Nuclear Plant : The Environmental Effects Of Nuclear Power Plants

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).

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

The United States of America’s population constitutes just 5% of the world’s population, yet it consumes nearly 24% of the world’s energy. Because of our huge consumption of energy, we harm our environment in different ways, like producing massive amounts CO2 emissions which have catastrophic effects, such as climate change, that directly impact us and the different forms of life around us. To cut down on these negative effects, researchers have developed more environmentally friendly methods of energy production. The debate now centers around which energy method is better than the rest. Although there are many energy-generating methods, we will focus on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, as well as nuclear power. Shrader-Frechette opposes nuclear energy because it 's seen as unclean, expensive, and dangerous. Senator Lamar Alexander opposes wind and solar energies because the sheer amount of space required by these energy producing methods does more harm to our environment than good. Even if Shrader is right about the disadvantages of nuclear power, which she is not, its worldwide use as our main source of energy would pose an insignificant threat compared to the dangers of the impact solar and wind power would have on the environment. We have no time to experiment with visionary energy sources; civilization is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear power -- the one relatively safe, available, energy source -- now or suffer the pain soon to be

The nuclear disaster in Fukushima occurred at fourteen forty six, Japanese time. The disaster occurred because a major magnitude nine earthquake struck North Eastern Japan and a fifteen meter high tsunami also struck the power plant (Grimston). There were eleven overall reactors that were effected by the earthquake and tsunami. Nine of the reactors cooling systems continued to work after the natural disasters occurred, but reactors one, two and three of the Fukushima Daiichi plant were terribly damaged and could not cool down the fission process. This is what lead to the one, two and three reactors to melt, causing the most detrimental damage to the global community (Grimston). Critics of the disasters say that Daiichi was not up to global nuclear safety standards because the wall the protected the plant was only stable against six meter tall tsunami waves, not the massive

Nuclear energy reactors can have devastating consequences to its surrounding environment. Nuclear energy reactors can have a meltdown which can cause its surrounding inhabitants to face dire consequences. A nuclear meltdown is when nuclear reactor(s) have a severe accident which results in damage to the core/overheating. A nuclear meltdown releases radiation into the atmosphere, and also releases extremely dangerous radioisotopes into the environment.

Nuclear energy is a green source of energy and power that is been used by many developed and powerful countries in the world. This energy is used to satisfy the need for electricity in many major cities around the world. They are usually built near seas, rivers and oceans, because they would need continuous supply of water to keep the reactor cool and produce steam to run the turbines. Energy is produced by using a radioactive material called Uranium or Plutonium that undergoes a process called as fission. This process involves the spilling of the Uranium atom into lighter elements, which produces a lot of energy in the form of heat that is used to turn water into steam. The steam is then passed through a turbine which is connected to a generator that yields to electricity. However, the byproducts of this process are for example Cesium-137 that has a half-life of approximately 30 years. These by products are being dumped into the environment that pollute marine life and are also a threat to human life as radioactive materials can mutate genes and cause cancer. In my opinion, Nuclear power plants should be closed, as they are a threat to both humanity and the marine life.

Nuclear power plants produce a lot of energy but the power plant is also potentially, extremely dangerous. There is 100 nuclear power plants that are in use in the United States of America as of now. Although when there is an accident, the power plants release a lot of radiation. The radiation hurts the environment, including living things. Since nuclear power plants are not entirely safe and still have flaws, they can lead to disastrous events like the Chernobyl accident. The accident led to about 270,000 cancers and 93,000 fatal cancers according to the Greenpeace Organization. The Union of Concerned Scientists has created solutions in making nuclear reactors safer. They have sent recommendations to the owners of the power plants to tell them what they should do to make sure there will not be anymore nuclear accidents. So far, with these regulations, there have not been any accidents in the U.S. However, the Environmental Protection Agency has made a more promising solution by regulating the radionuclide emissions and the removal of high level radioactive waste that the power plants are producing. However with these regulations, there is still are still possibilities of nuclear accidents and the release of radiation caused by the power plants. Nuclear power plants need to be safer to help the environment and to prevent numerous deaths.

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.

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

On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami resulting in 15,894 confirmed deaths, with 2,556 people missing. This was the fourth strongest earthquake to hit in recent years with a magnitude of 9.1 (“Damage Station Police” ). However, this was not the only disaster to have struck Japan, the combination of the earthquake and tsunami led to the meltdown of a power plant in, Tōhoku region, Japan. This event became known as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Nuclear meltdowns has contributed harm to many environments by radioactive leaks, soil contamination, and radiation exposure.

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.

As populations continue to grow and prosper, the need for power and resources continues to rise. There are many ways for people to gain the amount of power they need; however, none of the processes are as efficient as nuclear power. Nuclear power produces enough energy for millions of people. Being said, if nuclear power and the energy it produces is so great, what are the problems or issues that are associated with nuclear power? There are a lot of issues, more than anyone would expect. “Animals are affected by the operation of nuclear power - but are the most ignored of all the nuclear industry 's victims. Whether sucked into reactor intake systems, or pulverized at the discharge, aquatic animals and their habitats are routinely harmed and destroyed by the routine operation of reactors” (Beyond Nuclear). Every year the environment and species that live within the ecosystem see a direct effect from nuclear power plants. The issues not only derive from the radiation that is produced in the plant but from the water released from the cooling system and other sources that may release harmful toxins. These lakes are often considered to have unnatural temperatures along with other complications due to some of the unregulated water that is released back into the lake. There are unique characteristics that come with having a nuclear plant on the water.

Over the years, humans have increasingly relied on electricity to supply power to their homes and businesses, mainly through grid connected nuclear power plants, but understanding where this power comes from and how it is being generated isn’t something many are concerned with, nor do they have the knowledge to understand how the energy is created and what could happen if these nuclear power plants began to fail. While we now strive for newer clean forms of energy such as solar or wind power, nuclear energy still seems to be at the forefront of the clean energy revival due to the efficiency at which those power plants can produce electricity. Nuclear power plants like the one off the coast of Japan, Fukushima Daiichi, which was hit by a tsunami following a very large earthquake in March of 2011, have quickly become the poster child for newer clean fuel initiatives because of the uncontrollable leaking of harmful chemicals into our atmosphere and oceans. Arguably, these types of power plants, which produce and contain harmful radioisotopes to produce electricity, have been perceived as a growing problem for our environment and have increased health risks for the inhabitants surrounding the plants. Nuclear power plants emit very low-carbon emissions and have been labeled as one of the cleanest forms of energy production, nevertheless it produces chemicals that have the potential to be even more harmful than any carbon emission affecting our environment and future generations

Nuclear power plays a pivotal role in our lives. Nuclear power seems to be the only way to help human beings go through energy crisis and climate change. These two problems threaten global security and the stability of the environment. There are several advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power, so my essay is focusing on what British people really think of nuclear energy.

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