Nuclear energy: Good or bad?
A primer to atomic power's hottest topics.
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Nuclear energy: Good or bad?A primer to atomic power's hottest topics.By PlentyMag.comTue, Mar 24 2009 at 10:46 AM EST
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Like a neutron colliding with an atom, two factors are igniting Americans, and particularly environmentalists, into reconciling a messy question: Do we or don’t we want to develop nuclear power? Eight years of the Bush administration’s heavily pro-nuclear policies with billions in government subsidies have roused the ailing nuclear industry. Simultaneously, our search for clean, greenhouse gas-free energy sources has turned urgent in the face of climate change. The mix of influences is propelling nuclear energy into the limelight for serious reconsideration.
But many of the old concerns remain. Since the accident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island power plant in 1979, no applications for new nuclear power plant building permits were submitted for almost 30 years. While no one was killed or even hurt following the reactor’s partial meltdown, the public glimpsed the potential for disaster.
Nonetheless, the industry has persevered, claiming improved oversight and potential to improve air quality, although it has found no long-term solution for disposing of its radioactive waste. Today, 104 nuclear reactors in 31 states supply 20 percent of our electricity, making it our second largest energy source after coal.
Things began to heat up for the industry two weeks after President Bush took office in January 2001. He formed the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPD), headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, which produced a National Energy Policy report by May of that year, recommending “the president support the expansion of nuclear energy in the United States as a major component of our national energy policy.”
Following a long legal battle to force the release of NEPD documents to the public, environmental lawyers at Natural Resource Defense Council uncovered that industry lobbyists were integral in forming the president’s energy policy and his decision to launch a so-called nuclear revival. Over eight years the nuclear industry has received billions in government funds, while construction and operating license applications for 30 new reactors are in the works. Such support would likely increase if Arizona Sen. John McCain takes higher office next year. He recently said, “… the French are able to generate 80 percent of their electricity with nuclear power. There’s no reason why America shouldn’t.”
Meanwhile, research has mounted documenting current and potential impacts of climate change. The IPCC found the world must drastically and quickly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases expelled into the atmosphere to avoid the worst impacts of a warmer planet, which include rising oceans, more severe weather, destruction of ecosystems, and the spread of animal- and insect-borne diseases.
But there are no easy, off-the-shelf technologies currently available to enable such reductions. Research is underway, alternatives are being built, and waste-cutting efficiencies implemented, although none can yet accomplish the necessary cuts while feeding the world’s voracious and growing use of electricity ... except for maybe nuclear power.
In the coming week, we’ll delve into some of the arguments for and against increasing nuclear energy, but here we’ve briefly summed up some of the hot topics:
Emissions: Compared to other major existing energy sources, such as coal and oil, nuclear power emits almost no greenhouse gasses, or nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, the primary components of air pollution.
Energy independence: Increasing American nuclear energy enables the country to reduce the amount of oil it imports from other parts of the world and provides reliable base-load power. However, there are limited stores of uranium isotope U-235, which is required for nuclear fission and is largely found in Canada, Australia and Niger.
Cost: The expense of building two advanced technology nuclear reactors was originally estimated at around $7 billion. The price tag recently rose to $14 billion and construction hasn’t even begun. Champions of wind, solar and other forms of alternative energy argue high cost and government support for nuclear are gobbling up money that could help develop less-established industries.
Environmental health and safety: The risk of a catastrophic reactor accident, as well as significant waste disposal problems, hangs around nuclear power’s neck like a noose. Uranium mining can also endanger the health of miners and people living near mines, as well as the environment, as radioactive ore waste has been shown to contaminate surface and groundwater.
Security: Underlying a nuclear chain reaction in both an energy reactor and weapon is an isotope called uranium-235. Reactor-grade uranium requires a 3-5 percent concentration of U-235, while weapon grade needs 90 percent concentration. Therefore anyone possessing U-235 and the necessary equipment can make either nuclear energy or bombs.
