Nuclear Power Plants...your opinion?

Question

I have just read a book about all the terrifying things that have happened at power plants. Obviously, I know that the potential cause is good: energy and cheap energy. But what about all the consequences? It seems to me that radioactive particles are pretty much all over the world by now---and certainly in the USA. That is really pretty scarey to me...how much more can the earth take with power plant mistakes?

What's your opinion about this. Serious answers only!

Answer 1

i think nuclear power is the best source of power we got nowadays. It does not produce any green house gases nor add any harmful chemicals to the atmosphere. Coal produces alot of CO2 which causes global warming and hydrogen sufide which causes acid rain. The only thing nuclear power plants release to the air is steam. All nuclear wastes are solid and does not leak as you see in the movies. There's no glowing green liquid that will mutate you.

The books you read about nuclear power are very bias. In all of history, there has only been 2 nuclear power accidents. One is Chernobyl, Russia which does not have the same high standards as here in the USA, and the other was in 3 mile island new york. The 3 mile island was an over exaggerated story. The only thing that really happened was somebody dropped some fuel on the ground which was made into a whole news propaganda against nuclear power by the hippies. As for the other over 1 hundred nuclear power plants across the USA, it was operating perfectly for the last 40 years without incident.

Did you know you get more radiation from a digital wrist watch in a year than living right next door to a nuclear power plant? The safety standards in the USA is very strict. The reactors are built so thick and strong that a commercial airplane and crash directly into it and it still wont crack. We have the storage room for the spent fuel pellets for the next 1000 years buried deep inside the mountain.

So for my take on nuclear energy? I think its the best we got for now! What about solar, wind and the rest of the alternative fuel? First of all its very expensive. Solar energy is fine and dandy but it cost 5 times as much as energy from coal. How would you like a 500 dollar energy bill every month instead of 100 dollars?

Answer 2

I think nuclear power will be the energy source of the future, simply because we will run out of fossil fuels. However, nuclear energy is not cheap. There are two primary issues with nuclear power. The first is safe containment of the radiation produced in the fission process. This is safely managed today by adequate shielding.

The second issue is "what to do with the waste?" Recycling is a partial solution in that some fissionable material can be recovered and recycled. But it is messy to recycle, and everything that comes into contact with the fission products becomes contaminated. The half life of some of these products is over a million years.

Safe disposal can be implemented in certain geologic areas. The problem then is how to safely transport the waste radiactive material. The most common practice in US industry today is to simply store the material in ponds on site. This imposes security issues as well as the unresolved issue of transportation.

Having said all that. I still maintain, that when the lights begin to go out due to lack of oil, nuclear power will become more prevalent.

Answer 3

I think everyone above me covered the safety issues pretty well. I've spent over 9 years on nuclear powered submarines, where the furthest I could get away from the reactor is a couple hundred feet. I've gotten less harmful radiation than someone else nowhere near a reactor, because of the amount we get everyday from the sun. A bannana has more radiation than what a person would get from a nuclear reactor right next to there house.

Answer 4

IFF we can manage it properly (operative word, PROPERLY) it is a significant & viable resource... I would hope that one day, we will have "fusion reactors" that lessen the chance of toxic, radioactive waste becoming a lasting legasy from all this.

Alternative energies like hydro, solar, wind, thermal, etc. should continue to be explored and developed, as humanity's energies cannot hope to be satisfied via one source... at least at this point in time... and it's always desirable to have a "plan B" for backup>

Nuclear power plants simply need more failsafes & redundancies built-into the system... prudent measures are how we stop future accident from happening (period.).

Answer 5

How many accidents have occurred where people actually died from radiation? There was a dramatic event in Russia. But other than that, most of the nuclear power plants have run with relatively few problems. I think most of the scare is in the nuclear POTENTIAL.

I'm amused by the number of people worrying about radiation that think nothing of exposing themselves to ultraviolet radiation to give themselves a suntan.

Answer 6

Actually if you think about it, it is much cleaner than most of the other things out there. Think of how much oil or coal a power plant burns, and how much deadly smoke that releases into the air. Although radiation is scary they end up with a lot less waste than other forms of energy create. Personally I think that they just have a bad wrap.

Answer 7

I'm 100% for having them. It's a very efficient fuel source. As for the danger, if it is managed properly, there isn't any. All of those problems you read about were caused by human error.