Nuclear Energy

Nuclear power plants should not be built due to the biological effects it poses during a meltdown. Radiation is exposed to inhabitants during a meltdown but many people are not aware of the horrific effects. An example of this is explained in the article “Biological Effects on Radiation”. “The higher the radiation dose, the sooner the effects of radiation will appear…this syndrome was observed in many atomic bomb survivors in…1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident…of these, 28 died within the first three months from their radiation injuries. Two more patients died during the first days…” (2012).

When people hear the term “nuclear energy”, the first thing that jumps to their minds is most often “danger”. Who could blame the world for their intense fears of nuclear power, especially after reading the reports from Dr. Ira Helfand and the American writer, David Biello? Dr. Helfand’s article, “Radiation’s Risk to Public Health”, attacks the nuclear energy with facts and concerns like those of the National Research Council BEIR VI report. Whereas Dr. Helfand supports his claims with scientific evidence, David Biello only had a script from a discussion that followed the Fukushima crisis. David Biello’s article, “How Safe Are U.S. Nuclear Reactors? Lessons from Fukushima”, he uncovers secret concerns and future plans about the incredibly disastrous incident. Although David Biello used credible sources and attempted to appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos, Dr. Ira Helfand contains an authority in his education and knows a great deal more about nuclear power and definitely has the best representation of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Radioactive waste/radiation and environmental causes and changes are the two main causes of safety hazards. Radiation is harmful because it can kill people or deform parts of their bodies and when having a baby, the baby can get deformed in the arms legs, or other body parts. This happened at Chernobyl were the reactor’s blew up and radiation got to pregnant women and their babies became deformed and people that were close or in the nuclear power plant died. Then also if you want to make the place livable again, you had to remove the radiation from the explosion and you would have to if it was a major explosion, remove the radiation from the site somewhere else so it wouldn’t spread to the other countries or states. One other thing is that terrorist want to blow up the nuclear power plants to cause the same destruction that happened at Chernobyl. Environmental causes and changes are a huge part in why we should shutdown Three Mile Island. Environmental causes are animals getting hurt because of what nuclear is power plants have to do to get uranium. Mining uranium is dangerous in many ways. Uranium produces radiation, so when mining it the radiation spreads into the forest where animals get contorted or they die. This also happens when the nuclear power plant takes about one billion gallons of water per day and marine or aquatic animals start to die because of the loss or drought of

One of the most controversial topics in the field of renewable energy is nuclear energy. In nineteen eighty six, the Chernobyl power plant in modern day Ukraine (formerly the USSR) had a major, level seven meltdown. A level seven nuclear disaster is the highest disaster possible in regards to nuclear event. This meltdown caused billions of tons of radioactive material to fly into the air that spread all across Europe (Xiang, Zhu). The most recent major nuclear accident happened in two thousand eleven, in Fukushima, Japan.

Nuclear fission is a cost-effective, and relatively clean way to generate power. Since, the mid-1940’s, with the formation of the first atomic bombs, engineers have worked on improving nuclear power. In the 1970’s and 80’s nuclear power plants were built in cities to provide power for homes, workplaces, and other facets of life. Nuclear reactions were not well understood by the general public and therefore nuclear engineers inherited a certain status. Also as a result, nuclear power plants raised concerns for many Americans. The chances of a nuclear reactor failure were very slim, however, the consequences were devastating. Engineers feared that if the general public knew of the possible consequences that there would be massive amounts of unnecessary fear. As a result, operators of nuclear reactors were not informed of procedures to follow in the event of an emergency.

These accidents were chosen because they constitute worst yet valuable examples of what can – and, occasionally, does – go wrong in the nuclear power production realm, and because they shape our understanding of the caused harm. They also embrace a thirty-five year period, during which nuclear power underwent significant regulatory development worldwide, aiming to address growing concerns with respect to short- and long-term effects of such disasters on human health, environmental, social, and economic factors.

More than 30 years ago, nuclear energy was poisoned in the eyes of most Americans after the partial reactor meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. Anti-nuclear sentiment swelled while construction of new reactors stalled. Fears of nuclear power were further confirmed after the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union, and later reaffirmed by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. The development of new nuclear power screeched to a halt after Fukushima, which froze Japan’s nuclear industry and caused hundreds of thousands of Japanese to evacuate the area surrounding the plant.

