History 101 (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 8 - Nuclear Power - full transcript
Over 10% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power. But with radioactive waste and the threat of nuclear meltdown, are we playing with fire?
Truly the superpower which man
has released from within the atom's heart
is not one but many giants.
It's 1952.
The destructive power of the atom bomb
is still fresh in everyone's memory.
But now, General Electric
is touting the potential peaceful benefits
of nuclear power.
Cheap, clean energy with a host
of other practical applications.
All are within man's power
in the new world of the atomic age.
Okay, we're looking around.
What they don't yet know
are the terrible dangers
that nuclear power
will unleash on the world.
As of 2019,
over 10% of the world's electricity
comes from nuclear power.
The biggest user? France.
Over 70% of their energy
comes from nuclear plants.
But nuclear power
produces radioactive waste.
To date, the US alone
has generated 80,000 tons,
enough to fill a football field
20 meters deep.
Waste that remains toxic
for thousands of years.
And there's a more immediate threat:
nuclear meltdown.
So if it's risky,
even deadly...
why are we still playing
with nuclear fire?
Germany, 1938.
While Hitler's trying to convince people
about the superiority of his race...
Jewish chemist Lise Meitner
and her colleagues, Otto Hahn
and Fritz Strassmann,
make a scientific discovery
that will change the world.
It's called nuclear fission.
But what is it really?
An atom is small.
Like, really small.
If every atom of your hand
was the size of a marble,
your fist would be the size of Earth.
And atoms store all their energy
in the nucleus.
But if you fire a neutron particle
at an atom of uranium, its nucleus splits,
releasing 200 times the energy
of the original neutron that triggered it.
And it doesn't stop there.
The split uranium atom
throws off two extra neutrons.
And those collide with more uranium atoms,
and boom, you've got a chain reaction,
creating radiation and heat.
The problem is,
while nuclear fission
has the potential to produce energy,
the German scientists who discover it
know that it also has the potential
to make a powerful weapon.
And soon,
the Nazi government takes their research,
hoping to develop an atomic bomb.
In response to this terrifying threat,
world-renowned scientist Albert Einstein
writes a letter to President Roosevelt,
confirming that a weapon
using this technology would be very bad.
They must beat the Germans to it.
The result is the Manhattan Project,
combining all of America's industrial,
scientific, and financial might
with support from the UK and Canada.
The goal? To research and develop
an atomic bomb before Hitler can.
By July 1945,
they're ready for the first test,
at Los Alamos in New Mexico.
One month later,
the atom bomb makes
its devastating wartime debut.
At 08:15 on August 6th,
over military target Hiroshima,
Bombardier Major Ferebee took over.
He was about to drop the atom bomb.
Three days later, a second atom bomb
was dropped on Nagasaki.
It is an atomic bomb.
It is a harnessing
of the basic power of the universe.
The force from which the sun
draws its power has been loosed
against those
who brought war to the Far East.
The atom bombs
that drop over two Japanese cities
bring a swift and cataclysmic end
to World War II.
But wait.
After the war,
the brains at the Manhattan Project
say there's a peaceful spin-off
of their technology.
Nuclear power is born.
With the atomic bomb,
American scientists unlocked
the devastating might of the atom.
Today, they are engaged in the task
of releasing atomic energy
slowly, gradually,
in ways of lasting benefit
to a world at peace in the atomic age.
At peace, perhaps.
But there's a huge downside
to working with atomic energy.
Any exposure to radioactive material
in small doses
could cause cancer down the line
or, in large doses, kill you outright.
And now, a men's fashion note
from the Hanford Atomic Works
in Washington.
Oh, yes, this is what you ought to wear
if you move in nuclear fission circles.
But in the early 1950s,
the possibilities
of this new source of power
seem almost limitless.
The future supplying
of electric power to entire cities
is far from impossible.
Nuclear power promises
to provide a steady supply of clean energy
from a relatively abundant source.
But nuclear scientists envision
many more tantalizing benefits.
Farms will be able to use
irradiated fertilizer
to increase their overall output.
Helping to assure
bigger and better yields
from tomorrow's farms.
And there are
potential medical advances too.
