Research Proposal: Are Nuclear Power Plants viable for Bangladesh?Date: 29th June, 2015 To: Ms. Nadia Kamal Al-Siraj (NKS) From: Tasnif Mahmud Eng105; Sec# 23Subject:Proposal to do a research on exploring the viability of Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh.Introduction:Demand for electricity is increasing with the improvement of living standards, increase in agricultural production, development of industries as well as overall development of thecountry.Butduetothefailureinthelastfewyearstogenerateelectricityaccordingto proportionately,thereisnowa1500-1800MWelectricityshortage.AccordingtoWorldBank Access to Electricity Report 2010 only 55.2% population have access to electricity. Bangladesh'senergyinfrastructureisquitesmall,insufficientandpoorlymanaged.The percapitaenergyconsumptioninBangladeshisoneofthelowest(321kWH)intheworld. Noncommercial energy sources, such as wood fuel, animal waste, and crop residues, are estimated toaccountforoverhalfofthecountry'senergy.Duetothecrisisofgassupplyandlackof necessary maintenance and rehabilitation of old power plants, it is not even possible to utilize the total installed capacity.It is very frightening that our natural gas reserves will be depleted within next 16 years. To secure sustainable power source government planning to establish nuclear power plan whichwillbefinancedbyRussia.Althoughnuclearpowerhasanumberofadvantages,italso presentssomeveryseriousthreats.WhendisasterstrucktheFukushimanuclearpowerplantin Japan in spring 2011, the world was reminded of just how dangerous nuclear power can be. Even though Japan is a highly advanced country, the plant operator was unable to get the situation under control quickly enough. But the risks associated with nuclear power are not just limited to human error,terroristattacksandnaturaldisasters;theuraniumusedtofueltheseplantsisbecoming increasingly scarce and mining it is extremely detrimental to the environment. Then there is the matter of storing the nuclear waste, one of the most serious problems with getting our energy this way. To date, only a few countries that use nuclear power have succeeded in finding repositories for their nuclear waste, all the others still just have their waste in interim storage.Research Questions: Through my research I look forward to explore the possibilities and effectthatcancostusinthelongrunifwemoveforwardtonuclearpowerplant.Throughmy research I would attempt to answer the following research questions:1.How much reliable are nuclear power plant would be?2.WhatarethepotentialchallengesthatBangladeshhastofaceinordertoincorporate nuclear energy for use?3.What are the major effects of any failure in nuclear power plants?4.Can Bangladesh government can bear such expensive and sensitive project?Hypothesis:Despite proponents claims that it is safe, the history of nuclear energy is marked by a number of disasters and near disasters. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is one ofthemostfrighteningexamplesofthepotentiallycatastrophicconsequencesofanuclear accident.Anestimated220,000peopleweredisplacedfromtheirhomes,andtheradioactive falloutfromtheaccidentmade4,440squarekilometersofagriculturallandand6,820square kilometersofforestsinBelarusandUkraineunusable.(SwissAgencyforDevelopmentand Cooperation, 2015)In 1979, the United States had its own disaster following anaccident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Reactor in Pennsylvania.Although there were no immediate deaths, the incident had serious health consequences for the surrounding area.A 1997 study found that those people living downwind of the reactor at the time of the event were two to ten times more likelytocontractlungcancerorleukemiathanthoselivingupwindoftheradioactivefallout. (Wing S, Richardson D, Armstrong D & Crawford-Brown D, 1997, p.53-57). In 2012, after 9.0 magnitude earth quake, Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant been affected badly and substantial amount of nuclear material released. Which was biggest nuclear disaster in decades. Though Japan is most technologically advanced country but they couldnt save 150 people who died because of nuclear meltdown and consequences of this disaster is far more devastating than tsunami. Nearby areasofFukushimanuclearpowerplanthavebeendeeplyaffected.Fukushimachildrenshave higher cancer rates than any other place of Japan. According to report by world health organization, radioactive water is still leaking from Fukushima plant and the nuclear power plant decommission process will be continued for 30-40 years. (Behrens B & Holt M, 2013, p.40). Now if we consider thissituationinBangladesh,thedeathsandeffectwillbefarmoredevastatingthanJapan. Bangladesh is still lack behind in technology, we have only very few skilled people and resources to run this kind of sensitive project. And most alarming thing is that, Bangladesh situated on Danki Fault, which is highly active fault and may cause far more devastating earth quake than