Countless nuclear power plant accidents have been occurring quite frequently since its invention. Some accidents have even been underestimated,

There have been lots of nuclear accident around the world. One of the accident that had a major impact on the world was the Chernobyl disaster. The disaster took place on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The disaster was caused by a reaction explosion induced by design faults and staff application errors. The accident took place in the course of scheduled tests to check the power supply mode in the event of external sources loss. Even after 10 days, explosions and ejections of radioactive substances continued. The release of radiation and radioactive substance polluted the places within 30 km of Chernobyl, and those areas have been closed for a long period of

After Fukushima, the developing of Nuclear energy has been doubted. America proclaims that Nuclear energy is high in cost. Hence, speaking of not only maintaining the plants, they will also need to be inspected and made sure that there are no problems. This all cost money, America claims. It cannot be cost efficient if it need such high levels of management. Nuclear energy is not safe for the environment. Since the Fukushima destruction, America says that even though it may be a more reliable source but it creates hazard for the area because of the unknown damages that could partake. After the natural disaster that happened in Japan where three reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi were hit, it caused a meltdown. Therefore, leading to many damages

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

The 1986 Chernobyl incident is a prime example of why we should avoid nuclear energy. The meltdown led to an explosion the Chernobyl unit-four reactor and caused a fire which burned for ten days, releasing radioactive material over an area of 200,000 km2. The immediate results were 30 deaths from radiation within three months. Long term affects from the radiation resulted in birth defects and shortened lifespans for many of the rescue workers who survived. According to the World Health Organization, there are 4000 deaths related to the Chernobyl incident as of September 5th 2005. Today, the earth within the 30-kilometer exclusion zone contains high amount of radiation. The plants and water around Chernobyl nuclear plant also have high radioactive contamination. Base on the report Chernobyl Accident and Its Consequences from the Nuclear Energy Institute, this accident is caused by a defective reactor design and human error. Workers at Chernobyl were also exposed to higher levels of radiation than workers at other nuclear power plants. A nuclear meltdown in progress is extremely difficult to contain and past a certain threshold a meltdown is unstoppable as in the case of Chernobyl. Workers must be extremely well trained and careful to prevent these disasters from happening. However, human error is inevitable. If we keep building nuclear power plants and relying on nuclear energy, incidents like Chernobyl will

On this assignment we are going to research all energy sources and their drawbacks, we are also going to explore on some the negative ramifications that even the clean hydropower have, additionally we are going to weigh those against the possible consequences of developing nuclear power, a controversial alternative to fossil fuels. We will discuss the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster as well as the 20th century Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in drawing conclusions about risk versus reward of nuclear energy use.

The environmental fears of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the Fukushima power plant have yet to be completely realized .Chernobyl had the Red Forest, where a whole forest of pine trees died and were removed. Mutations were reported on vegetation and wildlife. The Fukushima power plant has yet to begin assessing the environmental impact it is certain there will be many. Chernobyl placed many food restrictions on plant and animal consumption, and several remain today. Therefore, more research is needed to understand and protect communities from these environmental concerns. The potential for an accident and the problem of waste disposal reaffirm the hazards and fears associated with nuclear energy and the consequences on the environment. Although, exposure to low-level radiation occurs daily the health concerns over cancer and radiation remain a priority for health professionals. The link to cancer and radiation are confirmed in a report by the EPA “There is no firm basis for setting a "safe" level of exposure.... In setting limits, EPA makes the conservative (cautious) assumption that any increase in radiation exposure is accompanied by an increased risk of stochastic (random) effects.” The consequence of nuclear accidents verifies the dangers associated with nuclear power. Radiation is dangerous with the risk of poisoning and cancer. Three Mile Island did not kill anyone in 1979, but the long-term

A. Since the first major nuclear accident recorded in 1952, more than 33 serious incidents at nuclear stations have been identified worldwide. Within the history of nuclear power, the three major nuclear accidents are the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima; the Three Mile Island incident in Pennsylvania, U.S.was safely contained overall whereas Chernobyl and Fukushima resulted in large damage to the surrounding area as well as discharge of radioactive content from the plant.(1)The Chernobyl incident in northern Ukraine resulted in the death of 28 plant workers as a result of thermal burns and radiation exposure in the first four months following the accident, while Chernobyl was found to be responsible for about 7,000 cases of thyroid cancer within individuals under 18.(2) In the event of a nuclear accident, the main concern is the release of radioactive material, most likely from a nuclear core meltdown and a breach in the containment of nuclear substances. These concerns have led to the utilization of procedures following an accident; evacuation from the area of the incident to prevent contamination, taking shelter in ventilation-closed areas to avoid radiation, disposal of contaminated products as well as use of proper medical procedures.(3)