Nuclear Waste Persuasive Speech

An issue I want to address to you is the huge accumulation of nuclear waste. According to, more than 77,000 tons of nuclear waste sit in America’s atomic power plants. Nuclear waste is hazardous to life and it should not sit in a power plant until it is decomposed. Another issue I want to address is the growing need of developing alternative energy sources in the United States. According to, fossil fuels provide more than 80% of the United States energy consumption. The United States has become dependent of fossil fuels and need to reinvest in new energy sources . Converting nuclear waste into electricity could solve two issues with one solution. Existing nuclear reactors use light-water technology in which uranium rods are dunked in water, according to. After a series of atomic level reactions happen, a fission reaction will occur. Only 5 percent of uranium atoms are used for energy through these reactors.

The nuclear industry is currently expensive which makes it unattractive to power companies and other big investors. Genoa of the Nuclear Energy Institute said,”What we don’t want do to is be forced to bear the burden of developing this recycling technology before it’s economically feasible.” Financing the first nuclear waste conversion plants will be hard if policies do not change. Legislation can be the first step to bridge the financial gap in the nuclear industry. Policymakers would need to make fast reactors such as PRISM more attractive to power companies. According to, the U.K. passed an energy act in 2004 that provides subsidies to companies that turn nuclear waste into energy. This would make power companies eager to use fast reactors and start the process of lowering the amount of nuclear waste in the U.S. Also, after the first few plants start producing more energy, the conversion nuclear waste into energy will be less expensive for power