Nuclear Energy Proposal

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• My topic is nuclear energy and my proposal is that the Unites States should utilize nuclear energy as the nation’s main power source. My research goals include finding statistics of refueling cycles and the reliability of nuclear, coal and gas power plants. In addition, I plan on finding what nuclear energy is and how it is produced. Furthermore, I need to understand the cost of building and running nuclear, coal and gas plants annually. The most important research goal is to find counterarguments to each of my main points and having evidence to back up each counterargument fairly. When I started my research, I looked for the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy. I chose that as my starting point, because the disadvantages give …show more content…
My third source was a link found on the bottom page of my second source; the third source was a joint report between the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency. It gives a complete analysis of uranium such as the supply, demand and even national reports on the resources, production and exploration of uranium in different countries. This information will be utilized in the aspect of statistics on which countries use nuclear power and which do not. At this point in my research I needed to changed my search criteria from the positives of nuclear energy, and alternative fuel for the plants to the cost of building and running a nuclear plant. This change in search criteria led me to my fourth source, which was written by Ian Schultz. This source gives a deconstructed financial plan to building a nuclear power plant which supports my idea of cost effective energy. “Unmatched Reliability” is the fifth source that I looked at. My fourth source mentioned the cost of a nuclear power which led me to search the reliability, because theoretically the power plant has to pay for itself. This source …show more content…
All sources except for “Thorium”, Ian Schultz’s article and the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency conclude that nuclear energy is reliable. The sources that do not state this deal with other aspects concerning nuclear energy such as cost and fuel. Another trend is the low cost of nuclear energy after the initial build of the plant, which is concluded by every source, but “Murkowski: Nuclear Energy Crucial to Future of U.S. Energy Policy”, “Unmatched Reliability” and “CO2 emission of electricity from nuclear power stations”. Finally, all sources but “Thorium”, the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ian Schultz’s report, “Unmatched Reliability” and “Murkowski: Nuclear Energy Crucial to Future of U.S. Energy Policy”, discuss the low pollution of nuclear energy which is the last key point of my essay.
• All of the sources are credible sources, because they are relevant, produced recently and are either organizations, education sites or databases. The most credible source would be “Murkowski: Nuclear Energy Crucial to Future of U.S. Energy Policy”, because it is a database and has information that is a year old. The least credible source would be “CO2 emission of electricity from nuclear power stations”, because the article seems to mock the counterarguments that it

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