Nepal. Establishingnuclearpowerplantstakeslotsofundertaking.Therearemany potential challenges a Bangladesh may face such as like climate change, terrorist attack. Climate changemayfurtherincreasetheriskofnuclearaccidents.Heatwaves,whichareexpectedto become more frequent and intense as a result of global warming, can force the shut down or the poweroutputreductionofreactors.Duringthe2006heatwave,reactorsinMichigan, Pennsylvania,Illinois,andMinnesota,aswellasinFrance,SpainandGermany,were impacted.TheEuropeanheatwaveinthesummerof2003causedcoolingproblemsatFrench reactors that forced engineers to tell the government that they could no longer guarantee the safety of the countrys 58 nuclear power reactors. (Nuclear Information & Resource Service, 2005). In additiontothethreatofnuclearmaterials,nuclearreactorsarethemselvespotentialterrorist targets.Nuclear reactors are not designed to withstand attacks using large aircraft, such as those used on the September 11, 2001.A well-coordinated attack could have severe consequences for human health and the environment.A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that amajorattackontheIndianPointReactorinWestchesterCounty,NewYork,couldresultin 44,000near-termdeathsfromacuteradiationsicknessandmorethan500,000long-termdeaths from cancer among individuals within 50 miles of the reactor. (Lyman & Edwin, 2004). The existence of the nuclear plant and mining significantly contributes to high risk of cancers occurrences particularly leukemia among the children. In Germany, children who lived within a five-kilometer radius around nuclear power plants under five years of age develop cancer at a 60% higher incidence than the national average. The blood cancer triggered particularly easily by radioactive radiation and data gathered in the United States suggest that the cancer rate is also higher in adults living close to nuclear facilities, not only the children. The same circumstances are faced by the uranium miners who work in the nuclear power plant and excavation site (Health S, 2010, p. 45). The radioactive waste from nuclear power plant able to go inside the human DNA via the consumption of contaminated soil andwater. Nuclear facilities release large amounts of radioactivehydrogenincludingtritium,carbon,strontium,iodine,caesium,plutonium,krypton, argonandxenonwhicharedispersedintobothairandwater.CountrylikeBangladeshwhere majority of people live below proper living standard, where food hygienic not considered a major issue, people still dying from lack of proper medicine and treatment,there nuclear power plant is like luxarious and frightining dream indeed.The nuclear industry is hugely expensive. The construction and generating costs ofnuclearpoweraregreaterthanmostrenewableenergyandenergyefficiencytechnologies. Addedtothesearecostsassociatedwithdismantlingnuclearstationsandwastedisposal.The cleanup costs for the UKs existing nuclear industry and its waste have alone been estimated at up to100bn.That's100bnofpublicmoney(L.Jared,2007,p.34).Nuclearpowerplantneed continious subsidies to run its operation smoothly. There are many cost related for operating this kindofplantlikeprocessingcost,tranportationcostandwastedispossiolcost.Acountrylike Bangladesh where we have TK 866.57bn budget deficit and have to rely on other country for loan, itisverymuchuncertaintomaintainthiskindofproject.Furthermore,ifanykindofdisaster happens, the cost of decomissioning nucler power plant is rocket high, which will be unbearable for us.Research Methodology: FormyprimaryresearchIwouldliketoconduct(atleast3) direct, in-dept interviews of fauclty member from Enviromental Science, Eletrical and Engineering andEconomicsdepartmentatNorthSouthUniversityregardingenviromentalandeconomic feasibility and also specialist regarding these fields. For understanding and incorpating the general peopleprospective,IshallbeconductingasurveyusingaquestionnairethatI`llbeeventually develpoling. I `ll be distributing my questionnaires among a those people who have considerable knowledge regarding that matter. For my secondary research, I plan to collect information from a wide array of books , peropdicals and other relevant supplementary materials that I plan to access through the university database/catalogue and the World Wide Web.Organizationl:My research paper will be divided into several sections.chapters the most important of which will be : introduction, background, hypothesis, data presentation and analysis and summary of reserch findings. Timetable: Iplantocompletemysecondaryreserchbythefirsthalfofthesemester and my primary reserch by the third quarter of the semester.Request for Approval: I hereby request your approval for my research proposal;should you wish me to modify or change my topic,hypothesis or proposal, I will act accordingly to incorporate your feedback and make all the necessary changes in my proposal. I would also be very grateful for your guidance and assistance in conducting and completing my research project.