Argumentative Essay On Nuclear Energy

665 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Conclusion for advantages and disadvantages if nuclear energy

Gray Livingston Anderson AP Language 17 December 2013 Beware Godzilla For almost one hundred years, nuclear energy has powered the world with little to no consequences. These consequences though, can be monumental. Nuclear energy is the costliest power system to start up, and due to its strict safety procedures, it is very expensive to keep reactors in safe operating condition. (Buzz) This potential danger has been the death of millions of people over the century, with the single most deadly being the Chernobyl incident of 1986. Nuclear energy may have its good side, but with its high cost, potential for catastrophe, and its impractical waste, it is not good for any type of consistent energy production. The average nuclear plant costs between twelve and eighteen billion dollars to build. This monstrous amount of money is spent mainly on the plants safety features. (Fears) Any type of energy that has to spend that type of money just to make it safe should send up a red flag. This excessive spending is no good on a struggling economy, like that of the United States, and the potential for saving money will not come until much later. (Fears) Other types of renewable resources are expensive to install, but they start saving money immediately. Uranium, the fuel of nuclear energy, is not cheap to extract. Nuclear energy may be considered a “clean” energy source, but uranium puts a damper on that. Uranium is not a renewable resource like wind and solar energy, and, “…are expensive to mine, refine, and transport, and produce considerable environmental waste (including greenhouse gasses) during all of these processes.” (Fear) Most all things nuclear energy does to benefit the world have some thing to contradict them. Even mining it ha... ... middle of paper ... ...e not enough, these plants are ideal targets for terrorist organizations. Their waste is costly to deal with and impractical, it destroys the environment near it with its radioactivity. Costs to start a new plant keep nuclear energy out of practical use, as well as its insanely expensive maintenance cost. Now is the time to act against nuclear power, not because humans are a people scared of change, but because they are a people afraid of Godzilla. Works Cited "Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident." Nrc.gov. United States Nuclear Regulatory Condition, 20 June 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2013. Buzz, Presidio. "Nuclear Energy: Pros and Cons." Triplepundit,com. Triple Pundit, 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 17 Dec. 2013. Fears, M. "7 Reasons Why Nuclear Power Is Bad for the Environment and the Nation." Examiner.com. Examiner, 11 Dec. 2009. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • Argumentative Essay On The Atomic Age

    1593 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Atomic Age represents the most epic era and composed of diverse controversial issues in the human history. In the late 1945, President Harry Truman informed to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These two bombs quickly yielded the surrender of Japan and the end the World War 2. However, the impact of it led us to debate whether this decision was actually right or so. First off, it would be hard to imagine how Japan would have been surrendered without the atomic bomb. Therefore to save many American lives, President Truman believed that it was his duty to end the war as soon as possible. But the bombs took away innocent lives and killed civilians indiscriminately. “Atomic Age America” written by Martin

    Read More

  • Could the Chernobyl Disaster Have Been Prevented?

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hopefully, with accurate analysis and innovation, my research will teach the world of its past so this disaster doesn’t occur in the future. B - Summary of Evidence Chernobyl (chrn byl) is an uninhibited city in north Ukraine, near the Belarus boundary, on the Pripyat River. Ten miles to the north, in the town of Pripyat, is the Chernobyl nuclear powerstation, site of the worst nuclear reactor disaster in history ("Chernobyl", Columbia Encyclopedia). To specify, on April 26, 1986, Unit Four of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Ukraine, injuring human immune systems and the genetic structure of cells, contaminating soils and waterways. Nearly 7 tons of irradiated reactor fuel was released into the environment—roughly 340 million curies.

    Read More

  • Chernobyl

    451 Words  | 1 Pages

    Nuclear power has always been a controversial issue because of its inherent danger and the amount of waste that the plants produce. Once considered a relatively safe form for generating energy, nuclear power has caused more problems than it has solved. While it has reduced the amount of traditional natural resources (fossil fuels), used to generate power like coal, wood, and oil, nuclear generating plants have become anachronisms. Maintaining them and keeping them safe has become a problem of immense proportion. As the plants age and other technology becomes available, what to do with these “eyesores” is a consuming issue for many government agencies and environmental groups. No one knows what to do about the problem and in many areas of the world, another nuclear meltdown is an accident waiting to happen. Despite a vast array of safety measures, a break in reactor pipe or a leak in a containment vessel, could spell another environmental disaster for the world.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Nuclear Power

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    These power plants are very expensive and are one of the biggest investments the United States targets. Nuclear plants also secrete nuclear

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: We Must Use Alternative Power Sources Instead of Nuclear Energy

    1650 Words  | 4 Pages

    Central Idea: Nuclear energy only contributes a small amount to the world’s electricity yet it has hazards and dangers that far out-way its benefits. There are many other alternative power producing sources that can produce energy more efficiently and more safely than nuclear power plants can.

