The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/term_papers/nuclear.txt

Text File | 1996-04-06 | 15KB | 343 lines

    The world's natural resources are being consumed at an alarming rate .As

these resources diminish , people will be seeking alternative sources by which to generate

electricity for heat and light . The only practical short term solution for the energy-crisis

is nuclear power . Nuclear power, however is not as safe as burning coal , gas or oil in

a factory it is in fact , much more dangerous, There are dangers associated  with a

nuclear power plant which far out weigh the benefits to society as a whole and in part to

the community living and working  around the power plant . About 20 percent of our

nation's total electrical consumption per year is supplied by nuclear power from the 100

or so nuclear power plants throughout the country . Even though atomic power has been

in use for over 50 years it was primarily a tool of war and destruction when the war

ended need for atomic bombs diminished . The scientists who created the weapons were

out of jobs . They then turned this destructive power into huge plants generating "clean

and cheap " electricity for the country . It was called progress. Progress also brought with

it sickness , mutations , cancer  and eventually death to those exposed to high

levels of radiation . Government declared that nuclear power is safe and efficient . Also

have  big Oil corporations who have a lot of money invested in nuclear power and want

to see as many plants as possible put into and kept in operation . The truth is that

accidents do happen at nuclear power plants and at other facilities all the time . An

accident at a nuclear power plant has the potential to be much more devastating than an

accident at a coal or gas plant because of the radiation that could be released . An

example of this is Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania where there was a partial core

meltdown in march of 1979 and an "acceptable" amount of radiation escaped into the

atmosphere . However no amount of  radiation is acceptable if released as a result of an

accident at a nuclear power plant .



Is Nuclear Power necessary ?

        Today many Americans adopt lifestyles that are based on energy in-

efficient devices . These include large automobiles and electric appliances that require

electricity from energy-intense industrial processes . The public is doing all it can to

force nuclear power plants into production by wasting electricity and the resources which

are used to produce it ( coal , oil , gas) and by failing to recycle . Nuclear power has been

promoted world-wide as economically advantageous and necessary to replace fossil fuels

as the means of energy production in the 21st century . However this is untrue . There are

many other economically viable and environmentally safe methods of producing energy

.These include solar power , hydroelectric power and wind power . Today one fifth of the

world's total energy production either comes from either wind ,water or solar power . It is

estimated that by the year 2000 forty percent of the world's energy production will be

from sources other than fossil fuels or nuclear power .It is estimated that to meet , via

nuclear power a quarter of the projected U.S. primary power demand in the year 2000

that the US would have to order a new nuclear power plant to be built every five days to

compensate for the irradication of the coal , oil and gas powered plants . On the other

hand if all U. S.  nuclear power plants were shut down now , it would not make any

difference at all . The existing electrical backup systems have reserves of power that can

more than make up for the loss of the nuclear power plants . The nuclear power plants

that are in use today are no more than large plants serving no purpose at all and

endangering many peoples lives .


Is Nuclear Power worth the risks ?

        With any large energy producing facility there are risks . The risks posed

by a nuclear power plant however , are far greater than those posed by any other .

Meltdowns, cancer , radiation , mutations and eventually death are all possible end

results of the building of a nuclear power plant  . Meltdown or the explosion of the main

reactor itself can release tons of radioactive particles into the atmosphere . The meltdown

of a nuclear power plant would release a thousand times more radioactivity into the

atmosphere than the bombs dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki . Another

possibility is "China Syndrome " , where the core of the reactor melts into the earth and

reaches the water table of the area  and contaminates it   . Although Nuclear power plants

do not give off any form of combustion , they do release minute traces of radioactive

particles which contaminate the soil , water and air . They also release super heated water

into lakes and rivers from the cooling of the reactor . This heats the water , killing fish

and other types of marine life . The average or annual release of radioactive particles into

the atmosphere shorten our life span by 37 minutes . This also raises the background

level of radiation  by 3% thus adding an extra 7000 cancer deaths per year .  The cases of

cancer deaths go up in areas around nuclear power plants . Children with asthma living in

the vicinity of a nuclear power plant are 50 times more likely to die of cancer than a

healthy child living in the same area . Studies done by the EPA and NRC reveal that

workers at nuclear power plants are more likely to die from cancer due to the proximity

of radioactive elements . Naturally occurring radiation in the environment is greater than

the trace amounts given off by nuclear power plants . However people would rather not

take the risk of being exposed to unnecessary amounts of radiation by living near a

nuclear power plant . A recent EPA study on the worst case scenario of a nuclear

accident concluded that if a nuclear reactor 1/5 the size of the Chernobyl plant in the

former Soviet Union had a meltdown in a state the size of Pennsylvania it would kill

45,000 people , contaminate 70% of the state , and cause seventeen million dollars worth

of damage and if you multiply that by five it would kill 225,000 and cause eighty five

million dollars worth of damage and contaminate five times the amount of land .


Have there ever been any Nuclear accidents in the United States ?

        Accidents involving US nuclear power plants are very rare . This

does not mean that they do not occur. In the early 1980's there was a fire at

Yankee Atomic , a nuclear power plant in Massachusetts , destroying over 3 million

dollars worth of electrical wiring in the reactor . it was caused by some workmen who

were using matches to find a leak in the ventilation system of the reactor . The damage to

the reactor was not serious but it was shut down for two weeks for repairs . If the

situation was not brought under control the fire could have spread and caused a

meltdown or serious leak . The most serious nuclear accident in the US was at three Mile

Island , Pennsylvania  in 1979 when a coolant pipe was accidentally blocked due to

cleaning and repairs the blockage allowed no water to reach the reactor core to cool it

down and the core ruptured and leaked radioactive particles into the atmosphere . The

core itself came close to meltdown and if this had happened much of Pennsylvania , New

York and New Jersey would have been contaminated by the radioactive fallout .