Radioactive sodium
will be able to detect heart disease
or locate brain tumors.
Helping to diagnose
and cure the sick.
But most of all,
nuclear power plants
will be a reliable energy source
that doesn't pollute the atmosphere...
or involve costly fossil fuels.
The practical applications
of going nuclear just can't be ignored.
For a time,
the Americans managed to keep the secret
to splitting the atom
but not for long.
Soon, the Soviets figure it out too
and beat everyone to the punch,
establishing the world's first
fully operational atomic power plant
at Obninsk, 68 miles southwest of Moscow.
Europe isn't far behind.
But one
of the United Kingdom's first reactors,
called Windscale,
is soon making headlines.
A fire in the reactor
leaves about 15 tons of radioactive fuel
melted in the core.
The British government downplays
the seriousness of the incident.
"Nothing to see here."
What steps are being taken to see
that such an accident never happens again?
Industries, like individuals,
must learn from their mistakes.
We'll learn from this one.
In the USA,
the first commercial atomic power station
opens a year later
in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.
The controls might seem
straight out of science fiction,
but the way these early plants
worked is actually pretty simple.
A nuclear reactor
is really just a massive tea kettle.
Inside the reactor core,
fuel rods made of uranium
are blasted with neutrons,
triggering nuclear fission.
And the energy released
heats up the surrounding water,
turning it into steam.
The steam powers turbines,
producing electricity.
It seems to be
a miraculous source of energy.
Great strides have been taken in the use
of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
Tragically, little has been done
to eliminate the use of atomic
and nuclear power for weapons purposes.
That endangers the peace.
It's a big problem.
The Soviet Union isn't just making
nuclear power plants.
They're testing hydrogen atom bombs too.
And so is the US.
By the end of the 1950s,
over 300 atomic bombs
have been exploded in tests.
Surely only a madman, deliberately
courting certain destruction in reprisal,
would dare to initiate
an all-out nuclear war.
The piling up
of a nuclear arsenal
on both sides of the Iron Curtain
starts terrifying the public.
Protesters want a nuclear-free world.
"No bombs," they say,
but also no nuclear energy.
Ban the bomb!
Ban the bomb! Ban the bomb!
Faced with protests
and a concerned public,
by the early 1970s,
the buzz of nuclear energy fades.
Investors say it's just too expensive
and too difficult to pull off.
"We'll just stick with fossil fuels."
But then the US dollar weakens
with an economic recession,
just as the Middle East
explodes into chaos.
And oil prices soar.
America's energy demands
have grown so rapidly
that they now outstrip
our energy supplies.
As a result, we face the possibility
of temporary fuel shortages
and some increases in fuel prices
in America.
This is a serious challenge.
All of a sudden,
those fossil fuels
aren't looking so attractive.
Investors take another long look
at nuclear power.
And this time, they go all in.
Between 1970 and 1985, building booms.
More than half the reactors
in the world today
start construction in this period.
But they don't come quick or cheap.
The average cost
for a small nuclear reactor: $750 million.
And they can take decades to build.
One of the Soviet Union's
largest projects?
A four-reactor power plant in Ukraine
called Chernobyl.
But more nuclear reactors means
more radioactive waste to dispose of.
And that's a problem.
Several disposal companies take advantage
of an international agreement,
allowing them to dump
low-level radioactive waste into the sea,
where it will take thousands of years
to dissipate.
Protesters insist there's no way
of knowing the true environmental damage
and put their lives at risk
to stop the practice.
They're dumping pollution in the water,
nuclear waste in the water.
That goes through the fish.
It comes back to mankind.
I mean, it's, uh... it's disgusting.
Everybody has to question
the right of any government
to dump that kind of waste
in these oceans.
In total,
nearly a million cubic meters of waste
is dropped in the ocean
before the practice is banned in 1993.
1979 is also the year
that the dangers of nuclear power
become apparent to all Americans.
Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
in Pennsylvania.
A jammed relief valve creates
a dangerous buildup
of heat in the system...
cooking the reactor's core,
until the uranium melts.
America's first nuclear meltdown.
All the radiation
inside the containment tank
leaks into the surrounding area.
And an estimated 2 million people
are exposed to small amounts.