    Read More

  • Nuclear Technology After the World War II

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...nce World War II to the present day, the technology of nuclear power has increased significantly in terms of energy output and safety. The energy efficiency of nuclear power is far superior to its counterpart fossil fuel and renewable energy. Compared to fossil fuels, tiny amounts of fuel used by nuclear reactors is equivalent to a large sum of coal. This is a no brainer. Why mine a ton of coal when a little uranium can be used to gain the same amount of energy? Not only is it efficient, it’s safe to use. Used fuel is packed away in storage safely, so there isn’t any chance of radiation leaking out. In the present day, nuclear power incidents haven’t been occurring lately. Advancements in technology and equipment used have made nuclear energy a very reliable and safe source of energy. With today’s energy needs, nuclear power has the ability to keep up in the race.

    Read More

  • Nuclear Power Essay

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of this report is to investigate the different views and opinions on the safeness and cost effectiveness of nuclear power compared to other forms of energy. This report will explain the issues and background of the debate, the importance of the issue, and the parties who are involved in this debate with their thoughts.

    Read More

  • Nuclear Power Essay

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nuclear power has grown to be a big percentage of the world’s energy. As of January 18, 2013 in 31 countries 437 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW are in operation and 68 plants with an installed capacity of 65 GW are in 15 countries under construction. As of end 2011 the total electricity production since 1951 amounts to 69,760 billion kWh. The cumulative operating experience amounted to 15, 15,080 years by end of 2012. (European Nuclear Society) The change that nuclear power has brought to the world has led to benefits in today’s energy’s usage.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Nuclear Energy

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    Carbon, Max W. Nuclear Power: Villain or Victim?: Our Most Misunderstood Source of Electricity. Second ed. Madison, WI: Pebble Beach, 1997.

    Read More

  • Positive Effects of Nuclear Power

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    The use of nuclear energy has increased in the United States since 1973. Nuclear energy's share of U.S. electricity generation has grown from 4 percent in 1973 to 19 percent in 1998. This is excellent news for the environment. Nuclear energy and hydropower are the cleanest large-scale means of electricity production. Since nuclear power plants do not burn fuel, they emit no combustion byproducts—like carbon dioxide—into the atmosphere (www.nei.org). Nuclear power can come from the fission of Uranium, plutonium or thorium or the fusion of hydrogen into helium. Today uranium (U-235 and U-238) is most commonly used in the production of nuclear energy. The expa...

    Read More

  • Nuclear Power: Dirty, Dangerous and Expensive

    3279 Words  | 7 Pages

    The energy industry is beginning to change. In today’s modern world, governments across the globe are shifting their focuses from traditional sources of power, like the burning coal and oil, to the more complex and scientific nuclear power supply. This relatively new system uses powerful fuel sources and produces little to no emissions while outputting enough energy to fulfill the world’s power needs (Community Science, n.d.). But while nuclear power seems to be a perfect energy source, no power production system is without faults, and nuclear reactors are no exception, with their flaws manifesting in the form of safety. Nuclear reactors employ complex systems involving pressure and heat. If any of these systems dysfunctions, the reactor can leak or even explode releasing tons of highly radioactive elements into the environment. Anyone who works at or near a nuclear reactor is constantly in danger of being exposed to a nuclear incident similar to the ones that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants. These major accidents along with the unresolved problems with the design and function of nuclear reactors, as well as the economic and health issues that nuclear reactors present serve to show that nuclear energy sources are not worth the service that they provide and are too dangerous to routinely use.

    Read More

  • Essay On Chernobyl Disaster

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    On April26, 1986, the nuclear power plant was exploded in Chernobyl, Ukraine. At 1:23 AM, while everyone were sleeping, Reactor #4 exploded, and 40 hours later, all the city residence were forcefully moved to other cities, and they never return to their home. The Chernobyl disaster is ranked the worst nuclear accident. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was ran by the Soviet Union central nuclear energy corporation. (International Atomic Energy Agency-IAEA, 2005)

    Read More

  • Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    As one of the greatest alternatives to fossil fuels, an important advantage of nuclear energy is the significantly lower emission rate of CO2 in comparison to plants which use coal and natural gas.2 Nuclear power is not reliant on fossil fuels and therefore producing energy by this method reduces pollution and the contribution to climate change. However, whilst the actual process of generating energy releases few emissions, uranium must be mined and purified and in the past this has not always been an environmentally clean process.2 Ultimately, uranium will one day run out, but nuclear reactors are versatile and may also run on Thorium. Despite being finite, this would allow nuclear power stations to function for a longer period of time.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Nuclear Power

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nuclear power, the use of exothermic nuclear processes to produce an enormous amount of electricity and heat for domestic, medical, military and industrial purposes i.e. “By the end of 2012 2346.3 kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity was generated by nuclear reactors around the world” (International atomic energy agency Vienna, 2013, p.13). However, with that been said it is evident that the process of generating electricity from a nuclear reactor has numerous health and environmental safety issues.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Global Warming

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Media coverage of such cases have made the public less comfortable with the idea of moving further towards nuclear power and they only opt for reducing human activities to reduce global warming. It is true that there have been some notable disasters involving nuclear power, but compared to other power systems, nuclear power has an impressive track record. First, it is less harmful and second, it will be able to cater for the growing world population. Nuclear power produces clean energy and it delivers it at a cost that is competitive in the energy market (Patterson). According to the US Energy Information Administration, there are currently 65 such plants in the Unite States (National Research Council). They produce 19 percent of the total US energy generation.

    Read More

More about Argumentative Essay On Nuclear Energy

Open Document