Recently the Chicago Tribune had an article covering the fact that more nations want more power. Rather than power in the military sense, what they want is something to replace power given by petroleum. They want nuclear power.
In a world where energy happens to be an integral part of life, what is the problem with more nations getting more energy to fuel the lives of their public? It would be in the best interests of their people to improve and increase the output of energy while not having to rely on foreign factors to help give people what they need. Poland’s United Nations ambassador, Jacek Bylica, was quoted in the Tribune as saying, “It is energy security. We feel it’s much more secure for us to have independent sources of energy without relying solely on outside oil and gas supplies.”
With Iran suspected of trying to build a nuclear weapon and North Korea recently conducting nuclear weapons testing, it has put the global environment at a state of unease. The problem with studies for nuclear energy is the fact that if the application is changed, so is the product. If the application of studies changes, here’s another nation with nuclear weapons.
While that is a threat, forbidding a nation to do something that would increase self-sufficiency in terms of energy is not a wise idea. Forbidding a nation from doing something that would also increase jobs to maintain this self-sufficiency in terms of energy is also not that wise.
The global environment is a harsh one. It is one of fear and paranoia at the moment. However, with or without nuclear energy or nuclear weapons, would it be any safer?
While we wouldn’t have to worry about someone having the ability to destroy entire cities, we also wouldn’t have to worry about the reemergence of accidents like Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979 or Chernobyl in 1986. However, most of the problems with nuclear power, outside of the possibility of nuclear weapons, happen to pop up when something goes wrong. If all goes well, nuclear power can be cleaner and more efficient than that of gas, oil or coal, with a strong output of energy that would be beneficial to the public.
Would it be worth the trouble to let nations have nuclear energy? While the threat of nuclear weapons would be there, the way to minimize that threat is to have all world powers with nuclear armaments disarm. Part of the reason why North Korea wants the bomb is deterrence: to say if you try anything, we do have a rather big bomb to protect ourselves.
Disarming nuclear weapons capabilities will level the playing field, and nuclear weapons will no longer be necessary. Beyond that, there is no problem with giving a nation a means to make life for their countrymen easier.