Nuclear Power
Entering the twenty-first century, six billion people inhabit the earth. A number that is expected to double in a hundred and twenty years, yet only 4% of that world population lives in the Untied States. Even though the Untied States is only 4% of the population of the world, it still uses 25% of the world's resources. This statistic is most important with the argument of food consumption, with so many countries starving, but it also means that the United States uses 25% of the world's energy resources. Coal and oil are a major energy provider around the world, particularly in the US. (See figure 1) Many countries without these abundances have turned to nuclear energy, due to its supreme effectiveness. Nuclear energy produces more energy per unit weight than coal and oil, releases no pollutants into the atmosphere and is less cancer causing than the burning of coal and oil. Yet nuclear power has been attacked in the US since the day that it was instituted as being a non-safe and environmentally non-friendly form of energy. Right now the United States does not have to worry about running out of fossil fuels for a long time, even though they generate 51.7% of the US's power, and
Nuclear reactors produce electricity by the fission of uranium, not the burning of fossil fuels, not emitting sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate soot, or greenhouse gases. In countries around the world nuclear energy is the largest source of emission-free electrical generation. Making one million kilowatt-hours of electricity in a natural gas power plant produces 550 tons of carbon dioxide. Producing the same amount in an oil-fired plant makes 850 tons of carbon dioxide and 1,110 in a coal plant. But making one million kilowatt hours of electricity in a nuclear plant creates no carbon dioxide. Not only does nuclear energy not emit any pollutants, it is causing the average of pollutants that are let into air to decline. Since 1973, the generation of electricity by US power plants has resulted in two billion fewer tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. (See figure 2) Nuclear energy has accounted for 90% of all carbon emission reductions achieved by the electric utility industry. And the fact still remains that I gram plutonium has the same energy potential as 1 ton of oil. The United States needs a non-polluting form of energy that can supply the mass of people, and they have it. Nuclear power is not an enemy and should be considered for use in the future. The abundance of coal could be exported to other countries that don't have the money to run on nuclear power. This could be in turn used to finance nuclear power. France runs on 76% nuclear power and there it is seen as the safe, environmentally friendly practice that it is. However to be as efficient as France, the US must recycle their waste products to be used in the plants, helping to decrease the fear of nuclear waste. With the facts on paper, in black and white, nuclear power is the logical choice with the environment as the concern. The only thing that is let
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Approximate Word count = 1256
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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