Nuclear Energy By: William and Jerod

We require more energy

As the Earth’s population grows, we are going to use more and more energy are in our daily lives.  We need to stop using fossil fuels that cause too much damage to Earth and worsens Global Warming. We have to start using nuclear power as our main energy source, even though there are people rejecting nuclear power plants due to its history. But to continue our daily lives now we must start to take action in building nuclear power plants.

Nuclear energy is created through Fission Reactions, which are a chemical reactions created by splitting Uranium nuclei by shooting a neutron, and the Uranium also releases some neutron to make other Uranium atoms react and split and cause chain reactions. Each splitting creates a tons of energy. Few kilograms of uranium are enough to create energy for entire US to use months of electricity. Nuclear is a lot more efficient than other other types of power plants, such as hydro, wind, and solar energy. Nuclear contributes to 21% of US electricity and Renewables (wind, solar, hydro) contribute only 12% of US electricity.

However, there are some risks involved with using Nuclear power. As we know, there's been three disasters caused by nuclear power; fukushima, chernobyl, and three mile island. The main problem with nuclear power it the disposal of radioactive waste after splitting Uranium atom. The highly radioactive waste causes damage to land, rendering it unable to grow plants, and causes genetic mutation or even death to living things. People are in fear of the disaster to happen again. But these problems can be prevented with just having to store the radioactive waste in a safe place where it can be protected by natural disasters and preventing it from going out.

Renewables maybe the most “healthy” way to gain energy, but the amount of energy is not enough as our population continues to grow. The history of nuclear power may give us fear of using it, but in the process of improving, we will always face failures. To really improve, we have to learn from our failures and stand up and fix our mistakes so that we can improve our society and to have what we have today and for to build a better future for us to live.