The schools here in Middletown
are still shut down.
And the shop windows
still carry instructions
on what to do if an evacuation is ordered.
There are no deaths recorded.
Still, Three Mile Island will go down
as the worst nuclear accident
in US history.
And public support for nuclear energy
in the US nosedives.
President Carter,
a supporter of nuclear energy,
may also find himself pressured
to go even further
in cutting back
America's nuclear energy program.
Between 1979 and 1988,
construction is canceled
on 67 planned nuclear power plants
in America.
A decision that seems wise
in April of 1986.
Chernobyl power plant,
inside Ukraine in the Soviet Union.
Disaster strikes again.
In Reactor 4, a safety test is underway,
so emergency systems are turned off.
But there's suddenly a power surge.
Control rods meant to protect
the uranium from melting
get jammed as they enter the core.
And a nightmare unfolds.
Radioactive material spews
into the atmosphere.
The toxicity of the radioactive cloud
is equal to 400 Hiroshima bomb explosions.
And it reaches
as far as the United Kingdom.
After Chernobyl, people's fear
and distrust of nuclear radiation,
the invisible killer, only grows.
Still, supporters of nuclear power insist
that, when properly managed, it's safe.
And nowhere is this support louder,
ironically, than in the only country
that has ever known the devastation
of an atomic bomb: Japan.
For this island nation,
nuclear power is the key
to energy independence.
By the year 2000, Japan generates
up to 30% of its total electricity
using nuclear plants.
One reason,
nuclear energy is green energy.
In March 2002,
the Japanese government announces
it will rely on nuclear energy to reach
the goals set by the Kyoto Protocol
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
They're on track to build
12 new nuclear plants...
until March of 2011,
when disaster strikes.
An earthquake,
followed by a huge tsunami wave
that floods the eastern side
of the country...
...including the nuclear power plant
at Fukushima.
The wave disables the generators,
knocking out its cooling system,
and once again, meltdown.
Officials in Japan say radiation
high enough to damage human health
has leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear facility
following an explosion there.
The cost
of the Fukushima cleanup
is estimated to be
hundreds of billions of dollars.
And it leaves a vast stretch of land
completely uninhabitable.
Afterwards, Japan shuts down
all its nuclear reactors
until they pass
stringent new safety tests.
But does this latest nuclear nightmare
mark the end of the age of atomic power?
Not by a long shot.
We may need nuclear power more than ever.
By 2050, the population of Earth
is projected to grow by 2 billion
to 9.8 billion.
Humanity's energy needs
could be out of reach.
Nuclear power could close that gap
if enough nations adopted it.
There's just one catch.
If you've got a nuclear power plant...
you also have the means
to make a nuclear weapon.
So which countries are you going to trust
with this technology?
There are five official members
of the global nuclear club.
But hold on.
There are four rogue nuclear states
outside the club.
And though most nations claim to be
using nuclear technology solely for power,
they've all been caught testing weapons.
So, what's the answer?
Well, there is a different type
of nuclear energy out there.
It's called nuclear fusion,
inspired by the physics of the sun.
So, what is fusion?
Instead of splitting the atom,
as with nuclear fission,
it happens when atoms collide
and their nuclei fuse together.
The process releases
a huge amount of energy.
In fact, three to four times more energy
than fission...
while leaving
none of the messy, toxic residue.
But what makes it possible
is the incredible heat
and gravitational power of the sun,
something hard to duplicate on Earth.
One way
is by using massive magnetic fields,
like in this prototype in Germany,
named the Stellarator.
I think that when we get
the correct answers here,
we will have a very good chance
to see functioning reactors
within this century.
The fuel is readily available,
so in that way,
this would be a game changer.
Progress, perhaps.
But until the technique is proven,
we're stuck
with the nuclear fission process we have.
Imperfect, potentially dangerous,
and wasteful.
And yet, nuclear power is still considered
to be one of the best ways
to wean ourselves
off an even bigger threat to the planet...
carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
Today, 53 new nuclear power plants
are under construction worldwide.
Opponents say,
"Haven't we learned anything?
Why are we still playing with fire?"
The answer may be, "Because we have to."
