Nuclear_Energy_Safe_

Nuclear Energy Safe' Are we any safer with nuclear energy today then we were on March 28, 1979' That is a big question to ask. Nuclear energy is a source of energy that has zero emissions to harm our planet. There are over 100 nuclear plants in the United States and no place to permanently store the waste. Is nuclear energy worth it or are we looking at another Three Mile Island in our future' Nuclear energy took a big hit back in 1979. Three Mile Island and later Chernobyl caused many people to look down on nuclear energy. People did not want to nuclear energy to use or to live near. Since Three Mile Island, nuclear energy has continued to grow and become a alternative to using up all our fossil fuels. Nuclear energy has become a lot safer and with over 3,000 shipments that total over 1.7 millions on our roads and highways since 1960, it has proven to be safe, (Staedter, 2010). Yet we must not think in terms of absolutes. These same plants that have a great safety record are also expanding the cooling ponds due to the increasing number of spent nuclear rods. With very little options to dispense of the nuclear waste, nuclear power plants are having to expand their ponds. With the ponds becoming increasingly over crowed, the chances of two spent nuclear rods coming into contact with each other increases. The Thinkquest website explains that two spent rods coming too close together can cause a nuclear chain reaction. We now have a possibility of repeating Three Mile Island a hundred times over. For this reason we must and should be worried. Over-crowding ponds are not the only concern. Leaking or “unauthorized release of radiation” is another concern. These “leaks” can happen and have happened like Vermont Yankee. As plants get older, corrosion starts to set in and possibilities like the ones in Vermont come to light. More regulations need to be established and outside monitoring agencies need to routinely check each and every plant still in operation. The United States and the World needs to find an answer to this question. What are we to do with nuclear waste' When it takes over a thousand years for the spent rods to be safe for humans to be around, it makes for a big problem in keeping them stored somewhere. This Nuclear Energy Safe' storage is going to need to increase with the amount of waste that can accumulate in that time frame. The option was to send the nuclear waste 1,500 feet under ground in Yucca Mountain. However, President Obama and his administration have made it very clear that Yucca Mountain is not an option. Yucca Mountain is located in Nevada and away from large populated cities. This is the case now, but what happens in a 500 years' Will there be more wildlife and humans in this area, an area that sits directly over a fault line' These are big concerns and ones that everyone should look at. The Thinkquest website and John Timmer both talk about repossessing the nuclear waste. The process that involves taking the spent nuclear rods and using some of the radioactive material as additional energy source. This process gives more energy and less waste. There are going to be problems with any solution looked at. We can only guess on what would happen in the next thousand years. Though we need to continue to make guess and come up with solutions to any possible or foreseen problem when dealing with nuclear waste. Nuclear energy is a good alternative source for us to use if the waste can be stored properly. Options like Yucca Mountain should only be used as short term solutions. Even President Obama has shown signs that Yucca Mountain is a bad idea as a permanent solution. Once the issues of the waste are solved, the problems of over-crowding cooling ponds will also go away. Making the dangers with those also lessen. The thing we can not forget is that if it can happen, at some point in time it will happen. Resources Danigelis, A. (Mar. 4, 2010) Nuclear Plant Put to the Test. Discover News Website. http:// news.discovery.com/tech/nuclear-plant-put-to-the-test.html Spencer, J., Loris, N. (Mar. 27, 2009) Three Mile Island and Chernobyl: What Went Wrong Nuclear Energy Safe' and Why Today’s Reactors Are Safe. The Heritage Foundation Website. http:// www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2009/03/Three-Mile-Island-and-Chernobyl-What- Went-Wrong-and-Why-Todays-Reactors-Are-Safe Staedter, T. (Mar. 17, 2010) Is Nuclear Energy Safe' Discover News Website. http:// news.discovery.com/tech/is-nuclear-energy-safe.html Timmer, J. (July 10, 2009) After Yucca Mountain: How to store US nuclear waste' Nobel Intent Website. http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/07/storing-nuclear-waste-after-yucca- mountain.ars http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/nuclear_waste_future/nuclear_waste_future.html Human Ecology CD.