As stated earlier, the United States has attempted to find a suitable location for storing nuclear waste, but many people have opposed the decided location: Yucca Mountain. Studies began as early as 1987 at this remote, desert site. After more than two decades of studies, the U.S. Department of Energy filed a construction license application for this repository. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reviewed, but denied this application because Nevada legislators don’t approve of it. Thus, more than 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste are being stored at nuclear power plants rather than at a remote area. Compared to the current storage sites, Yucca Mountain is not in a residential area, as it is located more than 100 miles away from any populous area. Because of this, Yucca Mountain would have no effects on civilization. Additionally, Yucca Mountain is located half …show more content…
One of the main reasons for their increase is to reduce the foreign dependence on energy. France, hard hit by the oil crisis, decided to invest money into more nuclear power plants. These plants now consist of over 80% of the country's total energy usage. Not only does the country benefit from its domestic energy source, but France is able to produce so much that it actually makes a profit by selling it to other countries. China has taken notice of this and is in the process of constructing twenty two new plants to increase its nuclear energy usage and exports (Mcdonald). With many nuclear power plants reaching their age limit, these new plants could prove to be beneficial. With the continuous demand for energy, many countries have begun to utilize nuclear energy to benefit themselves economically. Until the United States increases its nuclear energy supply, the need for foreign energy will subsist, hurting the country economically and
There are many developing countries also looking into nuclear energy because of all the benefits nuclear power has to offer. As of right now between sixteen and thirty nuclear power plants are being made in developing countries like China and India. Both of these countries are moving towards nuclear energy for many reasons like its reliability and amount of energy it producing. It is very beneficial because it only takes up a small amount of space to make one of these nuclear plants and the amount of energy they produce is substantial. Both of these countries are looking into h...
The City Council of Boomtown, a fictitious city, wants to expand their current borders and is considering building new houses and apartments on one of three locations: Green Hill, Delta Wetlands, or Seaside Cliff. Though each of the landforms have differing advantages and disadvantages, the cliff would be the best place to build. It is located along the East Bay, north of the Rolling River. Seaside Cliff has the most stable land and the easiest solutions to its problems. It is also the least flood-prone and damaging to the environment. The most logical location to build in Boomtown is Seaside Cliff for several reasons.
The article “Nuclear Waste” is an interesting perspective from Richard Muller. Muller is a very credited author and he speaks his mind about the situation where people are trying to figure out how to deal with nuclear waste around the U.S. There are many proposed ideas but Muller has a very simple and straight forward idea that he believes is the ideal decision. The essay he wrote can be interpreted in different ways but his motive for writing is very clear. Muller’s background is quite impressive because he is highly credited. When reading Muller’s essay, you notice points that supports his argument and truth about the situation around nuclear power.
One of the most talked about opposition toward nuclear fission is the radioactive waste it produces. A radioactive waste is what is left behind after using a reactor to make electricity. There are two levels of waste, low and high, but both are regulated by the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. High level waste is made up of fuel that’s been used directly in the reactor that is highly radioactive but can still be disposed. Low level waste is the contaminated items that have been exposed to radiation. The nuclear wastes are then stored in a safe and secure location with different types of methods such as wet storage, dry storage, and away from reactor storage. Wet storage is the main method of disposing the waste because it is the
In the beginng of try to answer the ethical question of was mountaintop removal mining right or wrong for West Virginia, I decided to look at the environmental hazards first, exploring all the possible...
The American Dream! The vision that gets sold that a life in the US is a wonderful dream! For many undeveloped countries around the world, the United States is seen as the land of the opportunity. The land where hard work will be rewarded and all goals can be achieved. However the real United States is not as wonderful as it seems for an immigrant, specially an illegal immigrant. It is no doubt minorities in the United States are discriminated and somehow targeted. Lets take for example the popular Arizona Senate Bill 1070, better known as SB 1070. The law became so controversial and popular at the same time, multiple states adopted its own version of it. The goal? “Make neighborhoods safe” by deporting all illegal immigrants (Eagly). Mass
There is so much that can be learned from the past. Especially from an event that was as catastrophic as this one. How does one person gain such a grip on so many people? How was he able to influence them to change their entire life’s to conform to what he wanted. Somehow he was able to get them to move to a completely new place and create a world all their (his) own. How does one person convince and force so many people that it was time for their life to end? How does he force them to kill themselves? So many questions that are still being answered to this day. There are plenty of movies and research done on this event but there is still a lot to learn.
