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Essay on nuclear energy and advantages and disadvantages
Essay on nuclear energy and advantages and disadvantages
Global warming essay fossil fuel burning
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Alternatives to oil, along with the other fossil fuels, have been gaining popularity in the wake of high prices and elevated awareness of global warming. While solar, wind, hydro, and even geothermal have been getting press about being the means to lower CO2 production, and become less dependent on foreign oil, there is an alternative that rarely is mentioned. The mere reference of nuclear power conjures images of meltdowns and mushroom clouds. Despite the advances in efficiency, safety, and technology, public opinion has changed little since the years of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. It is this misguided sense of impending doom from nuclear power that has deterred much of the population from accepting it as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. This doubt and fear of nuclear power needs to come to an end, and serious consideration needs to be given. Nuclear power is a safe, efficient, and reliable alternative source of electricity for the United States and the world as a whole. A prominent issue with nuclear power is the supposed increase of radiation levels in nearby communities. This idea has never held much scientific weight, being more of a scare tactic. The additional radiation a person receives by living within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant amounts to roughly .01 mrem annually. (mrem or millirem is a unit of measurement used to quantify exposure to radiation) (NSC) To put that into perspective, the average amount of radiation exposure for a person from natural sources is roughly 300 mrem annually. (LBNL) Getting a dental x-ray is equal to 1 mrem, or roughly equal to living near a nuclear power plant for 100 years. With such a negligible increase, there is little surprise that the National Cancer Institute also f... ... middle of paper ... ...opics/factsheet/Risk/nuclear-facilities>. National Safety Council."Determining Your Exposure." 10 Dec. 2002. NSC. 28 Apr. 2009. . Washington Post. "Reactor Rule Made With 9/11 in Mind." Feb. 2009. Washington Post. 1 May 2009. . World Association of Nuclear Operators. 15 Years of Progress. 2005. WANO. 4 May 2009. . World Nuclear Association. "Nuclear Power Reactors." 1 Apr. 2009. WNA. 3 May 2009. . --. "Supply of Uranium." June 2008. WNA. 2 May 2009. . Zittel, William, and J. Blandow. Uranium costs - Electricity costs. ASPO, 2007.
Dr. Robinson, Mathew. “9/11: Other Warnings to the U.S. Government Prior to the Attacks of September 11th, 2001”. Appalachian State University. Web. 01 Aug 2011.
Popular Mechanics.eds. “Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report.” Popular Mechanics Online. March 2005. 26 August 2008. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html.
Wing, Steve et al. "A reevaluation of cancer incidence near the Three Mile Island nuclear plant: The collision of evidence and assumptions." Environmental Health Perspectives, v.105, n.1, January 1997, pp.52-57.
Emerson, Steven (2004) “Third public hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.” National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Retrieved September 17, 2011 http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing3/witness_emerson.htm
Central Idea: Nuclear energy only contributes a small amount to the world’s electricity yet it has hazards and dangers that far out-way its benefits. There are many other alternative power producing sources that can produce energy more efficiently and more safely than nuclear power plants can.
After the United States developed the atomic at the end of World War II, interest in nuclear technology increased exponentially. People soon realized that nuclear technology could be used for electricity, as another alternative to fossil fuels. Today, nuclear power has its place in the world, but there is still a lot of controversy over the use of nuclear energy. Things such as the containment of radiation and few nuclear power plant accidents have given nuclear power a bad image. However, nuclear power is a reliable source of energy because it has no carbon emissions, energy is available at any time, little fuel is needed for a lot of energy, and as time goes on, it is becoming safer and safer.
The purpose of this report is to investigate the different views and opinions on the safeness and cost effectiveness of nuclear power compared to other forms of energy. This report will explain the issues and background of the debate, the importance of the issue, and the parties who are involved in this debate with their thoughts.
“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.
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.
Apart of becoming a new patient at a dental office is taking an x-ray and some may have question along with taking an x-ray, like “will I be affected by the x-ray?” or “will I get cancer?”, “how long will it take” “are x-ray’s safe?”, the list goes on and on. So in this paper we will talk about different types of radiation affects such as affects on children and pregnant women as well as some things that may help reduce some of the radiation that may harm the human body.
BENAC, N. (2011). National security: Ten years after september 11 attacks, u.s. is safe but not
The use of nuclear power in the mid-1980s was not a popular idea on account of all the fears that it had presented. The public seemed to have rejected it because of the fear of radiation. The Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union in April of 1986 reinforced the fears, and gave them an international dimension (Cohen 1). Nevertheless, the public has to come to terms that one of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. The current largest sources of energy are the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas. Fear of radiation may push nuclear power under the carpet but another fear of the unknown is how costly is this going to be? If we as the public have to overcome the fear of radiation and costly project, we first have to understand the details of nuclear energy. The known is a lot less scary then the unknown. If we could put away all the presumptions we have about this new energy source, then maybe we can understand that this would be a good decision for use in the near future.
The energy industry is beginning to change. In today’s modern world, governments across the globe are shifting their focuses from traditional sources of power, like the burning coal and oil, to the more complex and scientific nuclear power supply. This relatively new system uses powerful fuel sources and produces little to no emissions while outputting enough energy to fulfill the world’s power needs (Community Science, n.d.). But while nuclear power seems to be a perfect energy source, no power production system is without faults, and nuclear reactors are no exception, with their flaws manifesting in the form of safety. Nuclear reactors employ complex systems involving pressure and heat. If any of these systems dysfunctions, the reactor can leak or even explode releasing tons of highly radioactive elements into the environment. Anyone who works at or near a nuclear reactor is constantly in danger of being exposed to a nuclear incident similar to the ones that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants. These major accidents along with the unresolved problems with the design and function of nuclear reactors, as well as the economic and health issues that nuclear reactors present serve to show that nuclear energy sources are not worth the service that they provide and are too dangerous to routinely use.
Nuclear power, the use of exothermic nuclear processes to produce an enormous amount of electricity and heat for domestic, medical, military and industrial purposes i.e. “By the end of 2012 2346.3 kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity was generated by nuclear reactors around the world” (International atomic energy agency Vienna, 2013, p.13). However, with that been said it is evident that the process of generating electricity from a nuclear reactor has numerous health and environmental safety issues.
The greatest disadvantages of nuclear energy are the risks posed to mankind and the environment by radioactive materials. ‘On average a nuclear plant annually generates 20 metric tons of used nuclear fuel cla...