Nuclear power may be
the only way for humanity
and the Earth itself to survive.
has released from within the atom's heart
is not one but many giants.
It's 1952.
The destructive power of the atom bomb
is still fresh in everyone's memory.
But now, General Electric
is touting the potential peaceful benefits
of nuclear power.
Cheap, clean energy with a host
of other practical applications.
All are within man's power
in the new world of the atomic age.
Okay, we're looking around.
What they don't yet know
are the terrible dangers
that nuclear power
will unleash on the world.
As of 2019,
over 10% of the world's electricity
comes from nuclear power.
The biggest user? France.
Over 70% of their energy
comes from nuclear plants.
But nuclear power
produces radioactive waste.
To date, the US alone
has generated 80,000 tons,
enough to fill a football field
20 meters deep.
Waste that remains toxic
for thousands of years.
And there's a more immediate threat:
nuclear meltdown.
So if it's risky,
even deadly...
why are we still playing
with nuclear fire?
Germany, 1938.
While Hitler's trying to convince people
about the superiority of his race...
Jewish chemist Lise Meitner
and her colleagues, Otto Hahn
and Fritz Strassmann,
make a scientific discovery
that will change the world.
It's called nuclear fission.
But what is it really?
An atom is small.
Like, really small.
If every atom of your hand
was the size of a marble,
your fist would be the size of Earth.
And atoms store all their energy
in the nucleus.
But if you fire a neutron particle
at an atom of uranium, its nucleus splits,
releasing 200 times the energy
of the original neutron that triggered it.
And it doesn't stop there.
The split uranium atom
throws off two extra neutrons.
And those collide with more uranium atoms,
and boom, you've got a chain reaction,
creating radiation and heat.
The problem is,
while nuclear fission
has the potential to produce energy,
the German scientists who discover it
know that it also has the potential
to make a powerful weapon.
And soon,
the Nazi government takes their research,
hoping to develop an atomic bomb.
In response to this terrifying threat,
world-renowned scientist Albert Einstein
writes a letter to President Roosevelt,
confirming that a weapon
using this technology would be very bad.
They must beat the Germans to it.
The result is the Manhattan Project,
combining all of America's industrial,
scientific, and financial might
with support from the UK and Canada.
The goal? To research and develop
an atomic bomb before Hitler can.
By July 1945,
they're ready for the first test,
at Los Alamos in New Mexico.
One month later,
the atom bomb makes
its devastating wartime debut.
At 08:15 on August 6th,
over military target Hiroshima,
Bombardier Major Ferebee took over.
He was about to drop the atom bomb.
Three days later, a second atom bomb
was dropped on Nagasaki.
It is an atomic bomb.
It is a harnessing
of the basic power of the universe.
The force from which the sun
draws its power has been loosed
against those
who brought war to the Far East.
The atom bombs
that drop over two Japanese cities
bring a swift and cataclysmic end
to World War II.
But wait.
After the war,
the brains at the Manhattan Project
say there's a peaceful spin-off
of their technology.
Nuclear power is born.
With the atomic bomb,
American scientists unlocked
the devastating might of the atom.
Today, they are engaged in the task
of releasing atomic energy
slowly, gradually,
in ways of lasting benefit
to a world at peace in the atomic age.
At peace, perhaps.
But there's a huge downside
to working with atomic energy.
Any exposure to radioactive material
in small doses
could cause cancer down the line
or, in large doses, kill you outright.
And now, a men's fashion note
from the Hanford Atomic Works
in Washington.
Oh, yes, this is what you ought to wear
if you move in nuclear fission circles.
But in the early 1950s,
the possibilities
of this new source of power
seem almost limitless.
The future supplying
of electric power to entire cities
is far from impossible.
Nuclear power promises
to provide a steady supply of clean energy
from a relatively abundant source.
But nuclear scientists envision
many more tantalizing benefits.
Farms will be able to use
irradiated fertilizer
to increase their overall output.
Helping to assure
bigger and better yields
from tomorrow's farms.
And there are
potential medical advances too.
Radioactive sodium
will be able to detect heart disease
or locate brain tumors.
Helping to diagnose
and cure the sick.
