Nuclear Power For The Future
The earth is running dry. People are quickly exhausting the fossil fuels that took millions of year to create. With this imbalance, the people of earth will soon be forced to find energy in other forms. While many options are available, the most efficient and cost effective is nuclear. Currently the United States only gets a small portion of its power from nuclear energy, and this needs to change. Nuclear energy is a safe, realistic, and beneficial option for the United States to meet its energy needs.
Nuclear energy is a safe alternative to fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, when burned, produce carbon dioxide which is then releases into the atmosphere. This causes harm to the environment, and is a major factor in global warming. Nuclear energy can solve this issue. Regular coal emits 955 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour, compared to nuclear energy, which only emits 4 grams per kilowatt-hour (By The Numbers). With nuclear power plants producing over one hundred times less carbon dioxide than coal plants, nuclear energy is a much cleaner and safer option for the environment. …show more content…
With accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, there’s some speculation as to how secure these plants are. Nuclear reactors, when they fail, can cause serious damage to the environment in the form of radiation. The radiation emitted from these accidents can last for decades and can cause serious harm to the surrounding communities and wildlife. Fear for this is overblown though. An event like Chernobyl is far more unlikely now with today’s technology and new safety features. Even after the reactor in Fukushima was hit with a tsunami, the event was well managed after the reactor failed, causing zero fatalities and minimal damage to surrounding communities (Japan a Year After
The earth is running dry. People are quickly exhausting the fossil fuels that took millions of year to create. With this imbalance, the people of earth will soon be forced to find energy in other forms. While many options are available, the most efficient and cost effective is nuclear. Currently the United States only gets a small portion of its power from nuclear energy, and this needs to change. Nuclear energy is a safe, realistic, and beneficial option for the United States to meet its energy needs.
Nuclear energy is a safe alternative to fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, when burned, produce carbon dioxide which is then releases into the atmosphere. This causes harm to the environment, and is a major factor in global warming. Nuclear energy can solve this issue. Regular coal emits 955 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour, compared to nuclear energy, which only emits 4 grams per kilowatt-hour (By The Numbers). With nuclear power plants producing over one hundred times less carbon dioxide than coal plants, nuclear energy is a much cleaner and safer option for the environment. …show more content…
With accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima, there’s some speculation as to how secure these plants are. Nuclear reactors, when they fail, can cause serious damage to the environment in the form of radiation. The radiation emitted from these accidents can last for decades and can cause serious harm to the surrounding communities and wildlife. Fear for this is overblown though. An event like Chernobyl is far more unlikely now with today’s technology and new safety features. Even after the reactor in Fukushima was hit with a tsunami, the event was well managed after the reactor failed, causing zero fatalities and minimal damage to surrounding communities (Japan a Year After