While I was reading two these two provided articles I noticed that there were many pros and cons to nuclear power. After I had read the articles and collected my thoughts I have concluded that the cons of nuclear power outweigh the pros. I believe that the United States should NOT continue to use and fund nuclear power based off of my knowledge and understanding provided by the articles.
I believe one reason why we should not use nuclear power is because the process used to make and store the energy can emit and give off harmful amounts of radiation. In the first article I read (Introduction to How Nuclear Power Works) there is talk about how the radiation is contained and monitored. I do not believe that we should even risk having any amount of levels of radiation in the United States if we can help it.
Another reason why I think the United States shouldn’t continue to use nuclear power is
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One example of the plants being uncontrollable would be the Chernobyl explosion. This disaster stood as a prime example of nuclear malfunction. 30,000 people were forced to evacuate the area and many even died!
One reason people think nuclear power plants are a good thing would be because the energy comes from a clean and natural process unlike the burning of coal and other fossil fuels. I believe that this argument is invalid because of all of the OTHER dangers that come with how the nuclear energy is made and stored.
Another argument FOR nuclear power would be that it helps stop air pollution unlike the burning of fossil fuels. I also believe that this argument is invalid because I believe that even though fossil fuels aren’t the best for air pollution, the radioactivity that is produced from the nuclear energy waste is WORSE for the environment than the air pollution caused by burning fossil
Nuclear power is a growing source of energy to most of the world for many benefits. People doubt the significant of nuclear power because of one accident. Due to this accident, the world has only seen the flaws in nuclear power and not the many benefits it has to offer. Nuclear power would benefit worldwide if people would let go of the past and look towards the future. Nuclear power is a better alternative energy because of its economic and environmental benefits.
power is not the cleanest energy source. However nuclear energy is cheaper than fossil fuels, and the
In my opinion nuclear power is pretty amazing, and I doubt that people really believe otherwise. The amount of energy that it can produce compared to other sources of energy is huge. I believe that as long as it is done with the utmost care, nuclear power is the best source of energy we can
Nuclear energy is a very powerful source of energy. Just a little bit is required to make large amounts of electricity, which powers 1 in 5 households in the U.S. Nuclear energy has been advanced over the years and has been relied on heavily by many countries today.
There are many sources of energy today, and the best source of it is constantly being sought after, one source stands out above the rest. Nuclear energy is simple in theory, yet it may be one of the most controversial sources of power. Nuclear energy works using reactors built to split the atoms (nuclear fission) of the fuel to produce heat. This heat evaporates the cooling agent (usually water) into steam which turns turbines to create electricity. Nuclear energy should be allowed, because it produces an abundance of electricity, as well as being a clean source of energy with no harmful emissions. Nuclear energy is the future of clean, environmentally friendly energy.
(Action): If we don’t do our part to stop the expansion of nuclear power plants, the future of our planet will be bleaker. Every year, thousands of more pounds of nuclear waste will be buried underground and the damage to our environment increases. There are more efficient energy sources other than nuclear power and we must do our part today to prevent a catastrophic future for our children. The dangers that nuclear power plants pose for the United States are very real. There are many alternative renewable sources of energy available to us such as wind and solar power, which provide a much safer and efficient alternative to nuclear power. You alone have the power to speak up and act against the expansion of this dangerous energy. The future of our environment’s safety and our nation’s energy supply lies in your hands.
A major advantage of nuclear power is that it does not release any carbon emissions like fossil fuels (“Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy”). The burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases, which is what causes global warming. The transition to using fewer resources like these and using more nuclear power for energy will benefit the environment greatly. Arctic environments will not suffer, and ocean levels won’t rise. Global warming can even cause an increase in tropical storms. In the city, cars already release a ton of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, so using nuclear power will show a small decrease in pollution over time. Also, the health of citizens will slightly improve, but there will still be the fumes released from cars. Even though this would only be a small decrease in pollution, every little bit helps towards the Earth.
Nuclear Energy has many proponents and much opposition. Many of the groups that oppose nuclear power have legitimate concerns, mainly with the dangers of nuclear material in relation with human health concerns and environmental troubles that are risked by allowing nuclear power plants to increase in number. Yet, many of these opposition groups have made outspoken and radical claims about the “hidden” motives of why nuclear power is promoted and subsidized by our federal government. For example, The Nuclear Information and Resource Service claim that the federal government has the intention of committing genocide against Native Americans because uranium mining is predominantly done on reservations. Another cry out by nuclear power opponents is the constant reliving of the few nuclear mishaps that occurred decades ago, at Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. No doubt, past accidents have happened worldwide and are important reminders to not play around with nuclear material, but technology has improved as well, a fact opponents fail to consider. Many of these organizations feel that other sources should be used to supply America’s energy needs. These types of statements tag many opponents to nuclear energy as misinformed, out of touch with scientific facts, or just closed minded to the whole concept of nuclear power. On the other hand, the proponents of nuclear energy like President Bush see it as cheap, and environmentally friendly. As a result, President Bush passed the Comprehensive Energy Bill in 2005 that would increase production of all types of energy, including nuclear, by giving subsidies and tax breaks to nuclear power producers. Keeping safe America’s capabilities for generating electric power by way of nuclear e...
“Face it. Nukes are the most climate-friendly industrial-scale form of energy” (Power, Reiss, Pearlstein, 655). This statement is what I’m trying to promote through my argument. It also ties Inconvenient Truths: 10 Green Heresies by Matt Powers, Spencer Reiss, and Jonanna Pearlstein and Nuclear Power is Best Energy Source: Potchef Stroom together by bring out the main point all authors are trying to get across. Global warming has been a big concern for years now and one of the biggest causes for it, is the burning of fossil fuels to get energy. People that live in the United States of America use a huge amount of energy in their daily lives and that amount continues to grow with our population growing with it. My purpose of this piece is to persuade people to switch to nuclear power for a cleaner energy source because it’s the cleanest energy source.
Nuclear energy has been a controversial source of alternative energy since it has been made practical in the 1950s. The goal of nuclear energy was to find a sustainable resource that would be able to replace the use of fossil fuels. Due to the exploitation and finite supply of resources such as oil and coal, an alternative to fossil fuels was needed quickly in order to provide sustainability for the future of the world. A question arises, however, when nuclear energy is considered as a source of energy: Is nuclear energy a reasonable alternative to fossil fuels?
Nuclear power is the generation of electricity from an atomic reaction. (World Statistics: Nuclear Energy Around the World n.d.) Though it produces zero carbon emissions there has been a decline in support for nuclear power and increased its support for alternative energies in the pursuit for a fossil free energy sector. Factors that have resulted in the reduction of support for nuclear energy include nuclear accidents and waste and the positives of renewable energy which include clean energy, sustainable and reduced health and environmental risks.
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.
Note that nuclear energy is another alternate fuel source, which would be like a really expensive Prius that sometimes leaks radiation when it suffers a major breakdown. Which is a scary thought because many Prius owners don’t even know how to change a flat tire.
There is no denying that nuclear energy is extremely dangerous when not taken care of properly. Nuclear power is quite simple in definition, it is the nuclear reactions that release energy to create heat. This reaction is called fission, the heat from fission boils the water and create steam for the plants, Uranium is the most used element in plants. The Good Stuff’s ‘Is Nuclear Power Good or Bad?” reveals that the waste from these plants are left around underground for thousands of years. They also have potential reaction meltdowns, for example the disaster in Chernobyl that cause 30 reported deaths. On Top of this, a properly built facility costs much more than a coal facility.
Now, the three examples, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three mile islands, show the effect of the nuclear accident. Each has different causes, but the damages were terrible.