But most of all,
nuclear power plants
will be a reliable energy source
that doesn't pollute the atmosphere...
or involve costly fossil fuels.
The practical applications
of going nuclear just can't be ignored.
For a time,
the Americans managed to keep the secret
to splitting the atom
but not for long.
Soon, the Soviets figure it out too
and beat everyone to the punch,
establishing the world's first
fully operational atomic power plant
at Obninsk, 68 miles southwest of Moscow.
Europe isn't far behind.
But one
of the United Kingdom's first reactors,
called Windscale,
is soon making headlines.
A fire in the reactor
leaves about 15 tons of radioactive fuel
melted in the core.
The British government downplays
the seriousness of the incident.
"Nothing to see here."
What steps are being taken to see
that such an accident never happens again?
Industries, like individuals,
must learn from their mistakes.
We'll learn from this one.
In the USA,
the first commercial atomic power station
opens a year later
in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.
The controls might seem
straight out of science fiction,
but the way these early plants
worked is actually pretty simple.
A nuclear reactor
is really just a massive tea kettle.
Inside the reactor core,
fuel rods made of uranium
are blasted with neutrons,
triggering nuclear fission.
And the energy released
heats up the surrounding water,
turning it into steam.
The steam powers turbines,
producing electricity.
It seems to be
a miraculous source of energy.
Great strides have been taken in the use
of atomic energy for peaceful purposes.
Tragically, little has been done
to eliminate the use of atomic
and nuclear power for weapons purposes.
That endangers the peace.
It's a big problem.
The Soviet Union isn't just making
nuclear power plants.
They're testing hydrogen atom bombs too.
And so is the US.
By the end of the 1950s,
over 300 atomic bombs
have been exploded in tests.
Surely only a madman, deliberately
courting certain destruction in reprisal,
would dare to initiate
an all-out nuclear war.
The piling up
of a nuclear arsenal
on both sides of the Iron Curtain
starts terrifying the public.
Protesters want a nuclear-free world.
"No bombs," they say,
but also no nuclear energy.
Ban the bomb!
Ban the bomb! Ban the bomb!
Faced with protests
and a concerned public,
by the early 1970s,
the buzz of nuclear energy fades.
Investors say it's just too expensive
and too difficult to pull off.
"We'll just stick with fossil fuels."
But then the US dollar weakens
with an economic recession,
just as the Middle East
explodes into chaos.
And oil prices soar.
America's energy demands
have grown so rapidly
that they now outstrip
our energy supplies.
As a result, we face the possibility
of temporary fuel shortages
and some increases in fuel prices
in America.
This is a serious challenge.
All of a sudden,
those fossil fuels
aren't looking so attractive.
Investors take another long look
at nuclear power.
And this time, they go all in.
Between 1970 and 1985, building booms.
More than half the reactors
in the world today
start construction in this period.
But they don't come quick or cheap.
The average cost
for a small nuclear reactor: $750 million.
And they can take decades to build.
One of the Soviet Union's
largest projects?
A four-reactor power plant in Ukraine
called Chernobyl.
But more nuclear reactors means
more radioactive waste to dispose of.
And that's a problem.
Several disposal companies take advantage
of an international agreement,
allowing them to dump
low-level radioactive waste into the sea,
where it will take thousands of years
to dissipate.
Protesters insist there's no way
of knowing the true environmental damage
and put their lives at risk
to stop the practice.
They're dumping pollution in the water,
nuclear waste in the water.
That goes through the fish.
It comes back to mankind.
I mean, it's, uh... it's disgusting.
Everybody has to question
the right of any government
to dump that kind of waste
in these oceans.
In total,
nearly a million cubic meters of waste
is dropped in the ocean
before the practice is banned in 1993.
1979 is also the year
that the dangers of nuclear power
become apparent to all Americans.
Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
in Pennsylvania.
A jammed relief valve creates
a dangerous buildup
of heat in the system...
cooking the reactor's core,
until the uranium melts.
America's first nuclear meltdown.
All the radiation
inside the containment tank
leaks into the surrounding area.
And an estimated 2 million people
are exposed to small amounts.
The schools here in Middletown
are still shut down.
