Nuclear Power: Cons
In our society, nuclear energy has become one of the most criticized forms of energy by the environmentalists. Thus, a look at nuclear energy and the environment and its impact on economic growth. Lewis Munford, an analyst, once wrote, "Too much energy is as fatal as too little, hence the regulation of energy input and output not its unlimited expansion, is in fact one of the main laws of life." This is true when dealing with nuclear power. Because our societies structure and processes both depend upon energy, man is searching for the most efficient and cheapest form of energy that can be used on a long term basis. And because we equate power with growth, the more energy that a country uses, - the greater their expected economic growth. The problem is that energy is considered to have two facets or parts: it is a major source of man-made repercussions as well as being the basis of life support systems. Therefore, we are between two sections in which one is the section of "resource availability and waste", and the other "the continuity of life support systems pertinent to survival." Thus, the environmentalists believe that nuclear energy should not be used for various reasons. First of all, the waste product
, i.e. plutonium, is extremely radioactive, which may cause the people who are working or living in or around the area of storage or use, to acquire leukemia and other cancers. They also show how billions of dollars are spent yearly on safety devices for a single reactor, and this still doesn't ensure the impossibility of a "melt down." Two examples were then given of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, in 1979, when thousands of people were killed and incapacitated. Finally, the environmentalists claim that if society wastes less energy, and develops the means to use the energy more efficiency, then there would be a definite decrease in the requirement for more energy producing plants. On the other hand, some business men and economists say that the present conditions should be kept intact, as the other forms of energy, e.g. oil, natural gas and coal, are only temporary, in dealing with surplus, and give off more pollution with less economic growth. Concurrently, countries wanted a more reliable, smokeless form of energy not controlled by OPEC, and very little uranium was required to produce such a high amount of resultant energy. Lastly, they said that renewable energy is (a) unreliable in that the wind, for example, could not be depended upon to blow, nor the sun to shine, and (b) were intermittent in that a 1,000 mega- watt solar farm may occupy about 5,000 acres of land, compared with less than 150 acres of land for a similar capacity nuclear power generation station. Because the energy technology that society employs directly influences the quantit
Some topics in this essay:
Ceribus Paribus,
Mile Island,
Lewis Munford,
Albert Schweitzer,
Power Cons,
nuclear energy,
nuclear power,
economic growth,
life support systems,
form energy,
support systems,
ceribus paribus,
please refer,
growth energy,
life support,
forms energy,
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Approximate Word count = 1052
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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