Nuclear Contamination Of The Desert Left Us No Choice

As humans we want to have a good life, have a home, maybe a family and feel safe. With the advances in industry such as energy production we can have more luxuries which include heat, lights and running water. However, as technology gets bigger and better there will always be risks that can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Luckily for the United States; we did not have a disastrous outcome with a nuclear power plant such as the 1986’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant catastrophe, making, ”the Chernobyl disaster the only level 7 incident on the International Nuclear Event Scales (INES) making it the biggest man-made disaster of all time” (List 25, 2014) . Three Mile Island power plants is located near Middletown Pennsylvania. On March 28, 1979, the plant had a partial meltdown. Even though the Three Mile Island power plant incident did not have any adverse health effects, Three Mile Island had an impact on the nuclear industry development and politically in the United States.

Despite the fact the countries continue to increase the production of nuclear energy, my position is that new nuclear power plants should not continue to be built. The current use of nuclear power should be carefully evaluated with a plan to slowly decrease production throughout the world. The negative implications to the environment and economy support my position.

We had a fast trip down to Mississippi to visit with Dad & Kay. With all the storms blowing through, we managed to evade them all thankfully. We did have sunny skies on Friday & Monday. And the little Miata just hummed along. We took the top down Friday after we left Hopkinsville KY. Getting off the Pennyrile Pkwy and onto I-24 for a bit, traffic became quite heavy heading into Nashville, so we got off the interstate and cut across the countryside to the far edge of Nashville. Once on the southwest side of Nashville and the beginning of the Natchez Trace Parkway we stopped at the infamous Loveless Cafe before driving the Natchez Trace. We thought we'd just sit down, have a meal and drive on.....uh no, 1 1/2 hr wait, the place was packed with people there to eat smoked BBQ sandwiches. In the next building over, they sold sandwiches to go, so that is what we did, sort of. We found some chairs outside in the shade, ate our meal. The Natchez Trace is a destination drive within itself, maintained by the National Park Service, it is a beautiful drive with lots of places to pull off, hike, see waterfalls, vistas, etc.....none of which we did :-)

Arjun Makhijani, a prominent researcher for The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, claims that today’s emission rate of carbon dioxide is about nine gigatons annually and that the Earth only has the capability to absorb 3 gigatons annually—thus a problem arises. Furthermore, Makhijani states that about 2/3rds of the carbon dioxide emissions are caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. With those shocking statistics in mind, fossil fuel’s emission of carbon dioxide is thought to be the leading cause of climate change—which is responsible for irreversible and catastrophic changes to the Earth. Yet, scientist had tremendous difficulty finding a safe, effective, and efficient form of energy supply that will met the great consumption rate. Many prominent scientist suggest that nuclear power is the most plausible explanation and solution to the fuel crisis. However, despite nuclear power having a exponentially lower emission rate, it presents its own hazards and threats—such as the Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island incidents. These accidents have many activists and politicians cautious about the prospect of using nuclear power as a complete alternative to fossil fuels—regardless nuclear plants are responsible for 11% of the energy supplied to the world annually (World Nuclear Association.) What many of the activist and politicians seem to overlook is that fossil fuels are an indefinite energy supply and will quite possible run out within

Then we wanted to make no stops from here to Yellowstone. Driving along by the mountain near Yellowstone they told us to go around but we did not want to waste 2 hours so we went up the mountain nice and slow. Since the mountain was so steep it burned our tires.

The morning of April 26, 1986 started just like all other mornings in Chernobyl, with just one exception, there was an emergency systems test underway at the near-by nuclear power station. This test was unauthorized, none the less, it was designed to ensure cooling water for the reactor could still be controlled with little or no power to the station. The cold war was in full swing, and Russia was still poised to go to war with the United States at any moment. It was due to this “distrust” that the test was being run that morning. The head nuclear scientist on shift, Anatoli Dyatlov, was from the “old school” and thought that he alone could control the whole reactor process, and he also thought he knew more

The 9/11 attacks were among the deadliest attacks ever committed against the United States, whereby nearly 3,000 people where killed instantly. Yet what’s more shocking is that these atrocities were committed without the use of nuclear material. Fear of biochemical nuclear waste attack and its potential to cause unimaginable harm are among the biggest concerns in the nation. As a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley Richard Muller, in his article entitled “Nuclear Waste” addresses the topic of nuclear waste and its storage at Yucca Mountain. Muller argues that society should question the validity of information being presented as it pertains to the safety of nuclear waste. He supports this notion by highlighting the rigorous process involved in safely transporting nuclear waste, while noting that demanding100% safety in life is impossible. Muller presents his arguments in a cohesively well construct tone, supported with statistics and a touch of sarcasm thus lending to credibly to the information. Ultimately, Muller’s purpose is to inform the average reader of the true dangers associated with nuclear waste, while highlighting human’s exposure to natural occurring nuclear waste as well as exploring logical ways of safely securing these byproducts. Consequently, Muller challenges his readers to not let the fears of the unknown get in the way of being able to make sound judgment as it would lead to

