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Harkins
English III
13 November 2006
Imagine our world generations from now consumed by radiation. The people
suffer from the diseases from radiation. The balanced ecosystem that once thrived now
lies desolate. Imagine our only home which we humans have inhabited for centuries
become inhospitable. This future is far from bright and is only a sample of the many
deadly fruits from the deceiving tree of nuclear energy. Sadly, nuclear energy still
One common misconception is that using nuclear energy saves money and
benefits the economy. In a perfect world, this would be true, however this is the real
world, and there are many high costs hidden behind the exaggerated “benefits”. The
disposal of waste and the decommissioning of nuclear plants are the most money
leaching processes that plague nuclear energy, and have no place in any country’s
economy. For example, from the article “Nuclear Power is Not a Solution to Global
Warming” by Friends of The Earth Scotland, the cost of removing nuclear waste in the
UK averages to about 70 billion dollars. Does nuclear energy still sound good for the
economy? Also consider the price of CO2 reduction. From the same article, in a 1995
study in the UK, the government recognized nuclear energy as the worst method of
mentioned earlier, in a study from 1997 in the U.S., 14,095workers from the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory were examined for health and mortality rate. The study discovered a
relationship between cancer mortality and low-level radiation that the worker where
exposed to; at the time, low-level radiation exposure was considered harmless.
Furthermore, nuclear waste not only is expensive to dispose, it also remains toxic
for many years, even centuries. If we were to continue using nuclear power, space will
run out, and will complicate the lives of the people and the ecosystem. The belief that
nuclear power will satisfy energy needs is morbid and should be reconsidered before we
We cannot just sweep this issue under the rug, energy is important and we must
take control of how we obtain it. As the Friends of the Earth Scotland warn, “…
threaten the health and well-being of all surrounding nations and environments”, so for
the sake of all life, lets take control of how we obtain our energy, so we do not make the
fatal choice to place our future in the grim hands of nuclear power.