malaysia said on Saturday that Canberra's decision to build atomic-powered submarines ...
Allure's user avatar
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1 answer
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Is Japan's handling of its nuclear waste water conforming to international norms and historical precedents?

The United States on Monday (local time) extended support to Japan in its decision to release contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima atomic power station into the sea, stating that Tokyo ...
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23 votes
2 answers
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Why have Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia, and Poland withdrawn from the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological…?

The full title is: ‘ Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency’ The declarations and reservations of the treaty is available here on the IAEA website. ...
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4 votes
1 answer
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Aspects of September 24, 2020 US House Energy Bill that US Rep. Kinzinger characterized as "barriers to energy use and development"?

The October 7, 2020 video Kinzinger: Addressing the Issues of Clean Energy, Now and for the Future #NuclearMatters on US House member Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) YouTube channel discusses a "partisan ...
uhoh's user avatar
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131 votes
17 answers
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Why are green parties so often opposed to nuclear power?

As far as I can tell, green political parties worldwide are almost all opposed to nuclear power. Considering nuclear power is a low-carbon source of electricity (in fact, in terms of the total-...
Sean's user avatar
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48 votes
5 answers
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Why do the US media keep claiming that Iran is violating their nuclear deal even though the deal was withdrawn by the US?

I keep seeing articles in the US media recently, claiming that Iran is in violation of a 'nuclear deal'. For example: The head of Iran's nuclear program said on Monday that Tehran was now operating ...
Time4Tea's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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Is there any international convention/treaty/protocol that regulates how a country should behave if a nuclear incident happens on its territory?

There is a quite a long list of nuclear power and radioactive incidents that happened after nuclear power has been discovered. One of the most recent was the Nyonoksa radiation accident that happened ...
Alexei's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
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Why did France stop its uranium extraction activities?

According to the French Wikipedia article, France had these going from 1953 to 2002, but no mention of the reason of the cessation. Now most of the material comes from the outside of the country, ...
Drenghel's user avatar
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23 votes
3 answers
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Does nuclear propulsion applied to military ships fall under civil or military nuclear power?

From what I know very few countries are authorized to possess nuclear weapons, although a few others might secretly have some. But using nuclear power for civilian use (to produce electricity) is ...
Speedphoenix's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
438 views

Can Iran easily restart the heavy-water reactor construction at Arak, after supposedly it filled with concrete?

Under JCPOA Iran was supposed to change the design of the Arak IR-40 research reactor to make it harder to produce (weapons grade) plutonium. Iran announced in 2016 that they filled the core of the ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
111 views

What provisions does JCPOA contain for medical isotopes or their (special) precursors?

Back in 2010-2011 or so, Iran claimed (through president Ahmadinejad) that Iran needed 20% enriched uranium only to produce medical isotopes: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Through Translator): [...] The ...
264 champagne bottles on ice's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
693 views

Are there non-military uses of 20%-enriched Uranium?

Following the US pulling out of the JCPOA agreement last year, Iran has announced it may resume Uranium enrichment, up to a level of 20% of U-235 (the more-active isotope, as opposed to U-238). The ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Saudi nuclear reactor "identified" in satellite images

There is a recent spate of news articles, for example, by CBC.ca: Saudi Arabia is about a year away from completing the building of its first nuclear reactor, according to Google satellite images ...
Keith McClary's user avatar
76 votes
13 answers
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Why does the Green New Deal push for green energy but not for nuclear energy?

It seems strange to me that that the new green deal wants clean and renewable power from solar and wind energy yet oppose nuclear energy. I have been googling experts’ consensus on nuclear energy and ...
Matthew Liu's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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Why does Israel not have an energy producing nuclear power plant?

I think, in the case of such small countries, the existence of the peaceful nuclear energy production is probably more a political and not an economical question. It is because even a single power ...
Gray Sheep's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
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Why is France cutting nuclear power policy so different than Germany's?

According to this article France postpones nuclear power reduction: The French government has postponed a long-held target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country’s power production ...
Alexei's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Does Japan have a nuclear phase out plan similar to that of Germany?

In 2011 Fukushima Daiichi reactor suffered a meltdown with tremendous consequences. The same source argues about Japan's issues related to storing nuclear waste: Japan possesses approximately 17,...
Alexei's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
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How popular is the idea of building a nuclear power plant in Egypt?

It just crossed my news feed that Egyptian President el-Sisi finalized the deal with Putin to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant. In the last several years, there was a notable drop (e.g. in USA)...
user4012's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
165 views

What are the conditions of Iran's nuclear agreement?

According to the agreement between "Iran" and "China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the UK and the US", Iran should not be able to produce weapons of mass destruction. But in reality the ...
Nukee's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
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Nuclear energy in Australia

Why is Australia not considering nuclear energy? Is the coal industry a key factor to nuclear energy not being considered?
Reece's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
559 views

Why is China opposed to India's membership in Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)?

China is leading opposition to a push by the United States and other major powers for India to join the main club of countries controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology, diplomats said on ...
user4012's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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What benefits are there for a nation to sign the NPT?

Signing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons definitely has restrictions. But does it have benefits (in action, not on paper)? Iran has signed the treaty, and is under pressure, ...
user 1's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
332 views

is nuclear energy a part of the paris climate agreement?

The implementation of the Paris agreement will require a massive shift in the production and storage of energy to stabilize the levels of atmosferic CO2 . It is on this moment naive to assume that the ...
Arthur D's user avatar
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3 answers
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Why does Iran oppose nuclear inspections?

It's obvious that Iran is not in favor of regulatory IAEA design safety reviews and among the talks she is firm that the nuclear program is merely for "peaceful purposes." Is there a legitimate ...
Script Kitty's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
792 views

Which sovereign states currently have nuclear power stations but no nuclear weapons programs?

Put another way, which sovereign states besides the following have nuclear power stations? China France India Israel North Korea Pakistan Russia United Kingdom United States
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9 votes
8 answers
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Why do so few Arab countries have nuclear energy power plants?

According to Wikipedia there are no Arab countries that have a functioning nuclear energy program. (Indeed, Pakistan and Iran are the only Muslim countries to do so, and neither of these are Arab.) ...
Moudiz's user avatar
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4 answers
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Is support for nuclear energy correlated with other political positions?

I was recently told by a right-wing Japanese person that in Japan, right-wingers are more likely to support nuclear energy than left-wingers. It's previously appeared to me that in the USA and ...
Golden Cuy's user avatar
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