Argumentative Essay On Nuclear Energy

Although nuclear power cost the least for the amount of power it makes, it is still very expensive. To make nuclear power you have to build a nuclear power plant. To build a nuclear power you need millions of dollars. Not only that, you have to also run the nuclear power plant. To run a nuclear power plant you need to either mine the uranium and then refine yourself, or buy the uranium from another company. Once you have done this you need to run everything in the power plant, which cost money, and then pay your workers. Also when creating nuclear energy you create radioactive waste which need to be stored far away somewhere, under surveillance, to make sure that it does not ruin the environment. The owner of exelon, the one who owns Three Mile Island, said that they have lost around 800 million dollars in recent years. If exelon decided to change their mind they would end up losing even more money and eventually have to shut down.

Attention Getter: When most people think of nuclear energy, the first thing that comes to their minds is a devastating bomb explosion or a nuclear power plant meltdown. But, in reality, nuclear energy is a sustainable energy source that has an enormous variety of uses.

Citizens of countries where fossil fuels are being utilized are concerned at the possible chance of global warming. So many greenhouse gases emitted, ice burgs and caps are shifting or melting, that population is beginning to worry about what is going to happen to the environment in the future if this source is kept being used. With nuclear energy we don’t have to worry about the environmental changes. Nuclear energy has

Preview of the Thesis & Main Points: For these reasons, the United States government should slowly disintegrate the fossil fuel powered plants and move to nuclear energy.

There are many power sources that can be utilized for our everyday lives; to heat our homes , run our toasters, and light our hallways. Most of that power either directly or indirectly comes form the sun(such as solar energy and fossil fuels). But one energy source that derived by the pure ingenuity of man is nuclear power. As with all power sources there are positive and negative externalities. For example: the burning of fossil fuel releases SOX and NOX into the air which can cause harm to the health of humans ie. negative externality. But what is the the environmental effect of using nuclear energy? What is the cost of extracting all this energy from so little?

America’s nuclear energy plants are — by a wide margin — the nation’s largest source of carbon-free power. They produce clean, reliable electricity as well as well-paying jobs. Although several dependable nuclear plants have closed in recent years for economic reasons, nuclear energy is getting a fresh look for its ability to produce vast amounts of power without emitting greenhouse gases. And with new reactor designs, both big and small, scientists and technologists are re-engineering the future of nuclear energy for everyone’s benefit.

The use of fossil fuels as a primary source of power is poisoning our world, and nuclear power is just the way to stop this. Nuclear power is using the process of nuclear fission to create electricity. Nuclear fission is the splitting of a uranium atom to release massive amounts of energy. When this process takes place in a nuclear reactor, the energy is used to superheat water which is pumped through pipes also submerged in water which then boils. The pressurized water vapor is used to turn turbines that produce electricity. Nuclear power is one of the cleanest, safest, most reliable and economically beneficial sources of power, and it needs to be considered as a substitute for fossil fuels. Nuclear power unfortunately has been given a bad name, but is actually an important resource that should be utilized by the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Nuclear power plants were set up to harness the energy and provide electricity to a large proportion of people and this energy was very efficient and was long lasting. This technology was also put to use into the medical field to treat cancer patient. The result had a positive and negative effect on the environment. It contaminated the oceans and river there by effecting the fishes and the corals, the radiation emitted had an effect on the human body and to animals. But this source of energy paved a way to greener way of generating electricity and to take an account of global warming and climatic change. In an open letter, more than 65 biologists supported the call to build more nuclear power plants as a global plan to protect the wildlife and the environment and the full gamut of the source (the energy) should put into effect to replace the other fossil fuel such as the oil, coal to cut the effect of severe climate change. Of the many technologies to generate electricity, nuclear power and wind have the highest chance to reduce major climatic effect caused by burning coal which is almost half the global carbon dioxide

“A tiny speck of plutonium-239, as little as three millionths of a gram, can cause lung cancer. One pound of plutonium-239 contains enough specks to kill nine billion people instantly” (Pringle 26). Plutonium-239 is a human-made element, also known as the most dangerous substance on earth. As a by-product of uranium fission, plutonium-239 is created by generating electricity from nuclear sources. Contrary to popular belief, nuclear energy is hazardous and threatening to health. The use of nuclear energy should be banned as evidenced by the number of accidents, health effects, and global impact.

Nuclear energy is the energy released by a nuclear reaction, it uses fuel made from mined and processed uranium to generate heat and electricity. It is the world’s largest emission free energy source. Nuclear energy also has the lowest impact on the environment than other energy sources. But it can still be very harmful because of the radiation is causes and the radioactive waste it produces. Radioactive wastes are the ruins of nuclear materials that are used in providing nuclear energy. These wastes contain high levels of radiation that can be very hazardous to humans and the environment. Some people accept and support the idea of using nuclear energy and others don’t. In the following paragraphs, some major nuclear accidents and the public acceptance of nuclear energy will be discussed.

Pollution is another topic with both pros and cons. Fossil fuels release harmful pollutants into the air such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Nuclear power does not release any of those toxins into the atmosphere. However, a pollution problem with nuclear energy is thermal pollution, where a plant’s “hot effluents” are put into a nearby body of water, and raise the temperature by a small amount but enough to cause a disturbance in the ecosystem of the lake or reservoir. Nevertheless, this could easily be solved by cooling the effluents before releasing them into the water. The other problem facing nuclear energy is waste disposal. Nuclear waste is radioactive and very dangerous. Therefore, it must be kept buried and sealed up for a long period of time until the radioactivity dies [Plasma-Material]. One positive fact about nuclear energy that is not disputed is its abundance.

The disastrous meltdowns that cause whole cities to become uninhabitable, as well as leaving families homeless and laborers without jobs, have defined the negative perspective of what people see in nuclear power. However, even after such catastrophes, the pure raw energy output makes nuclear power essential for the future of the human race. As time passes, the world’s energy usage has grown an increasingly massive size every year due to the consumption swell of energy. Despite nuclear plants being a heavily controversial topic internationally, its advantages are very well recognized and it’s causing nuclear plants to slowly become the basis of our growing society.

The world as we know today is dependent on energy. The options we have currently enable us to produce energy economically but at a cost to the environment. As fossil fuel source will be diminishing over time, other alternatives will be needed. An alternative that is presently utilized is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is currently the most efficacious energy source. Every time the word ‘nuclear’ is mentioned, the first thought that people have is the devastating effects of nuclear energy. Granting it does come with its drawbacks; this form of energy emits far less pollution than conventional power plants. Even though certain disadvantages of nuclear energy are devastating, the advantages contain even greater rewards.

Just five pounds of plutonium, a component of nuclear waste, is enough to make a

Global demand and consumption of energy is at an all time high; the world needs a safe, efficient, clean, and high producing source of energy production. The solution is something we already use for energy production, Nuclear power. From the beginning of nuclear energy there has been concerns over the safety of the power plants and its impact on the environment. With climate change and more accurate information on nuclear power the tide is shifting in its favor. This paper will explore the positives of nuclear power, political change on nuclear power, safety of the energy source and new technologies associated with the nuclear power process. Most importantly are the risks associated with nuclear power worth it? Research suggests that nuclear power is safer now more than ever and has less of an impact on the environment than coal or oil. Public support and misconceptions over the years have been up and down due to political agendas and those who are misinformed about nuclear power. Individuals who are involved in the energy field are in favor of nuclear power and building more plants with newer technology.