Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power

Nuclear power is the energy produced by nuclear reactions, to generate heat or electricity. It is a highly effective form of energy production. However, it has many risks with it as well. I do not agree with the usage of nuclear power. The risks far outweigh the positives. Nuclear power is very efficient however, it's also extremely dangerous. Therefore I believe we should stop using nuclear power and use a less dangerous form of energy. Nuclear power is extremely effective for energy production. They produce a stable amount of energy, and they can be adjusted to work along with wind or solar energy. So if it's a windy day they can lower the resource usage of the power plant and let the wind do most of the work. Or they can crank it up whenever the demand for energy is high.

Unlike fossil fuels, Nuclear energy is very environmentally friendly. The plants provide us with a carbon-free source of electricity. Plus the nuclear power plants do not release Nitrogen Oxide, Sulfur Oxide, among other things that you would not like to have in your atmosphere. It is good that these substances are out of our air because Nitrogen Oxide can cause many undesirable health effects such as a decrease in respiratory functions, and respiratory illnesses would be much more common. Eventually, however, we will run low on fuel for the generators to function and then we'll have to find another way to create energy at the same rate as the generators have. Sadly these impressive generation machines are not flawless, in fact, they are also extremely dangerous when not handled correctly.        

Nuclear generators not handled directly have led to many disasters. The most well-known ones are the Chernobyl Disaster and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. These disasters have made large regions of land uninhabitable for a massive amount of time. For example, the Chernobyl disaster has left a large amount of land uninhabitable for up to 20,000 years. People who were near the disaster were contaminated by the overwhelming amount of radioactive waste and will die from long-term radiation poisoning. Nowadays the city of Pripyat is now a shadow of its former self, a ghost town with nothing but abandoned buildings that are being retaken by nature. This radiation has also effected the wildlife that lives in this ghost town. Somehow nature has found a way to rebirth itself into this wasteland, and life has returned uninhibited by human activities.        

Nuclear generators also make a huge amount of waste a single generator creates at least twenty metric tons of waste. Since there are about four hundred and fifty generators, that is a massive amount of waste. This waste is also extremely dangerous to anyone who dares to come near it. When enough waste gets close together it starts to heat up and the containment will eventually melt down and the waste will need to be transported somewhere else. But this will spread radiation as well so there isn't much you can do to keep it locked up without it bursting and causing this cycle again. The waste also takes an extremely long amount of time to be safe. Even the most minimal drops of radioactive waste take about one hundred years to become safe.   

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