Impact on natural resources: The Union of Concerned Scientists calculated that to keep cool, a typical 1,000 megawatt reactor requires about 476,500 gallons of water per minute be pumped through its system, a number that could nearly triple in some of the new, larger facilities. In some systems, the warmed water returned to its source — lake, river, ocean — contains low-level radioactivity. Also aquatic life circulated through the cooling system can be killed.
Story by Victoria Schlesinger. This article originally appeared in Plenty in May 2008. It was republished on MNN in March 2009.
Copyright Environ Press 2008
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Comments
D.O.MO.
Today 14:43 PM
ya ***** im balin
hi
02/06/2012 20:57 PM
this is help
...
01/19/2012 05:48 AM
i think nuclear energy is very reliable as it uses very little uranuim to create lots of energy and it causes very little pollution
someone
11/21/2011 15:45 PM
hi
mnmeri
Today 10:57 AM
Hey I love helping the enviroment every day after school i go around the neighborhood and find trash and i pick it up. I also clean up griffiade.
mnmeri
Today 11:00 AM
ah i realy feel bad for you. BUT GOOD JOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omid
06/28/2011 15:56 PM
good
sunil
04/21/2011 07:06 AM
Nuclear energy is better option we know that nuclear energy have some disadvantages like dispose off the waste, 1000 MW plant required 4,70,000 gallon of water for cooling purpose and warm water contain some radiation but every thing consist some merits and demerits and if we talk about the merits of nuclear energy 1 gm of uranium gives the same amount of energy of 4.5 ton of coal. Uranium does not consist any greenhouse gases like CO2 (which is the main cause of global warming), NO2 or S.... More
Dick
03/29/2011 12:31 PM
trying to do work >:D
Peter Lewinski
03/28/2011 01:58 AM
In terms of power and natural resources, off-shore drilling in North America offers a better alternative than to increased nuclear power plants. Not only do we move away from oil dependency, but we will also have a decline in unemployment rates in the United States. To many, especially businessmen, some environmentalists, and politicians, more nuclear power means more Watts, when in reality if a reactor actually does meltdown due to natural causes or human error, the radiation released will.... More
Anonymous
10/27/2011 11:06 AM
there will always be human error in everything but we can get more out of the nuclear power one nuclear power plant can produce power for 19 percent of the united states of america
person
02/08/2011 13:56 PM
Im in ms. murphays class
mike oxlong
02/08/2011 13:52 PM
whats it say?
Fred
12/02/2010 18:32 PM
some of these comments that i read are realllllly ignorant and im 13 some of u gus just need to think before you put dumb comments up
Mulitalo
11/17/2010 22:15 PM
This situation is good. Everyone says that nuclear is bad becuase of the radiation. That should not even be in the conversation because the rad iation that is created is less than that created by the coal plants. its also cheaper and that pisses me off when people say that the government is not helping the econemy and yet they don't want the cheaper way of creating electricity.
Mulitalo
11/17/2010 22:14 PM
This situation is good. Everyone says that nuclear is bad becuase of the radiation. That should not even be in the conversation because the rad iation that is created is less than that created by the coal plants. its also cheaper and that pisses me off when people say that the government is not helping the econemy and yet they don't want the cheaper way of creating electricity.
la
10/26/2010 12:05 PM
I D G A F(:♥
my life
10/25/2010 15:19 PM
This is so dum you all are right it willl kill and save you life so get over it does kill it does cost money lots of money.
Lucien
06/27/2010 20:09 PM
I am doing a speech on nuclear technology and i have found may facts about nuclear technolgy that will make you wet your pants.
Lucien
06/27/2010 20:09 PM
I am doing a speech on nuclear technology and i have found may facts about nuclear technolgy that will make you wet your pants.
el mejor, chica.
