GEF

Unit 3  |  Primary Sustainability Issues 60 Global oil production has already, or will soon, peak. After this peak oil date , production will decline and prices will inevitably rise to the point where it becomes unaffordable to much of the world’s population. The scarcity of easily obtainable oil means that production will turn more to sources such as deep-water offshore sites, tar sands, and oil shale. Because of the uncertainty of the total remaining oil reserves, discovery and development of new reserves, and chang- ing technology, there is a great deal of disagreement about the exact peak oil date. However, there is a broad consensus among petroleum geologists that this date has already been passed or will be reached in the near future. Nuclear energy is a significant contributor to electricity pro- duction in several countries, such as the U.S., France, and Japan. As of January, 2017, it provides more than 11 percent of global electricity generation, according to the World Nuclear Association. Using the process of nuclear fission , nuclear power plants harvest the atomic energy in radioac- tive isotopes of uranium to drive steam turbines and produce electricity. The advantage of nuclear energy is that the fun- damental energy-producing reaction does not generate greenhouse gases. However, nuclear energy presents a host of other problems that keep it from being a sustainable energy source. First, nuclear energy produces radioactive wastes that remain hazardous for thousands of years. Radioactive disposal, often underground or deep in mountains, requires long-term political oversight. Second, as was recently seen in the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan, accidents can result in human illness and death as well as contaminated soils and water. Because of these risks, private companies are unwilling to insure nuclear PEAK OIL DATE The point in time when global oil production reaches its maximum rate, after which oil production will decline. NUCLEAR FISSION A nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom con- tinuously splits into smaller parts which releases an enor- mous amount of sustained energy; this is the basis of the energy-producing process in nuclear power plants. RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES Atoms, such as uranium, that have unstable nuclei and undergo nuclear decay.