And the shop windows
still carry instructions
on what to do if an evacuation is ordered.
There are no deaths recorded.
Still, Three Mile Island will go down
as the worst nuclear accident
in US history.
And public support for nuclear energy
in the US nosedives.
President Carter,
a supporter of nuclear energy,
may also find himself pressured
to go even further
in cutting back
America's nuclear energy program.
Between 1979 and 1988,
construction is canceled
on 67 planned nuclear power plants
in America.
A decision that seems wise
in April of 1986.
Chernobyl power plant,
inside Ukraine in the Soviet Union.
Disaster strikes again.
In Reactor 4, a safety test is underway,
so emergency systems are turned off.
But there's suddenly a power surge.
Control rods meant to protect
the uranium from melting
get jammed as they enter the core.
And a nightmare unfolds.
Radioactive material spews
into the atmosphere.
The toxicity of the radioactive cloud
is equal to 400 Hiroshima bomb explosions.
And it reaches
as far as the United Kingdom.
After Chernobyl, people's fear
and distrust of nuclear radiation,
the invisible killer, only grows.
Still, supporters of nuclear power insist
that, when properly managed, it's safe.
And nowhere is this support louder,
ironically, than in the only country
that has ever known the devastation
of an atomic bomb: Japan.
For this island nation,
nuclear power is the key
to energy independence.
By the year 2000, Japan generates
up to 30% of its total electricity
using nuclear plants.
One reason,
nuclear energy is green energy.
In March 2002,
the Japanese government announces
it will rely on nuclear energy to reach
the goals set by the Kyoto Protocol
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
They're on track to build
12 new nuclear plants...
until March of 2011,
when disaster strikes.
An earthquake,
followed by a huge tsunami wave
that floods the eastern side
of the country...
...including the nuclear power plant
at Fukushima.
The wave disables the generators,
knocking out its cooling system,
and once again, meltdown.
Officials in Japan say radiation
high enough to damage human health
has leaked from the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear facility
following an explosion there.
The cost
of the Fukushima cleanup
is estimated to be
hundreds of billions of dollars.
And it leaves a vast stretch of land
completely uninhabitable.
Afterwards, Japan shuts down
all its nuclear reactors
until they pass
stringent new safety tests.
But does this latest nuclear nightmare
mark the end of the age of atomic power?
Not by a long shot.
We may need nuclear power more than ever.
By 2050, the population of Earth
is projected to grow by 2 billion
to 9.8 billion.
Humanity's energy needs
could be out of reach.
Nuclear power could close that gap
if enough nations adopted it.
There's just one catch.
If you've got a nuclear power plant...
you also have the means
to make a nuclear weapon.
So which countries are you going to trust
with this technology?
There are five official members
of the global nuclear club.
But hold on.
There are four rogue nuclear states
outside the club.
And though most nations claim to be
using nuclear technology solely for power,
they've all been caught testing weapons.
So, what's the answer?
Well, there is a different type
of nuclear energy out there.
It's called nuclear fusion,
inspired by the physics of the sun.
So, what is fusion?
Instead of splitting the atom,
as with nuclear fission,
it happens when atoms collide
and their nuclei fuse together.
The process releases
a huge amount of energy.
In fact, three to four times more energy
than fission...
while leaving
none of the messy, toxic residue.
But what makes it possible
is the incredible heat
and gravitational power of the sun,
something hard to duplicate on Earth.
One way
is by using massive magnetic fields,
like in this prototype in Germany,
named the Stellarator.
I think that when we get
the correct answers here,
we will have a very good chance
to see functioning reactors
within this century.
The fuel is readily available,
so in that way,
this would be a game changer.
Progress, perhaps.
But until the technique is proven,
we're stuck
with the nuclear fission process we have.
Imperfect, potentially dangerous,
and wasteful.
And yet, nuclear power is still considered
to be one of the best ways
to wean ourselves
off an even bigger threat to the planet...
carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
Today, 53 new nuclear power plants
are under construction worldwide.
Opponents say,
"Haven't we learned anything?
Why are we still playing with fire?"
The answer may be, "Because we have to."
Nuclear power may be
the only way for humanity
and the Earth itself to survive.