Nuclear Aftershocks
Wednesday, February 13
Director: Jon Palfreman
Run time: 60 minutes
County: US
Has the world lost faith in nuclear power?
After a devastating earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, there's an emerging consensus in Japan and Germany that the hazards of nuclear energy overshadow its benefits. In the United States and other countries, the question remains unresolved.
In Nuclear Aftershocks...FRONTLINE correspondent Miles O'Brien travels to three continents to explore the revived debate about the safety of nuclear power, the options for alternative energy sources, and questions about whether a disaster like the one at Fukushima could happen in the United States.
The Fukushima accident marked a nuclear tipping point. Only six of Japan's 54 reactors are still operating, and all are expected to be closed by May 2012. For its part, Germany decided to close all of its 17 reactors by 2022, with hopes of filling the power gap with renewable energy sources like wind and solar. But some climatologists are concerned that Japan and Germany's carbon-free nuclear electricity will be replaced not with renewables but with polluting fossil fuels like coal. As NASA's James Hansen says, "It's really extremely bad timing. ... We have not yet found a base-load electric power without carbon emissions, other than nuclear power."
FRONTLINE examines the implications of the Fukushima event for U.S. nuclear safety and asks if any of our 104 reactors could suffer a Fukushima-type accident. According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) chairman Gregory Jaczko, "The likelihood of a Fukushima accident happening here is very low, ... but we know it's not impossible." But David Lochbaum, the chief nuclear expert for the Union of Concerned Scientists, argues that the NRC's record is far from perfect. "The biggest concern I've had with the NRC over the years I've been monitoring them is lack of consistency. They're a little bit slow at solving known safety problems." For example, Lochbaum says, 47 reactors in the U.S. still do not meet federal fire protection standards - standards that were set 35 years ago, after a fire at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama. (Source: PBS press release, "Nuclear Aftershocks," www.pbs.org/pressroom)