Nuclear Power: Sour or Sweet?

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Recommended: Positive effects nuclear power has

Would the world be better off if there was no nuclear power? On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first time a weapon of mass destruction was used in war. Three days later we dropped a stronger nuclear bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. There are reasons why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first and last time nuclear bombs were used in history. Well-known nuclear fallout was in Chernobyl, Ukraine. A nuclear power plant was being pushed too far and the cooling system was compromised resulting in a meltdown of the power plant. Chernobyl is currently uninhabitable. The most recent nuclear problem was in 2011 at Fukushima Nuclear reactor in Japan. The reactor was located in a very unsafe location, after the tsunami hit japan, 3 of the 6 reactors melted, resulting in a worldwide fear of radiation contaminating the water, more specifically the fish. The novel, Hiroshima, by John Hersey, as well as other sources, shows that nuclear power can destroy cities and people’s lives because it leaves cities radioactive, and has long term effects on the psychological and physical health of people. However, nuclear power can be beneficial as an energy source.

Nuclear Power is dangerous; it destroys cities and leaves them radioactive. In particular “The city had been destroyed by the energy released when atoms were somehow split in two” (Hersey, 86). When the bomb was dropped the devastation occurred as atoms split within the bomb. The bomb was designed to explode before it hit the ground to create the most destruction. Furthermore, “Japanese physicists, who knew a great deal about atomic fission, worried about lingering radiation at Hiroshima” (Hersey, 97). Physicists, who ...

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.... Not all nuclear power is bad; nuclear energy eliminates the use of fossil fuels. This is supported by Hiroshima, by John Hersey, as well as other sources. The American government has no idea of the long term effects of nuclear warfare. Now knowing what the risk of nuclear power is, the United States refrains from suing it in modern war.

Works Cited

Beller, Denis and Rhodes, Richard. "The Need for Nuclear Power." Foreign Affairs. Jan./Feb.
2000: 30-44. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.
Brothers, Peter H. "Japan's Nuclear Nightmare: How the Bomb Became a Beast Called
Godzilla." Cineaste. Summer 2011: 36-40. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
Custers, Petere. "Still No Escape From Killer Chernobyl." Global Information Network.
24 Apr. 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Hersey, John. Hiroshima. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1946. Print

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