Nuclear Power Debate
The world's natural resources are being consumed at an alarming rate. As these resources diminish , people will be seeking alternative sources by which to generate electricity for heat and light . The only practical short term solution for the energy-crisis is nuclear power.Nuclear power, however is not as safe as burning coal, gas or oil in a factory it is in fact , much more dangerous, There are dangers associated with a nuclear power plant which far out weigh the benefits to society as a whole and in part to the community living and working around the power plant . About 20 percent of our nation's total electrical consumption per year is supplied by nuclear power from the 100 or so nuclear power plants throughout the country . Even though atomic power has been in use for over 50 years it was primarily a tool of war and destruction when the war ended need for atomic bombs diminished . The scientists who created the weapons were out of jobs . They then turned this destructive power into huge plants generating "clean and cheap " electricity for the country . It was called progress. Progress also brought with it sickness , mutations , cancer and eventually death to those exposed to high levels of radiation . Government declared tha
With any large energy producing facility there are Have there ever been any Nuclear accidents in the United States ? monopolies buy out smaller companies which are developing feasible solar power plants to keep them from being implemented and to maintain the hold on the fossil fuel market . Solar energy and thermonuclear fusion are great alternatives to the nuclear reactor but these will not be mass implemented until well into the next century . That does not solve the problem for today . To keep the number of nuclear power plants as low as possible people need to conserve , energy change lifestyles and recycle more of there wastes . We need to be less dependent on electricity and electrical products . Conservation must be implemented by government policies and guide lines . To have any affect at all on the amount of electricity that is consumed . "Anything that slows down the development of solar energy, the one cheap limitless source of energy that cannot be shut down by war or embargo, is undermining the national security of the United States " Nuclear power has been a constant in all of our lives due to the many problems it has and to the many accidents that occur . Nuclear power is a dangerous and deadly tool that should not be taken lightly . Sadly this is exactly what has happened in regards to the accidents at Three Mile Island and again at the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union . In both cases inexperience and ignorance played major roles in the accidents . Hopefully this may never happen again and nuclear power will be phased out to the safer fusion reactor and the very appealing solar power generator. t nuclear power is safe and efficient . Also have big Oil corporations who have a lot of money invested in nuclear power and want to see as many plants as possible put into and kept in operation . The truth is that accidents do happen at nuclear power plants and at other facilities all the time . An accident at a nuclear power plant has the potential to be much more devastating than an accident at a coal or gas plant because of the radiation that could be released . An example of this is Three Mile Island inPennsylvania where there was a partial core meltdown in march of 1979 and an "acceptable" amount of radiation escaped into the atmosphere . However no amount of radiation is acceptable if released as a result of an accident at a nuclear power plant . Accidents involving US nuclear power plants are very rare . This does not mean that they do not occur. In the early 1980's there was a fire at Yankee Atomic , a nuclear power plant in Massachusetts , destroying over 3 million dollars worth of electrical wiring in the reactor . it was caused by some workmen who were using matches to find a leak in the ventilation system of the reactor . The damage to the reactor was not serious but it was shut down for two weeks for repairs . If the situation was not brought under control the fire could have spread and caused a meltdown or erious leak . The most serious nuclear accident in the US was at three Mile Island , Pennsylvania in 1979 when a coolant pipe was accidentally blocked due to cleaning and repairs the blockage allowed no water to reach the reactor core to cool it down and the core ruptured and leaked radioactive particles into the atmosphere . The core itself came close to meltdown and if this had happened much of Pennsylvania , New York and New Jersey would have been contaminated by the radioactive fallout . Although today's nuclear power plants are relatively safe the problem of accidents increases with every new plant that is built . With each new plant built new of problems occur since this is a
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Approximate Word count = 2472
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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