Is Nuclear Worth It?: Nuclear Energy’s Role in the Climate Crisis and its Environmental Impact

Concern over the use of nuclear energy has been mounting since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, increasing in recent years with the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011. Political action groups opposing the use of nuclear energy and weaponry have been active since around the time of the Cold War, urging governments to seek peaceful ways to utilize nuclear energy and limit its use in the energy sector to prevent potentially detrimental environmental effects. However, with the intensifying climate crisis, nuclear energy has been reframed as a ‘clean’ energy solution by scientists and governments alike to push as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels. Therein lies a major conflict: is it the collective duty of the people to invest in nuclear energy as a cleaner energy alternative to fossil fuels to combat the rapidly growing climate crisis? Or, does the cost of implementing nuclear power plants and the risks associated with potential nuclear accidents outweigh environmental sentiment?  

According to the European Commission, 12 of 27 European Union member states have operational nuclear power plants, including France, the Netherlands, and Finland. Currently, about 100 reactors in 12 nations account for over 22% of the EU’s total electricity, and France alone accounts for 338,202GWh of the EU’s total 619,601GWh of electricity produced from nuclear energy (Nuclear Energy Statistics). Before, almost a quarter of the EU’s energy came from nuclear energy sources; several pieces of legislation and organizational treaties were drafted to preserve a peaceful world order without the abuse of nuclear weaponry, and the responsible and sustainable use of nuclear energy in place of fossil fuels. One of the first treaties that suggested various intergovernmental measures to consciously monitor nuclear weapon construction and testing was the EURATOM treaty, established in 1957. The EURATOM treaty is one of the foundational treaties of the European Union and led to the creation of the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), which determined and delegated the European community’s responsibilities to adequately maintain a safe and prosperous European Union, as nuclear energy was introduced to both weaponry and electricity markets. 

Since the inception of the EURATOM treaty and the EAEC, the European Union and its member states have witnessed a myriad of directives and amendments made to the treaty regarding the safe implementation and use of nuclear energy on large scales, such as the EURATOM Nuclear Safety Directive, which was established in 2009. The ENSD was one of the first EU directives that provided a specific legal framework for nuclear safety protocols, primarily on the installation of nuclear plants in EU countries. After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the directive was amended in 2014, requiring “EU countries to give the highest priority to nuclear safety at all stages of the lifecycle of nuclear installations”, rather than only during the construction and implementation of power plants. The amended version of the Euratom directive calls for “the provisions of Directive 2009/71/Euratom on functional separation … [to] be strengthened to ensure the regulatory authorities' effective independence from undue influence in their regulatory decision-making” and to assign the proper resources and means to these agencies in order to carry out the responsibilities ascribed to them (COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2014/87/EURATOM para. 6).  

The regulatory authorities, as described in the 2009 directive, include both supranational regulatory groups as well as domestic regulatory groups. The main regulatory body for EU nuclear safety is the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG), which was formed following a 2007 decision by the European Commission. ENSREG serves as a board of independent nuclear experts who advise the European Commission and EU member states’ national regulatory boards on nuclear safety regulations. One of ENSREG’s recent hallmarks is the introduction of “comprehensive risk and safety assessments”, or “stress tests” for all nuclear power plants in the EU, following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster (EU Level Reports | ENSREG).   

“Stress tests” are defined by ENSREG as a “targeted reassessment of the safety margins of nuclear power plants”, compared to those of the Fukushima plant, where “extreme natural events challeng[ed] the plant safety functions and [led] to a severe accident” (Declaration of ENSREG 1). Reassessments evaluate the response of the nuclear plant under extreme situations, known as the “technical scope”, coupled with an assessment of preventative and mitigative measures following “defence-in-depth logic”, examining the safety protocols of nuclear plants from the “initiating event”, to the “consequential loss of safety functions”, and “severe accident management” (ibid). These stress tests are, by and large, considered extremely effective tools in ensuring the safety of nearby human populations and minimizing the risk of future nuclear disasters, along with other regulatory measures that were created following prior accidents. 

The ENSREG stress test standards are largely based on the failures of the Fukushima plant, so the initiating events that are evaluated are earthquakes and floods, which are considered particularly important as flooding events are “included regardless” of the plant's origin (ibid, 4). Also included in initiating event standards are “bad weather conditions”, which may influence the plant’s consequential loss of safety functions and severe accident management differently than how the Fukushima plant reacted in response to the tsunami (ibid). ENSREG identifies three fundamental safety functions which authorities must test to identify possible weaknesses of a plant and prevent a nuclear accident, being: the control of reactivity, fuel cooling, and confinement of radioactivity. For severe accident management, authorities must test “the time before damage to fuel becomes unavoidable”, and the time “up to when adequate shielding against radiation is maintained” (ibid, 6). Truly, the fear surrounding the safety of nuclear energy is unfounded, considering the rigorous nature of EU stress tests and the sheer number of regulatory bodies that exist to monitor nuclear management and intervene in the event that a plant’s capabilities are not up to the meticulous standards of ENSREG tests. 

