Page 150 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - SEPT 2025

Feature

The levels of radioactivity in the seas
and lands are already steadily increas-
ing from the existing industrial and mil-
itary activities of our modern civilisa-
tion. Nuclear pollution is accumulative
and irreversible. We must think more
seriously. We have recent experience
with other technologies that were once
considered harmless, such as internal
combustion engines, and have moved
towards their universal adoption.
When internal combustion engines
first appeared, no one imagined that
building millions of them would have an
environmental impact. For a century, It
was widely believed that CO posed no
2
threat to the environment — until sci-
ence proved otherwise.
Are we ready to safely manage a world
where thousands of small nuclear reac-
tors will be operating, many of them
privately? What will the overall levels
of radioactivity be in the coming
decades? How will marine ecosystems
be protected for the centuries to come?
And, most importantly, how will future
generations deal with the legacy of
radioactive waste that we will have pro-
duced but failed to manage? Many gov-
Credit: EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET using sophisticated computational ernments are already promoting nuclear
models and experimental methods. energy as a solution for energy self-
To ensure maximum protection for hun- sufficiency and geopolitical competi-
dreds to thousands of years, many dif- tiveness.
ferent materials are combined in multi- The European Union has included
barrier systems. But for none of these nuclear energy in its “green taxonomy”.
materials is there any real experience The political will to adopt nuclear energy
regarding their long-term exposure is therefore a given, and the techni-
to radioactivity. Moreover, for materials cal and regulatory issues surrounding
like concrete, bentonite clay, and other its use in industry andcommercial
mixtures used for storing radioactive shipping will be gradually addressed.
waste, there is a lack of data on how What remains deeply unresolved – and
their properties change over time. increasingly avoided for discussion – is
What will we do if research programmes the environmental footprint of radioac-
conclude that the management that has tive waste.
been carried out so far was not safe? The consequences could be cata-
Limits have been established for radi- strophic. We risk sacrificing the future
oactivity in drinking water, and when of humanity to the greedy consumption
these limits are exceeded, measures of natural resources and energy.
must be taken. But what measures are This technology, however promising,
really capable of “cleaning up” radioac- should remain more of a means of the-
tivity? oretical reflection and scientific study
Science and technology progress until it can completely and permanently
through application and experience. solve the environmental issues it will
Many of the scientific “truths” of the cause. Any hasty commercial exploita-
past have been disproven. In the case tion of it in the name of energy “pro-
of nuclear energy, the “trial and error” gress” shifts the problem and the risks
approach will be fatal to humanity. to future generations.

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