Issy Hernandez

Period 4
11/19/14
Chemistry
Nuclear Power
Nuclear power provides a safe, comfortable, and dependable source of energy with most
countries thriving due to it. Therefore, I support the use of nuclear sustainability. Getting ahead
of the game, USA is the worlds largest producer of nuclear power. Out of 511 quadrillion BTUs
of energy used yearly throughout the world, the US accounts 19% of this energy. However, a
majority of the world is slowly destroying the environment due to fossil fuels. Over hundreds of
years fossil fuels were an efficient way to support this energy consumption, but its amount of
waste is now causing countries worldwide to turn to an alternate source-- nuclear power.
One major issue following nuclear power is how to handle and where to discard the
nuclear waste. Nuclear power uses the energy released from atoms splitting to supply their
efficient amount of energy. Through this process, nuclear waste is the fuel being used after the
breaking of the atoms occurs. This is when discarding the waste becomes an issue. For lower
level waste, scientists have discovered that placing it in underground repositories still close to the
surface is a safe way of getting rid of the waste with no long term issues. Hight-level waste is
currently being stored in facilities where the waste can slowly decay over thousands of years.
Neither of these processes of distorting nuclear waste are known to be dangerous to any extreme,
but scientists are still looking for a more efficient and environmentally safe way to rid the highlevel waste. Another area that may cause potential issues in the future would be the
transportation of the nuclear waste. This can be dismayed by ensuring that the packaging of the

waste is proper and precise; therefore, reducing the potential for danger. Overall, the majority of
issues with safety have been resolved or are in the process of being fixed or minorly adjusted and
will soon pose no threat. The only remaining main concern for opponents of nuclear power is the
impact on future generations from the stored high level waste. But to this day, there has been no
issues with the waste and scientists are still looking for new ways so it can be fixed with all
problems avoided in the future.
The safety of nuclear power has definitely been challenged over the years, but I believe
that the scientists are more advanced and excelling at their profession of how to make nuclear
power a safer environment, every day. Due to the accidents at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and
Fukushima, the safety of nuclear power has been significantly questioned. Chernobyl was the
only nuclear accident where workers or public citizens were harmed or died. This event occurred
in 1986, demonstrating how much our technology has grown and advanced, having no problems
with nuclear accidents since then. This shows that the risk of a nuclear power accident is very
low and continuing to decrease. Even though plutonium is an extremely intimidating chemical
element being one of the most toxic and hazardous materials on earth, it is known to be harmless
when handled under proper care. Another area of disagreement among the safety of the nuclear
power is if there ever happened to be an attack on nuclear waste from terrorists; however, nuclear
waste facilities are extremely secure and designed in such way to protect themselves from
outside forces such as terrorist attacks. This can definitely still be concluded as a valid fear, but
the likeliness of a bomb dropping on the waste is low and soon to be nonexistent.
Nuclear power has an impact on the environment in both negative and positive ways.
Nuclear powers two main negative effects on the environment include storing nuclear waste and
the overuse of water. To begin its negative effects, nuclear waste is caused by used uranium fuel.

This fuel becomes unsustainable and will eventually turn into radioactive waste. Although the
waste gives off no immediate threat to the environment, it causes a great danger being vulnerable
in case of a terrorist attack or possible natural disaster. Once the radioactive waste has an
appropriate place to be discontinued, it will pose less of a threat to the environment. Along with
waste, nuclear power plants require a plethora of water to help in the process of creating energy.
This water then becomes polluted, and if it is let back in the environment in this case, it may
cause a huge number of negative effects on aquatic and wildlife. However, nuclear power is one
of the most environmentally friendly alternative energy sources based on history. Unlike other
energy sources, it diffuses no greenhouse gas, which helps preserve and take care of the ozone
layer and avoids all air pollution. Adding on to the positive effects, nuclear power plants show no
negativity toward territories or other known wildlife. To sum up the effects on the environment,
nuclear power appears to be mostly harmless, avoiding almost all negative effects on the
atmosphere.
Even though nuclear power is beginning to be a significant and apprehensive part of the
everyday society, there will always be a meaningful group of the public opposing and
continuously fighting against it. Although nuclear power does have potential drawbacks, it is a
much cheaper, accessible, and reliable source of energy opposed to other natural resources such
as wind power, fossil fuels, and many others. Fossil fuels come from natural processes of the
decomposition of dead organisms. The world has been using and producing energy through fossil
fuels ever since the 18th century, and since then it has become a primary source of power.
However, it is leaving an extremely negative impact on our world due to the amount of carbon it
is releasing in the atmosphere, it is creating an unbalanced amount of gases in the ozone layer.
Over the last hundred years, the use of fossil fuels has generated so much pollution that the

ozone layer began decreasing. If humanity ever continued the use of fossil fuels, the earth would
become so polluted and unequitable, it would be inhabitable. Another source of energy
introduced to mankind includes wind power. Wind power is a plethora of man-made machines of
large turbines made to absorb the natural energy of the wind. This was a clever invention,
knowing that wind energy is a renewable source and does not pollute the air, whatsoever.
Unfortunately, all sources of energy have their disadvantages and wind turbines have an
extremely expensive upfront price and the installment of the turbines would already be a great
deal of investments. Another negative factor of wind power is its inaccuracy and unreliability.
Wind is an extraordinarly inconsistent and unpredictable weather, being a terrible main source of
energy. Therefore, each and every source of energy has its perks and disadvantages. Each
alternative source of power, excluding nuclear, would be a helpful way to sustain a society with
each source combined. This shows the lack of reliability from fossil fuels, wind power, and many
others, knowing that they would all add up the same amount of power as nuclear when they are
combined. Furthermore, nuclear power definitely has its pros and cons, but it sure does end up
being the most reliable.
In conclusion, nuclear power is extremely similar to each alternative energy source
regarding its dangers and faults toward society. However, I believe it is the most efficient and
complementary source for the reasons I have described. I believe that nuclear power is the more
reliable, cheap, protective of the environment, and strong energy source. I know there are still
several provocative and unanswered questions continuing to propose new theories, but everyday
solutions are being reviewed and discussed. The human race will never entirely agree on a
source, so as of right now I believe that nuclear power is a thriving and well-fitting nuclear
source for our society. For our ozone layer to remain intact, it is our only reasonable option as of

right now. Our society has learned to adapt to nuclear power and will continue to sustain it until a
new and improved energy source is discovered or provided to us.

Works Cited
"Advantages Of Nuclear Energy." ConserveEnergyFuture. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
- explains the advantages of nuclear power
Brain, Marshall, and Robert Lamb. HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 19 Nov.
2014.
- talked about the pros & cons of nuclear power and where the waste is stored
Quinlan, Heather. HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
- explained the safety of nuclear power

"Solar Panels and Home Energy Efficiency - Energy Informative." Energy Informative. N.p.,
n.d.
Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
- talked about the alternate energy sources being used today