Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Energy

Fossil fuels are a primary source for providing energy throughout the United States. These sources of energy are causing many problems involving environment, health, and pollution. The solution? Nuclear power. Nuclear power is seen as a green energy that can improve global warming. However, there a more issues that can result from using nuclear power. Even though there are a lot of people who support it, nuclear power can result in world threatening problems. Nuclear waste, expense and time, and the threat regarding to war and terrorism are constant issues related to nuclear power.

The first advantage of nuclear energy is that it is one of the cleanest sources of energy available to us now. The process of fission doesn’t emit any greenhouse gases or emissions that are linked to global warming. Nuclear energy is currently the largest clean air energy source. It currently occupies 63.3 percent of the emission free electricity in the United States, and this must continue to get expanded upon. With increased use of nuclear energy comes a decreased use in fossil fuels, which would result in a lower carbon footprint for the U.S. This would help slow down the impact of global warming and climate change.

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?

Firstly, the usage of nuclear power is consistent and plentiful. As we know, the reaction of nuclear can emit a great power of energy, it can support vast of families’ and enormous plants’ working. In addition, unlike solar energy and wind power, which depend on external factors, nuclear power is consistent generate at anytime and anywhere. Secondly, since the nuclear power is easy to produce and it also can generate a huge amount of power, it is much cheaper to use it. What’s more, like Hill’s saying, “with the cost of natural gas and oil soaring”, the nuclear plants have return back to work and produce massive energy. Lastly, nuclear power benefits to environment: not only because it does not produce the carbon emissions, which can alleviates the global warming; but also it reduces the noxious byproducts, like sulfur dioxide, which is main reason of air pollution. Therefore, using the nuclear power is an ideal energy resource for human

Nuclear power is a much greener option than others, and can help prevent the devastating effects of fossil fuels on the environment. Burning fossil fuels releases thousands of tons of GHGs (greenhouse gasses) into the air that cause a variety of serious environmental problems. The emissions cause global warming which leads to the melting of polar ice caps and the raising of oceans. This also causes acid rain and air pollution which pollutes water sources, accelerates erosion and damages ecosystems (Pacific

Nuclear energy is much better than other sources of energy for many reasons. It is cheaper long-term than renewable energy, like wind turbines and solar power, safer than coal and has minimal atmospheric contamination. It is also much more efficient than coal, and genetic risks are minimal. The cancer risk increase of nuclear energy is next to nothing; it is only .002%, shortening life expectancies by less than one hour.

Storing nuclear waste is a political problem as no one wants it stored near them, so there is a dispute about where radioactive waste should be stored. But after all the advantages of using nuclear energy outweigh its disadvantages as nuclear plants emit less than one-hundredth of carbon dioxide gas compared to coal or gas-fired energy plants so there is a very little effect on the environment. Humans living next to coal-fired power plants are exposed to higher radiation doses than those living near nuclear plants, where the former is harmful to human health and may be responsible for acid rain. On the other hand dependence on nuclear energy is now increasing in most countries as nuclear reactors use uranium as a fuel which is found everywhere on earth. It is inexpensive and easier to transport than other fuels which makes them less dependent on oil and foreign fuel from other countries.

Nuclear Energy has many supporters around the world. The benefit of Nuclear Energy are clear to many. People who are for Nuclear Energy, support it for many reasons. The outcome of produced power can be changed, all you do is change the fuel entering the chain reactor (Page 11). One main factor that puts nuclear energy on top is it lets out little air pollutants, greenhouse gases, smog, slows global warming, and helps limit acid rain (Sally

It is an element which is not found in the nature however it is a fissionable element. It is a by-product of the chain reaction and is very harmful if introduced in the nature. It is primarily used to produce nuclear weapons. Most likely, it is named as dirty bomb.” Even though nuclear radiation has some disadvantages it is only rivaled by the numerous advantages lower green house gas “ As per the reports in 1998, it has been calculated the emission of the greenhouse gas has reduced for nearly half due to the popularity in the use of nuclear power. Nuclear energy by far has the lowest impact on the environment since it does not releases any gases like carbon dioxide, methane which are largely responsible for greenhouse effect.”, power and efficiency “The other main advantage of using nuclear energy is that it is very powerful and efficient than other alternative energy sources. Advancement in technologies has made it more viable option than others.”, and reliability “Unlike traditional sources of energy like solar and wind which require sun or wind to produce electricity, nuclear energy can be produced from nuclear power plants even in the cases of rough weather

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.

In today's society, nuclear chemistry has slowly been introduced and taking over. Over the years these nuclear power plants have been popping up in backyards and towns. Nuclear energy is even being considered as an alternate source of energy that is to be beneficial to our environment. More people are using nuclear power and it can be seen in a long range of our medical technology. This however, is not a good thing for the future of society. While nuclear energy does present some benefits to society, overall it causes too much damage to the environment and therefore individuals.to begin with, nuclear chemistry produces too much environmental waste which causes a lot of damage to the environment. For nuclear energy, the main source that fuels

Logically it 's not hard to see that if there is a limited supply of something, one day it will finally run out. What happens when society relies on a resource that is nonrenewable? This is something that scientists are struggling with more and more each passing day. Though this is true of many substances that humans use (helium, chocolate, gold...), the most important substances that our lives rely on are fossil fuels. While there is a wide range of guesses regarding how long we have left until we deplete the world 's supply of fossil fuels, most experts say that we only have a few years before harvesting them becomes much more difficult (and expensive) (Lamb 2010). Given our unfortunate dependence on energy, this would have a massive effect on everything in life. Without energy, society as we know it would not be able to continue functioning. Even ignoring the limited supply, it 's hard to deny that the harvesting of resources throughout time has caused a plethora of problems ( 'Miners Lung ' is a disease that 's 'affectionately ' known to come from mining coal after all, and cave ins are not at all an entirely unheard of problem). As such, this leaves us with really only one viable option: go nuclear before it 's too late.

Nuclear energy is the largest source of emission free energy. It is the only large scale energy source that will be able to cope with the world's growing economy. Another a positive way to look at nuclear energy’s positive impact on the world is to remember that 135 million cars would have been eliminated if nuclear energy was replaced with oil or coal burning. The United States would have had to do that just to lower the gas emission rates.

Building enough power plants to provide the world with energy would mean increasing our CO2 production in the process of making them. Once the power plants are built, although they don't use CO2 to produce energy, to keep the factories running and transport all of the waste releases more CO2 (1). Switching to renewable energy would progress us further into stopping climate change. We would be cutting down on CO2 emissions by a much greater amount. This would make a more significant difference on the climate change (1). This shows that using renewables would make a larger impact on the world and how to help save it. The Industry already has technology to switch to 100% renewables, they just don't want to let go of their nuclear technology (4). Another danger of nuclear power is the risk of terrorism and violence. People are worried that if violent protesters advance on nuclear technology, the amount of violences will increase. This is another reason to end our nuclear technology knowledge while we can (1). Furthermore, not only do nuclear plants harm the industry and economy, they also harm the people and the environment. The evidence is showing that being around nuclear radioactivity causes people to have cancer. Not only does the radiation cause people to have cancer, but it also damages their DNA. Additionally, it harms the environment, not just humans. Animal's are affected in several different forms. Some examples are, Diarrhea, vomiting, internal bleeding, anemia, exhaustion, permanent sterilization and death

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.