Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Power Plant

Today, there are over four-hundred, and thirty nuclear power plants in operation all around the world, not to mention, nine of those countries have approximately sixteen thousand three hundred nuclear weapons, that are ready to fire at a moments notice. A nuclear holocaust is not an idea for those in a book, but it is a very real, very close to home way that the basics of life could be a memory long gone.

So first, even though the damage mechanisms are the same as a conventional explosive, a nuclear weapon, or atomic bomb, as they are more commonly known, is about a million times more powerful per gram, and at the sight of detonation temperatures can reach up to tens of millions of degrees. Within a six mile radius, most things will be totally

According to EnergyInformative.org, nuclear power plants have many pros, and few cons. Power plants have a relatively low cost. Constructing a nuclear power plant is very costly, and so is buying the energy source, usually uranium. Once a power plant is constructed the energy harnessed from the plant is cheaper than traditional energy sources. They provide a stable load of energy, and can be paired with other forms of energy production. Also, less pollution is created by nuclear energy. These all sound great, but the few cons of nuclear power plants outweigh all these good things. The most arguable con of nuclear power plants are the accidents that can and may happen. On April 26th,1986, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, a horrible accident occurred at the nuclear power plant in operation there. It is estimated that between 15,000 and 30,000 people died as a result of the Chernobyl Accident. And more than two million Ukrainians are still living with health problems related to nuclear waste. More recently on March 11th, 2011, in Fukushima, Japan, a major earthquake caused a fifteen meter (about 49.5 foot) tall tsunami, which disabled power supply, and cooled off three reactors. Even though there was no where near the number of casualties as that of Chernobyl, the environmental damage here is much worse. So nuclear power plants do have a huge pro list, but accidents do happen, and there is no real way to protect yourself if they do. With over four hundred and thirty worldwide, what would happen if some group were to attack just a few of them? It would cause enough radiation to enter the atmosphere to cause widespread radiation poisoning, killing