I am currently pursuing a degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. One main issue that interests me and is an area I can focus my skill set towards is in the field of renewable energy. With the rising use of fossil fuel as an energy source, other means must be found to satisfy humanity’s need before our oil and gas reserves run out. An interesting alternative to conventional fossil fuel energy methods is that of nuclear power. Nuclear power has a major efficiency bonus over conventional methods, but has not been adopted outright throughout the country. A place that could use nuclear power is a major metropolitan area; a city that fits this description would be Daytona Beach in
…show more content…
The report relays a compilation of several polls and studies taken across multiple European nations on the general popular opinion on nuclear power. The authors, who are nuclear analysts for the agency, did research into numerous aspects regarding public opinion, including attitudes towards nuclear power in general, the perceived benefits or drawbacks from nuclear energy according to the public, and their concerns when it came to events like meltdowns and terrorism. The results of their studies is that “nuclear power is still a contentious issue with respect to public opinion” (Eng, Gordelier, Kovacs 2010). Overall, people are still very skeptical about this type of energy due to meltdowns such as Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island, as well as the threat of terrorism. The overall conclusion is that when the public is informed about the massive reduction of CO2 emissions and nuclear waste disposal is not a factor for support, the opinion for this type of energy increases dramatically; thus, the researchers state that policy makers need to work in conjunction with the nuclear energy producers to start campaigns of educating people. However, the research warns that if the government were to spearhead such a campaign, it would end more likely than not in failure due to a lack of trust in the government. This data will serve to show that general opinion can be swayed by promoting nuclear power. However, this promotional effort should be led not by the government, but by a research firm or science agency (The source claims that the government’s reliability rating is next to nothing; a science agency has much more dependability in the public’s eye).This can be compared with a possible general survey in Daytona Beach of what residents think about the subject to
The report relays a compilation of several polls and studies taken across multiple European nations on the general popular opinion on nuclear power. The authors, who are nuclear analysts for the agency, did research into numerous aspects regarding public opinion, including attitudes towards nuclear power in general, the perceived benefits or drawbacks from nuclear energy according to the public, and their concerns when it came to events like meltdowns and terrorism. The results of their studies is that “nuclear power is still a contentious issue with respect to public opinion” (Eng, Gordelier, Kovacs 2010). Overall, people are still very skeptical about this type of energy due to meltdowns such as Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island, as well as the threat of terrorism. The overall conclusion is that when the public is informed about the massive reduction of CO2 emissions and nuclear waste disposal is not a factor for support, the opinion for this type of energy increases dramatically; thus, the researchers state that policy makers need to work in conjunction with the nuclear energy producers to start campaigns of educating people. However, the research warns that if the government were to spearhead such a campaign, it would end more likely than not in failure due to a lack of trust in the government. This data will serve to show that general opinion can be swayed by promoting nuclear power. However, this promotional effort should be led not by the government, but by a research firm or science agency (The source claims that the government’s reliability rating is next to nothing; a science agency has much more dependability in the public’s eye).This can be compared with a possible general survey in Daytona Beach of what residents think about the subject to