Nuclear Energy Now and in the Future by Sarah Klass '07

Over the past couple of centuries, people have been dependent on fossil fuels to provide energy for cars, homes, buildings, grills, and many other things. For a while, things were going great; everyone was getting the power they needed and paying a reasonable price.

Recently though, our relationship the use of these fossil fuels is souring; the prices are rising due to the dwindling quantities, the environment is beginning to rebel from all the pollution, and international conflicts are gaining even more tensions.

One possible resolution to this problem is an alternative source, nuclear power. Nuclear power has been around for a while now, but it was never taken seriously as a possibility until recently. Though, the idea of using nuclear power the way we use fossil fuels now is unthinkable to many people for reasons like 3 Mile Island, World War 2, and loveable characters like Homer Simpson, who’s job at the Springfield nuclear power plant give such places a very negative image.

The first incident that made people conscious of nuclear power was the incident at 3 Mile Island in 1979. This nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania experienced huge mechanical failures, which led to radiation spread to the surrounding areas. Thankfully, no one was killed and the amount of radiation that was leaked was minimal. This incident, though not catastrophic, scarred many people to the idea of relaying on nuclear power.

Though not in the United States, the incident at theChernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986 is another huge deal breaker for people looking into nuclear power. In this occurrence, the plant actually exploded and exposed thousands of people to large quantities of radiation. Over three thousand people had to be relocated all over Eastern Europe. The death toll for this awful happening was under 200, but the effects of the radiation exposure are still prevalent, thousands of children in the area have developed thyroid cancer even as recently as 2002.

Another reason why nuclear energy is so unpopular as an alternative to fossil fuels is its association with weapons and terrorism. Since the nuclear bombs of World War II, the issues of the Cold War, and the threat of nuclear bombs/technology being in the possession of our enemies in the Middle East and North Korea today, the fear of nuclear war is ubiquitous among most people in the world. Having nuclear power become so popular could only mean a shift towards more nuclear things in all areas particularly more nuclear weapons.

All of these issues discussed are legitimate reasons to look poorly upon nuclear energy. The types of highly explosive, dangerous, and possibly deadly reactions that occur in a nuclear power plant are hard to comprehend as possibilities for energy, but with the way the environment is heading and the amount of remaining fossil fuels has forced us to start thinking nuclear.