If society considers the loss of life acceptable given the benefits, fine.
But I don't think it does.
It's not just engineers who are responsible, in any event.
But I don't think it does.
It's not just engineers who are responsible, in any event.
The bottom line is that nuclear power is still safer than many activities/environments that regular people encounter on a daily basis, and is certainly safer and cleaner than other, much more prevalent sources of power generation. It's obviously not the safest or cleanest, but it's up there.
I really can't say how many lives are enhanced or saved by simply being more efficient. And I can't predict the future, so neither do I know if nuclear power will ultimately be our downfall. But the question is far more complex than "society considers the loss of life acceptable." Society makes these choices to support and sustain better (and more numerous) lives.
Calculate, how many lives are already saved and will be saved in future by nuclear reactors in comparison to other sources of energy. Calculate how many lives will be lost in worstests scenarios. Multiple number by probability and sum up.
For example:
* nuclear reactor can save 1000 lives per year in 100 years of it life with 0.9999 probability;
* in worstest case, with 0.0001 probability, it can kill 10000 humans per year in 1000 years.
Result: 1000⋅100⋅0,9999 + −10000⋅1000⋅0,0001 = 98,99E3
0,0001 probability is too optimistic - we already have Chernobyl and few other smaller nuclear disasters while number of nuclear stations is much smaller than 1K.
Energy Source Death Rate (deaths per TWh)
Coal – world average 161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity)
Coal – China 278
Coal – USA 15
Oil 36 (36% of world energy)
Natural Gas 4 (21% of world energy)
Biofuel/Biomass 12
Peat 12
Solar (rooftop) 0.44 (less than 0.1% of world energy)
Wind 0.15 (less than 1% of world energy)
Hydro 0.10 (europe death rate, 2.2% of world energy)
Hydro - world including Banqiao) 1.4 (about 2500 TWh/yr and 171,000 Banqiao dead)
Nuclear 0.04 (5.9% of world energy)PS. If something will blow up our Earth, it will be even safer than nuclear energy! (If we calculate number of deaths per TWh).