The US PATRIOT ACT gave the US government unlimited number of powers to fight domestic terrorism including the ability to wiretap and observe Americans leading to almost 1200 arrests. This also extends to the ability to wiretap into a persons conversation on the phone without a warrant. Technically when exchanges were mechanical, a technician had to install a device to route the audio signal together from the call. A wiretapping technology that can be used in any service provider’s central office and connect to a phone call wirelessly. Cell phones use electromagnetic waves to communicate with cellular towers. It uses electric to make oscillations in magnetic fields billions of times every second. When the NSA wishes to tap into a phone conversation, it simply accesses the microphone from an office to interpret the

We retired early that evening, and slept well. With the pressure we had been under now somewhat abated, we awoke the next morning rested and refreshed, ready for whatever the day might bring.

In March of 1979, just ten miles south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Nuclear Power Plant at Three Mile Island Unit 2 came close to nuclear melt down. Despite standards set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the plant ran for several years prior to the accident under poor conditions. Communication certainly played a role in this near tragedy, as two engineers had foreseen the consequences, but their advice went unheeded. Although most of the economic and social impacts of this incident were minimal, this unpleasant event ended the nuclear power industry in America.

for a terrorist attack. There would be no way to hide a biohazard convoy, so

Rowell’s writing, Ten Reasons Why New Nuclear Was a Mistake- Even Before Fukushima, implements stylistic appeal on all levels involving the rhetorical triangle. Accordingly, delivering logos by citing specific examples to support each of her arguments. She delivered data, statistics and facts in such a way that was informative yet not overkill. Furthermore, she clearly provides evidentiary support to lend credibility to her arguments. Reminded by her perspective that there are clearly many different reasons why nuclear energy is not the first choice of most. In this writing, evidence of pathos evolves rhythmically as the writer appeals to the reader’s emotion by clearly discussing the dangers of nuclear energy. Likewise, the author evokes

Early in the morning of April 27, 1986, the world experienced its largest nuclear disaster ever (Gould 40). While violating safety protocol during a test, Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl power plant was placed in a severely unstable state, and in a matter of seconds the reactor output shot up to 120 times the rated output (Flavin 8). The resulting steam explosion tossed aside the reactor’s 1,000 ton concrete covering and released radioactive particles up to one and a half miles into the sky (Gould 38). The explosion and resulting fires caused 31 immediate deaths and over a thousand injuries, including radiation poisoning (Flavin 5). After the

Many critics argue that due to the Three Mile Island nuclear incident that occurred March 28, 1979, in Pennsylvania resulted in a reactor meltdown, with no casualties due to a combination of equipment failure and a lack of operators understanding what to do to a faulty reactor. This incident has put the majority public to have safety concerns over not only the operators working in the plants but also the civilians in the surrounding area. Yet since the accident, the United States formed the National Academy for Nuclear Training to improve training the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations which reviews and accredits nuclear utilities’ training programs for all key positions at each plant. In addition, nuclear energy plants have proven the ability to produce clean electricity without greenhouse gas emissions and the reliability due to its increased efficiency and increased power output.

In the modern society, energy is considered one of our most valuable resources. Humanity has managed to tap several sources of energy and utilize it for their daily activities. Almost everything in the society is dependent on energy; otherwise, humanity would cease to exist. The sources of energy vary from firewood, solar energy, geothermal energy and nuclear energy. The sources vary depending on the amount of energy that can be harnessed. Nuclear energy is a controversial subject when it comes to energy matters. Theorists argue that the world’s sources of energy are being depleted at such high rates, that the future will not favor humanity. Richard Watson establishes this ethical argument in his work known as Anti-Anthropocentric Ethics: he argues that any ethics should be based on the survival of humanity (Watson 245). Therefore, an inquiry that should be made in line with energy and ethics should consider the question; is modernization worth killing humanity? Nuclear power sources provide such high energy that can power industries and sustain industrial processes for longer times. The problem with the nuclear power energy is the danger it poses to the society and humanity as a whole (Ingram 37). The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia is a good example relative to the effects of nuclear power and the environment. This essay seeks to analyze and evaluate the ethical issues raised by the Chernobyl nuclear plant as source of energy