Although today's nuclear power plants are relatively safe the problem of accidents

increases with every new plant that is  built . With each new plant built new of problems

occur since this is a relatively young technology with people who are being trained on the

job .


Is Radioactivity dangerous?

        Radioactivity cannot be seen , felt , tasted or smelt . It is an " invisible

 poison " that is released and produced by the plants . The average nuclear power plant

contains more than 200,000 to 300,000 times the radioactive materials that are in

standard nuclear warheads . Radioactivity destroys life , especially human life . A person

exposed to a high level of radiation will die within 48hours of exposure either due to

infectious diseases caused by the destruction of the body's immune system from the

radiation or by massive tissue bleeding . Humans above all other species are the most

susceptible to radiation . Cockroaches and other types of insects can withstand 200 times

more radiation exposure than humans before cancer or death occur , Radiation alters the

electrical charge of the body's cells and allows cancer to form in the cells . Not all

exposures to radiation cause cancer . The radiation may cause an incubation period of up

to 40 years before full-blown cancer is diagnosed in the patient . By  this time it is

impossible to discover if it is cancer caused by radiation or not . Different doses of

radiation will cause different problems . A dose of 2000 - 3000 REMs ( Roentgen

Equivalent Man ) will cause brain tissue to swell , hemorrhage and will cause death .

Fivehundred REMs will stop the cells from dividing , will cause hair to fall out , and will

cause ulcers to form on the skin . It also destroys the white blood cells and platelets that

help to fight off disease and stop bleeding in the body . Besides cancer radiation causes

genetic defects and mutations in humans and other animals . These defects may lie

dormant in one generation and reappear in the next . This create serious problems in the

gene pool of the society by creating  mutations and deformities .Recessive mutations

may also occur these are lack of vigor and energy , susceptibility to disease ,  and mental

deficiency in humans . It is estimated that for every one visible genetic mutation or defect

there are 10,000 non-visible recessive mutations that contaminate the gene pool of

society . This  could lead to more mutations and unnecessary deaths because the human

body of a child whose mother was exposed to radiation and passed on deformed genes to

her baby may not be able to fight off common sicknesses and die due to the radiation

exposure . " Radiation may be one of the principal ecological agents responsible for

human suffering and disease " . This quote came from a congressional hearing on the

safety of nuclear power in the early 70's where it was declared that radiation was and is

dangerous to human beings and other species of animals and that nuclear power plants

are highly dangerous and inefficient for their purposes .


Why not Solar power or other alternatives ?


        The amount of energy that reaches the earth from the sun on any given day

 is far greater than that consumed by Americans in any given year . To harness this and

turn it into something that is much needed and very useful would be a great alternative to

nuclear power plants . Having no moving parts , producing no pollution , consuming no

fuel , and operating at environmental  temperatures , solar collectors are very clean and

efficient . They produce a practically free form of electricity and would provide

electricity at a very low price . Nuclear power plants average a build time of 10 years and

cost millions of dollars . This means that vast implementation of nuclear reactors in the

near future is virtually impossible and unrealistic . Solar power receptors , on the other

hand cost a fraction of the price and take less time to manufacture than nuclear plants .

Although nuclear power has its drawbacks and limitations , still seems to be the primary

choice for energy production today due to the rise in population and to general energy

consumption around the world as well as to the lack of technology in the other fields of

energy production . It is a wonder why solar power has not been mass implemented

already to power our country and the world .The materials used to build solar collectors (

silicon , plastics) are readily available . Silicon makes up the second most abundant

element in the earth's crust . These panels could be placed virtually anywhere on the

roofs of houses and buildings or into the sides of the buildings themselves . Solar power

could be a reality today . However , oil companies such as Exxon who are the leading

researchers in nuclear and solar technology , would rather have the nuclear because it

would produce more money than the solar . Solar power is a cheaper source of electricity

because you cannot turn off the sun . The same oil monopolies buy out smaller

companies which are developing  feasible solar power plants to keep them from being

implemented and to maintain the hold on the fossil fuel market . Solar energy and

thermonuclear fusion are great alternatives to the nuclear reactor but these will not be

mass implemented until well into the next century . That does not solve the problem for

 today . To keep the number of nuclear power plants as low as possible people need to

conserve , energy change lifestyles and recycle more of there wastes . We need to be less

dependent  on electricity and electrical products . Conservation must be implemented by

government policies and guide lines . To have any affect at all on the amount of

electricity that is consumed . " Anything that slows down the development of solar energy

, the one cheap limitless source of energy that cannot be shut down by war or

embargo, is undermining the national security of the United States " .



    Nuclear power has been a constant in all of our lives due to the many problems it

has and to the many accidents that occur . Nuclear power is a dangerous and deadly tool

that should not be taken lightly . Sadly this is exactly what has happened in regards to the

accidents at Three Mile Island and again at the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant in the

former Soviet Union . In both cases inexperience and ignorance played major roles in the

accidents . Hopefully this may never happen again and nuclear power will be phased out

to the safer fusion reactor and the very appealing solar power generator .


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