Nuclear Energy?

  Nuclear power, sure, it has it's pros to it - It's a powerful source for electricity, which is also very reliable and affordable. There have only been two accidents, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. While there are benefits to this form of energy, there are also many cons to it as well.

  The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is a prime example of the irresponsibility's of people when it comes to building the Plants. Wikileaks, a website that's controversial for it's amount of leaked Govt. documents has information stating that these Nuclear power plants were incapable of taking hits from an Earthquake. This was disregarded during the placement of the Nuclear plants. Because of this, Japan has been facing a server pandemic of Nuclear contamination from their drinking water to dairy products, the results of this disregarded concern are still growing in effect.

  Belarus, a country that shares a border with Russia has recently invested their time into creating a Nuclear plant. Belarus is going to use Russian contractors for the creation of their Nuclear Plant. This plant is going to cost 9 billion dollars, which Belarus has gotten on loan from Russia. Belarus will most likely also have nuclear fuel supplied from Russia, and have their nuclear waste will have to be sent to Russia. This makes Belarus dependent on Russia for power, instead of becoming more independent. Their thrive to gain Nuclear Power has put them into a situtation where they’re relying on Russia for an essential, energy. 

    Nuclear Power Plants have the potential for causing massive amounts of destruction. The Chernobyl disaster was a Nuclear Power plant failure that happened in Russia back in the mid 80’s. At this plant, they were testing to see if the turbines in the plant were capable of producing energy. An unexpected incident happened where the plants power went down to less than 1% power. Afterwards, a surge of power came on, and the reactor’s emergency shutdown failed to work. The death tool from this incident is somewhere around 985,000, many suffering from cancer and various defects that were caused after the meltdown. Sudden changes like what happened with Chernobyl’s power, can drastically disrupt a Nuclear Power Plant. The city where Chernobyl Power Plant existed is abandoned now, with no one living there. Currently, it’s a tourist attraction to see the now abandoned city.

  Even though Chernobyl happened over twenty years ago, anything is possible. In France, they have fifty-eight operating nuclear power plants, and they get OVER SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT of their countries power from Nuclear power. If a Nuclear Plant were to face operating issues, or even a meltdown, the results would be critical for the country.  There are many health issues with contact to nuclear radiation, from cancer to birth defects, such as excessive bone growth, organ failure, and the growth of ligaments.

  There are many other options for power, other than Nuclear. For instance, there’s Solar energy, which has become more affordable in recent years. Wind Power,  which works incredibly well in windy areas.  Hydrop-ower, which is powered by damns. Nuclear Power isn’t the only source of energy, and it surely isn’t the safest. We, as people need to use safe sources of energy to not only protect ourselves, but our environment.

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