05/12/2010 14:33 PM
nuclear energy is both bad and good. look into it, kids.(:
ali
05/11/2010 11:41 AM
WE WILL ALL DIE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, SO WHY NOT ENJOY LIFE AND THINK AGAIN ABOUT HATING NUCLEAR ENERGY!!!
azi
05/17/2011 00:30 AM
its true we all die one day but what about our generation and childern?live and die but at least save the world for future,its good some times think about others! think before u write some thing.
athena
03/12/2010 08:09 AM
me and my freinds are working togather to do a report and we read this and we showed all our freinds the comment who cares and we arethought it was funny and had a little bit of a point but it made us all laugh
Guest
03/05/2010 15:55 PM
well the arguments for both sides are all well and good but im going to side with wind and solar for now due to the long term effects the radioactive material poses on the environment.
Nasi
12/28/2009 18:50 PM
Renewable energy is the way to go! How long is the resources for nuclear energy going to last? 100 to 200 years maybe. Thats not a long time. Solar and wind energy will always be there.
Winter
05/19/2010 20:19 PM
Solar and wind energy are expensive and unreliable. What if we live somehwere where the sun's never out? Uranium is abundent and very easy to mine, and it will continue formin through the rock cycle.
John
12/10/2009 20:04 PM
Nuclear Energy is bad we could all get killed from it from 1 mistake
SmarterKid
06/02/2011 10:19 AM
You sir/mam are retarded and should do your homework
Winter
05/19/2010 20:16 PM
actually, coal power plants produce more radiation than nuclear power plants. alomst all of the nuclear power plants are well handled and theres little to no danger. also, nuclear energy does not produce any greenhouse gases, so it doesn't pollute at all! although nuclear waste is a problem, we can recycle it, eliminating nuclear waste!
I LOVE nuclear energy
06/04/2009 21:21 PM
Nuclear energy is a very reliable source of energy. When was the last time the nuclear power stopped working? I can't remeber either. Nuclear power is often related with weapons and nuclear power plants were thought to explode like a nuclear bomb. But physics prove that nuclear power plants can't explode like a nuclear bomb. It is said that radiation leaks can cause cancer, and other diseases, but nuclear medicine can lead to the treatment of cancer and other diseases. It only takes a small.... More
bob
05/05/2009 10:23 AM
Nuclear energy is horrible because we haave to store it and then it can leak out and get into our ground water and then we are drinking radio active material. Wind solar and other foarms are way better. Also nuclear cost so much money and is so dangerous.
SmarterKid
06/02/2011 10:28 AM
First off nuclear energy is stored as electricity and pressure so its not going to leak and what we would do is store the waste so far underground that it will not be any harm to us and its going to eventualy leak into the core of the earth and be incinerated instantly or we will recycle it and it becomes easyer and easyer to build them on a budget, also a coal plant gives off 3 times as much radiation as a nuclear power plant and on top of that it gives off carbon monoxide witch is relieced.... More
Winter
05/19/2010 20:22 PM
Nuclear energy is MUCH cheaper than wind and solar, espicially in the long term. Also, Nuclear power plants last for a very long time. We can reuse nuclear waste so that it won't leak into the ground water, although the U.S. does not allow that yet...
KiKi
04/27/2010 23:01 PM
actually, nuclear energy is not that expensive to create
Victor
02/23/2010 11:45 AM
That is the worst argument I have ever heard..
Anonymous
04/14/2009 20:15 PM
Emissions: on a per electric energy unit basis nuclear power releases the lowest amount of greenhouse gases (EVEN LESS THAN SOLAR AND WIND POWER) Cost: Although the cost of nuclear power plants is
Anonymous
04/02/2009 15:52 PM
I suppose nuclear energy will be one of those never ending disputes from both sides. The positives of nuclear energy in its ability to produce clean energy versus the negatives of reprocessing and long-term storage. Not being anything near a nuclear expert, couldn't the reactors be constructed sub-surface to reduce any risks with a malfunctions? There are reasons I can think of that may not make that proposal realistic although I've never seen any information to reflect the potential either.... More Add your commentSign in with one of these accounts or just add your comment below. |
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