The Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Energy

Lastly, the lack of proper supervision and protection for the nuclear plants can potentially cause detrimental amount of damage to the environment and society. We need to take responsibility for the safety for our next

Nuclear power plants increase cancer risk by .002%, shortening life expectancies by less than an hour while fossil fuels shorten by 3-40 days. The cancer risk is similar to delaying parenthood by 2.5 days, or by a man wearing pants for 8 hours more per year. There has only been one incident that has seriously affected the cancer risk in the area. Most radiological injuries/deaths each year are due to large, uncontrolled radiation sources.

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.

A continual struggle of humanity is the search for a stable foundation of resources. With

Nuclear power, the type of energy that sits on the edge of humanity’s greatest hopes, and its darkest fears. With a country such as the United States continuing to expand its industry, housing, agriculture and commercial buildings there is a need for more and more energy each year. Nuclear power is one of the many ways the United States gets its energy. Nevertheless, it is one of the most controversial means of energy production. The main concern with nuclear energy is the nuclear waste that is produced along with it. The potential health and environmental risks posed by nuclear waste is what truly scares some of the American public. Therefore, is the amount of energy output by nuclear power plants outweigh the potential risks that nuclear waste can have on human health and the environment? Nuclear power plants should be kept as a means of generating energy for the United States, however, transportation and storage of nuclear waste needs to continuously be checked for safer alternatives.

“No one in the United States has become seriously ill or has died because of any kind of accident at a civilian nuclear power plant.” says Joe Barton. This is a highly controversial topic where there are many conflicting opinions. Some people believe that these plants are too dangerous to exist while other think that they are the edge of tomorrow. When analyzing it from a purely statistical and analytical standpoint, nuclear energy is clearly worth the possible risks they pose.

Imagine a world in which millions of people are wiped out within minutes due to men’s desire to put their materalistic desires before the well being of others: this is the dangerious path we’ll be undertaking if nuclear energy is used to fill the void left if coal and gas were not available. There should be steps taken to make it unlawful to construct additional nuclear power plants in the United States because these power plants are extremely dangerious to our environment and people; it’s also unclear how radiation exposure can effect people in the long-term; and there are other sources of energy that are available, such as solar energy.

In the article “Nuclear energy Pros and Cons,” Mathias Maehlum analyzes the pros and cons of nuclear energy. Before going into the advantages and disadvantages, Maehlum mentions some facts about nuclear energy. These facts include how many reactors are in the United States, how much power they produce, and how they produce power. Maehlum states that “There are 104 commercial nuclear power plants in the United States producing a whopping 806.2 TWh of electricity” this was twenty percent of all electricity generation in the US in 2008. Maehlum then explains how nuclear power is produced.

Although nuclear energy has many upsides, there is one most commonly worried about problem with these facilities, the danger of radiation. Radiation poisoning can severely handicap people, animals, plants, and with bad exposure to high radiation it can cause death. A good example of the dangers of nuclear energy is Chernobyl. This was a place in the Ukraine where there was a steam explosion which in turn lead to a fire in the nuclear reactor. This produced a cloud of deadly radioactive gas which is a called a plume. This plume can get into waterways, get in the rain cycle, and be taken by weather all over the

On December 2, 1942, the first man-made nuclear reactor reached criticality. Fast forward 75 years from that day and we can see nuclear power research and development is still maintaining momentum. That is because the potential of nuclear power has shown itself in currently operating power plants. This paper will explore the history and background of nuclear reactors, how it works, its strengths and weaknesses, while touching on their effect on the United States today.

When asked about the number of active nuclear power plants most people in the United States would probably guess a like ten or twenty when in actuality “there are currently sixty one commercially operating nuclear power plants with ninety nine nuclear reactors in thirty states in the United States. Thirty-five of these plants have two or more reactors.”(eia.gov) In America nuclear power has a stigma of just negative effects among these is ,“radioactive waste produced by nuclear reactors which needs to be disposed of at a safe place since they are extremely hazardous and can leak radiations if not stored properly. Such kind of waste emits radiations from tens to hundreds of years. The storage of radioactive waste has been major bottleneck for the expansion of nuclear

While, coal-burning plants release tons of ash into the atmosphere, which is a cause to acid rain (“Nuclear Energy”, 2015). Additionally, coal-burning plants release a toxic gas, which has been associated with cancer; moreover, the burning of fossil fuels has been proven to cause the release of carbon dioxide and global warming (“Nuclear Energy”, 2015). On the other side of the spectrum, nuclear plants have been known for their issues in the leakage of toxic wastes, creating a risk of harm to the individuals who live around the area (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2007). Moreover, nuclear reactors create toxic wastes and until now the plans for long term storage for these wastes have not been created, which leaves the question of if there will ever be a plan implemented (“Nuclear Energy”, 2015)? Illustrates that an investment in a nuclear plant might be riskier than making an investment with a coal-burning plant.

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission, splitting atoms in two, which releases energy in the process to generate heat and electricity. Heat created by fission drives the turbines that generate electricity. When nuclear power was first created it was predicted that it would be very successful. It was also predicted that nuclear power would be “too cheap to meter,” that is electricity would be very cheap so either consumers would not be charged for electricity at all or the prices would be very low (Cohn, 1997). Although nuclear power is still in use today the initial success of nuclear industry eventually declined. Nuclear industry and its supporters claim that nuclear power is environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and safe,

There have been many ideas of how we can produce enough energy for the population without polluting the Earth. People have tried many different ways to collect energy. Some of those ways are: fossil fuels, solar power, geothermal power, and hydroelectric. Here is how nuclear energy works, pros, cons and some facts about nuclear energy.

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.