MadSci Network: Environment/Ecology |
Electric power stations come in several forms: hydro (water-powered) fossil-fuel burning (coal, oil, natural gas) nuclear Each of these types has its own environmental impacts. Hydro usually uses water held behind large dams. These dams often interfere with fish migration and breeding, and halt the seasonal variations in water level, with accompanying sediments, that often enrich flood plains below the dam. These impacts are primarily local. Fossil fuel burning plants have the greatest environmental impact of all types at the present time. All fossil fuels, when burned, produce large amounts of carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse" gas. This contributes to global warming, which has the potential for producing large-scale changes in climate and flooding coastal areas. In addition, burning of coal and fuel oil produces sulfur oxides, which are a major factor in causing acid rain. So the impacts of fossil fuel burning are felt on a global scale. Nuclear plants appear environmental friendly on the surface. They produce no carbon dioxide or sulfur oxides, and do not interfere with local waterways. The potential danger, however, exists in escape of radiation through some accident, as happened 10 years ago in Chernobyl in the Ukraine. Also, society has not yet dealt with the problem of long-term storage of the highly radioactive wastes produced by this process.