The Environmental and Ethical Issues of Nuclear Power and Ionizing Radiation

As we enter the new millennium, population explosion, increasing worldwide energy demands and rapid global increase in ionizing radiation are all now threatening our fragile environment like no other time in known history. There is an urgent need for research and education to focus on the complex and direct link between ionizing radiation and its irreversible impact on the environment. Hence, nuclear energy and ionizing radiation issues can no longer be viewed in isolation. Historical facts and official reports prove that a code of ethics did not previously exist in nuclear industry: the risks of ionizing radiation are too great and unpredictable. Elimination of existing man-made ionizing radiation sources in this century is untenable and unsustainable. The intent of this paper is to review and demonstrate that „Atoms for Peace‟ is a false and unethical enterprise, and offers insights into the social and ethical aspects of ionizing radiation as a result of nuclear power development. The unethical nature of nuclear weapons, along with risk perception and ethical dilemmas of atom for peace, nuclear weapon tests, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the International Court of Justice‟s opinion and the World Economic Forum-Global Risk Landscape will be discussed.