Alexa Kushner

Mrs. Young

Chemistry

2 May 2016

Nuclear Essay

Right now in the world there is a hot and heavy issue that deals with the decision of

should we increase or decrease the number of nuclear power plants or not. The answer is neither!

We should just maintain and keep using the ones we have presently, and here is why. Although

they can bring some hazards to our society, nuclear power plants are actually beneficial and

bring us much of our energy that we use for our everyday lives, and in case there is an accident,

there are precautions and protocol to keep everyone away from harm so everyone is safe.

The word nuclear usually has a negative connotation to it considering all of the damage it

could do and has done in the past. However, nuclear power plants also bring us much of our

energy as well as power, in fact according to article 5, nuclear power plants produce 20% of our

nation's power, and homes and businesses use nuclear power thus this type of power is

beneficial for our society to function. It is also beneficial for the environment because, in 1b, it

discusses how the nuclear plants work and unlike other plants that burn coal and oil, they do not

burn anything. Instead they use a process called fission, which does not emit high amounts of

carbon or greenhouse gases that ruin the environment and cause global warming. Another reason

we should just maintain the ones we have right now is because honestly, we do not know the

repercussions of having them take over the whole power plant industry. Also the spills can be

extremely dangerous as seen in article 7, when 300 tons of tainted water were being released into

the sea due to Tepcos failure to manage the contaminated water after the 2011 tsunami that
caused leaks in the plant. Henceforth, we we take good care and pay close attention to the power

plants we have as of this moment, less accidents and nuclear leaks are likely to occur.

While talking about leaks and other incidents within the nuclear power plants, it is not as

if they do not have strict protocol in case something does happen. Like when the Fukushima

plant was damaged, they had everyone within a 20-30 kilometers to leave their homes, and that

was about 200,000 people at the time. Another thing is, is that according to article 5, nuclear

power plants have 2 emergency planning zones in case of an accident. There is one for those who

live in a 10 mile radius, which 3 million Americans do, and one for those within a 50 mile radius.

This is because of nuclear power plants releasing all of that radioactive atoms trying to become

more stable, but as they do that the unstable atoms give off more energy (radiation). The

radioactive gases and particles that the power plants may release come off in a plume which is a

cloud-like formation. Because of all of this, the power plants plan to keep everyone safe and out

of harm's way as much as possible.

One might argue that nuclear power is very dangerous, and in some aspects it is. For

example, heat waves can cause major damage to a nuclear power plant because the cooling

reactors do not work as well, and because of global warming this concerns many people,

Another thing about having nuclear power plants, is the risk of cancer or mutation and studies

have been done on the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which

involved around 76,000 people exposed at levels ranging up to more than 5,000 mSv. These

studies show that radiation is the cause of several hundred deaths from cancer.. From this data,

the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and others have estimated that

the fatal cancer risk as 5% per sievert exposure for a population of all ages. However, based on

the same article, article 4, in 1990 the US National Cancer Institute did a study on this found no
evidence of any increase in cancer risk for the people living near to 62 major nuclear facilities,

and there is no evidence of genetic effects for the offspring of any of the Japanese bombing

victims or anyone exposed to radiation, so we could still maintain what we have today. If there is

a decrease though, the only alternative is what we have been doing for years, which is burning

coal, and look where that has gotten our atmosphere. The CO2 is causing the greenhouse effect

which is ultimately causing global warming.

By maintaining all of the nuclear power plants we have right now, there is less risk of

cancer as well as global warming. Right now, we as Americans live a pretty good life and most

of us have running water and electricity. Without the nuclear power plants we would not have as

much electricity, thus sadly you would not be able to charge your phone, go on your computer,

or even watch tv, and due to how much radiation is given off it may not be in our best interest to

make more nuclear power plants, but because of how beneficial they are in many aspects,

decreasing them would only harm our environment.