Although the likelihood of potential environmental devastation in the event of a nuclear accident is rare, operating and constructing nuclear plants may contribute to the depletion of natural environments. From the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear energy is superior to other non-renewable energy sources. The operation of nuclear power plants emits far less carbon dioxide than other energy sources, emitting only 15-50gCO2/kWh, whereas a coal-powered generator emits around 1,050 gCO2/kWh (Serin). While the advantages of nuclear energy over other energy sources is clear in the question of CO2 emissions, it is imperative that nuclear energy must be carefully managed and radioactive waste properly stored away from human populations in order to ascribe a significant advantage to nuclear capability over other energy sources.  

The cost of mismanaging radioactive waste is incredibly high, both monetarily as well as for the environment and civilizations, as illustrated by the case of the Asse II mines in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Asse II mines were originally established around 1900 as a salt mine and were transformed into a temporary storage facility for radioactive waste in 1965. As of 2026, the Asse II mines are still being used to store nearly 47,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste. The mines are not structurally sound and are particularly susceptible to erosion, which allows groundwater to flow into the mines and back out after being contaminated by radioactive waste. The groundwater that flows in and out of the Asse mines poses a threat to the land it touches, as well as neighboring human populations. In response to public outcry, the German Bundestag has ordered the removal of radioactive materials and the full decommissioning of the mine by 2033, which is expected to cost €4.7 billion.  

Another major concern regarding nuclear energy’s effect on the environment is the use of water. The amount of water used to power nuclear plants is alarming, as water is increasingly becoming a scarce resource as the climate crisis mounts, in addition to the treated water being released back into natural waterways after passing through nuclear cooling systems. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 45% of reactors worldwide source their water from the sea, 25% source water from water mains (cooling towers), and 30% source from lakes and rivers. The water used to cool reactors is treated, purified, and released back into waterways, which may cause increased concentrations of chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which can lead to the eutrophication and acidification of aquatic ecosystems and permanently damage organisms like coral and fish, causing an overgrowth of algae (Efficient Water Management in Water Cooled Reactors 20). Mass amounts of water are used for this process as well, as anywhere between 1,514L and 2,725L of water per MWh are consumed, which equates to several billions of gallons of water each year (Membracon).  

When solely examining nuclear energy's negative impact on the environment, it may seem clear that nuclear energy cannot be considered a particularly ‘clean’ energy source. However, when compared with the detrimental effects of the fossil fuel industry on the environment, it becomes clear that nuclear power may be one of the only viable options left that can provide an adequate amount of power to large geographical areas without being totally ecologically destructive. While alternative renewable energy sources like hydropower or wind power are marginally less harmful to the environment, the efficacy of these energy sources is more dependent on the resources of the region in which they are implemented. Only a limited amount of energy can be produced from these sources, so it's nearly impossible to implement renewable energy sources like solar power around the globe and generate a sustainable amount of energy for human populations.  

Various international, regional, and domestic regulatory authorities exist that enforce strict safety standards for power plant operation and construction. If nuclear power plants are properly managed and supervised by the proper regulatory authorities, which can measure plant safety and minimize environmental impact, nuclear energy has the potential to fulfill the needs of populations while replacing current reliability on fossil fuel sources. As the climate crisis has progressed to a nearly irreparable point, it is the duty of governments to seek out energy alternatives such as nuclear power to phase out fossil fuels from the energy industry.  

Works Cited

“Asse II Mine.” Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung, https://www.bge.de/en/asse/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026. COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2014/87/EURATOM. Council of the European Union, 22 Jul. 2014, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.219.01.0042.01.ENG. Directive. 

“Declaration of ENSREG.” European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group, 13 May 2011, https://www.ensreg.eu/sites/default/files/EU%20Stress%20tests%20specifications_1.pdf. 

Efficient Water Management in Water Cooled Reactors. Technical Report. International Atomic Energy Agency , 2012, p. 20. IAEA Nuclear Energy Series, NP-T-2.6. 

EU Level Reports | ENSREG. https://www.ensreg.eu/EU-Stress-Tests/EU-level-Reports. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026. 

Membracon. “Nuclear Power and Water Consumption.” Membracon, 4 May 2022, https://www.membracon.co.uk/blog/nuclear-power-and-water-consumption/. 

Nuclear Energy Statistics. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Nuclear_energy_statistics. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026. 

Serin, Esin. What Is the Role of Nuclear in the Energy Mix and in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Energy and Climate Change, Dec. 2022, https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/role-nuclear-power-energy-mix-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions/. 

Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). Government of Italy, 25 Mar. 1957, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C:2016:203:FULL. Multilateral treaty.