Use of Nuclear Energy in Today Society

Energy sources like oil,coal,solar,wind, or nuclear; they have become a necessity of modern society and has been a really popular topic that has been debated on. Since energy holds such a important role in the world, it affects political decisions, relationships between countries, the economy, and the environment. Nuclear energy has become such a important resource in our society since the supply of this resource is limitless.

Congress is debating on whether or not they should be funding on this proposal because many believe that it is the technology for the future. Supplying oil has become harder to control and solar and wind technologies has not become expanded nor fully developed. The benefits of nuclear energy is that nuclear energy is cheap and plentiful, but there are also negative argument towards it.With a comprehensive understanding of nuclear energy and the expansion of its technology through products such as SMR's, nuclear energy could be the world's next prominent energy source.

According to West's Encyclopedia of American Law (2008), nuclear energy is defined as a form of energy produced by an atomic reaction, capable of producing an alternative source of electrical power to that supplied by coal,gas, or oil. All this happens when they are going through the process called fission which creates energy through the splitting of uranium atoms. A nuclear power plant uses the heat that is created during the fission process to create steam in order to run the turbines creating electricity (Westinghouse 2012). A nuclear power plant does not create a massive destructive weapon. Nuclear energy can have negative and positive affect in society and the environment. Nuclear power has numerous benefits in the world. Nuclear power produces fewer emissions than conventional power sources such as fossil fuels (Loudermilk, 2011). Coal is a fossil fuel that is polluting the environment.

According to the Sierra Club (2007), which is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, coal compared to regular gasoline produces twice as much of the global emissions. Big Coal and allies has stated that coal or liquid coal,coal that is converted into liquid fuel, would cure the United States of its energy problem, but if we look to reality, it has caused countless problems in the economy and the environment. For example, it has increased in carbon dioxide emissions and a costly conversion process(Sierra Club). Nuclear power has been considered a solution for the greenhouse gases problem that were having. Moore (2005), the founder and the chief of scientist of Green Spirit Strategies, states that a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) seems unlikely given our continued heavy reliance on fossil fuel. An investment in nuclear energy would go a long way to reducing the reliance and could actually result in reduced CO2 emissions from power generation (para.38). He also believes that nuclear energy would be a solution to securing the United States energy and meeting the energy demands of the nation. Nuclear energy would play a huge role in reducing the greenhouse emissions and solve the climate problem in order that it won't create an escalation in global warming(Knapp et al, 2010). Nuclear power has been known as a substance that could produce clean energy source to reduce emissions for the environment.

However even though nuclear power creates clean energy people are unable to meet the increasing energy demands. A negative side to nuclear power is the lack of people to run the facilities and to create materials for the construction of a new nuclear plant. If there aren't enough people to work and to create the material on time then, the building process will always be delayed. But it's not just that skilled people are needed to be able to run the facilities. Also, even though they get enough people to work, they will hire more people than there are nuclear power places. Nuclear energy has many pros and cons. Nuclear energy will allow us to use fewer resources that can damage the earth and people's health. These negative and positive reasons, all have great reasons to use nuclear energy in today society.

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