BY KHADIJAH BAWAZEER Like all other countries, Saudi Arabia is working toward diversifying its energy resources. One of the popular areas of development is nuclear power. However, we have to weigh the risks carefully before we plunge into something risky while we are naturally given other resources in abundance. After the disaster of Fukushima, Japan is backing down on nuclear energy as are some European countries under the pressure of popular demand to stop the building of new nuclear plants and to dismantle existing ones. In the current unexpected eruption of volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes, a completely safe nuclear power plant can become hazardous. Consequently, people demand a move toward cleaner, safer power. Furthermore, we have learned from Fukushima and Chernobyl that the radiation from nuclear plants can spread very far within a single country or to other countries as well. In both cases, the wind took nuclear radiation thousands of miles away across land and water. Chernobyl's effect reached Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Fukushima reached Hawaii, California and some Eastern and even Western European countries like Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, and Austria. There was also the indirect impact of radiation on the economy. In the case of the recent disaster in Japan, many Japanese products were affected and became contaminated; mainly food, but also cars and electronics, tires, and lifting equipment. The impact of such disasters can be lowered but their risk is real. However, we do not need to resort to nuclear energy in the Kingdom. Why risk it when we have one of the best places for solar energy and solar energy harvesting in the world? We have more sun than anyone else including the hot tropical countries because we do not have as much rain. Yes, sand and bird droppings among other factors can affect solar energy panels but this only means that we have to investigate ways to make solar energy more effective. Solar power is not yet developed well enough to make it effectively usable. Problems occur with chips, soldering can be done ineffectively, storage methods for excess power are not efficient enough, and the list goes on. But all of this is normal because solar power is still in an experimental stage. We need to invest more time and money to solve these problems. We have learned from computer and mobile technology and the huge progress made in them over a short span of time that anything is possible if we research it and objectively analyze and solve the problems that arise. This teaches us that by putting our efforts into developing solar power and resolving its problems, we will have abundant free storable energy. We have the best environment for it and we can afford to invest in the research to develop it. It only makes sense that we steer away from danger and risk and invest in what we naturally have in abundance, our friend the sun. — The writer can be reached at [email protected] __