After examining the sources, I strongly believe that Pocahontas did not save John Smith from the urgent, deadly circumstance that legends speak of. Although history textbooks such as The Americans: A History write that Pocahontas “rescued Smith when he was captured”, it refers to her rescue as a legend. While some legends may be exaggerated versions of partial truths, many are purely just stories. Although Pocahontas may have “saved” John Smith from a less dire circumstance, the odds of her rescuing him from a desperate, violent capture is probably not true. Furthermore, Smith did not mention any threat or capture in his book written a year after the “actual” event. However, in order to gain more fame and money, he included an epic, detailed description of her rescue in the Generall Historie of Virginia. If Pocahontas truly tried to “save him from death” (Smith), John Smith would’ve had to mention her rescue in his first book.
It was a very quiet morning and everything was very settled on May 5th, 1864 in the state Virginia, until a high powered Battle broke loose on a very open and vulnerable terrain that stretched 70 miles wide and 30 miles long. The battle ended just 2 days later on May 7th. By the end, over 3,700 soldiers lost their lives, of what was left over 4,000 were missing or captured. The 162,000 involved lives were changed for a battle that was found inclusive. What was this pointless battle called? Its known as “The Battle of the Wilderness”. This battle was between the Potomac, IX corps (Yankees) and the Army of Northern Virginia (confederates) .The Yankees were lead by Ulysses S.Grant and George G. Meade and the confederates were controlled by Robert E. Lee.
About 31 or more people had died from the tragic event in 1986 in Chernobyl, Russia from the accident itself or from thyroid cancer that developed after the incident later on down the road chernobyl was a horrific event and lead to more deaths even after the fact.Another nuclear related accident was when the TMI power planted almost melted down,it showed us that a lot can happen from one small problem such as a faulty pressure valve can over heat the reactor and this could cause a plant to meltdown.A problem we face everyday still is nuclear waste, we wonder where we can put it that allows the population to still be safe.The U.S. is doing a latter approach for nuclear waste and the location chosen for this is Yucca Mountain in Nevada. They feel waste is to dangerous to just leave it.A good thing about power plants is that they are safer than other methods in the working field.Nuclear power is useful but with the radiation given off or if the power plant exploded or something along those lines the radiation is stronger and more powerful and can spread across a location and kill many. Nuclear power is also safer having less deaths on the job compared to other generating sources known as oil refiners or other fossil fuel jobs.
Media coverage of such cases have made the public less comfortable with the idea of moving further towards nuclear power and they only opt for reducing human activities to reduce global warming. It is true that there have been some notable disasters involving nuclear power, but compared to other power systems, nuclear power has an impressive track record. First, it is less harmful and second, it will be able to cater for the growing world population. Nuclear power produces clean energy and it delivers it at a cost that is competitive in the energy market (Patterson). According to the US Energy Information Administration, there are currently 65 such plants in the Unite States (National Research Council). They produce 19 percent of the total US energy generation.
The Interior Plains is a region in west-central Canada, in the Mountain and Central time zones. It is the fourth largest region of Canada. Majority of the Interior Plains is prairie land with lots of flatlands. The total area of this region is 1, 900, 000 km². Approximately nineteen percent of Canada’s population lives in the Interior Plains region. This region includes certain points of interests and attractions such as city areas like downtown Calgary and natural sightseeing areas like the Rocky Mountains. The majority of the Interior Plains is prairie land, with many trees and grass. Most of this area is wide, open spaces and flat land. Some of the animals living here include deer, wolves, and
Have you ever had to make a decision in your life? I’m pretty sure we all have, the decision can even be what you ate for breakfast in the morning. Robert Frost wrote a poem about a man who has to make an important decision. In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost, he states, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” (Woods). To me taking the road less traveled by means, doing something on your own. It means not following a crowd, it means doing something unique. It can be hard to go your own way, but that is what Robert Frost is talking about. Everybody should go the path is right for them, not the one that many other people have gone down. There are many examples of people taking the unexpected path, I have gone through a path many people have never seen before, so have
In addition to the potential dangers of accidents in generating stations, nuclear waste is a continuing problem that is growing exponentially. Nuclear waste can remain radioactive for about 600 years and disposing these wastes or storing them is an immense problem. Everyone wants the energy generated by power plants, but no one wants to take responsibility for the waste. Thus far, it is stored deep in the earth, but these storage areas are potentially dangerous and will eventually run out. Some have suggested sending the waste into space, but no one is sure of the repercussions.
...far into the future as possible until it becomes a burden to the current generation and that any perceived benefits gained by those future generations cannot be measure. With that in mind, burying the nuclear waste in Yucca mountain is simply too risky given natural condition, which is why the aboveground storage and passing on to future generations method is best suited for the overall benefit of mankind and the enviroment. This can only hold true if each generation commits to not only contributing towards the safe containment of the radioactive waste, but also encourages the next generation to do the same. Actions taken today with good intentions for the future can still yield negative results in that future. But, with this method, small incremental improvements can be taken over time and not burden one generation with the welfare of all generations after it.