Farmers+Per+5-6

=__**Farmers, block 5,6**__= __Intro__ ====We are the farmers and we are very much against bringing a nuclear power plant to Council Bluffs. We have many reasons for this such as the lives of our animals, crops, the pollution in the air, and it could be a __GREAT__ target for a terrorist attack! Yes we may receive more money for our land but have you ever seen a mutated cow before? Do u really want to??? Well of corse not! But with the help of a nuclear power plant you might just get to see one.We fear for our crops beacuse they will absorb radiation in the soil that could effect us. Even if they put the waste underground it takes years for radiation to decay! Also if we put one in imagine what you could be breathing in. Look at the picture, doesn't that explain alot!?! And if you were a terrorist wouldn't you want to hit a **NUCLEAR** power plant?? Yes, there are many pros and cons to having a power plant in Council Bluffs but we feel it not necessary. One pro would be money for our land and a con would be for tax payers: Tax payers wil be paying for maintenance, safety, and the waste of everything/everyone in the plants! My fellow farmers and I believe we should use solar,wind or some other alternative energy instead. Cleaner air, no terrorist attack to worry about, our crops and animals will be fine.==== =**__Pros and Cons__**=

**PROS:**

 * ====Nuclear reactor sites produce little to no carbon emissions====
 * ====Cheaper energy====
 * ====The technology for nuclear reactors have already been developed====

**CONS:**

 * ====It takes $3-5 billion just for construction, about 20-30 years to design, construct, and begin operation of a nuclear reactor====
 * ==== the average life of a nuclear site is 30-40 years and since they cost so much, site life is looking to be extended and the only way to extend the life of a nuclear reactor site is to replace most or all of the equipment ====
 * ==== Uranium is only going to be around for 30-60 years unless there is some unknown deposit we have yet to find ====
 * ====Uranium becomes unstable during nuclear fission and begins to emit radioactive waves====
 * ====The radiation caused by nuclear fission can remain radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years since Uranium’s half life is 25,000 years.====
 * ====There is no real way to dispose of the spent fuel====
 * ====The disposal land can become contaminated and that would then contaminate whatever is around, including crops, water, and whoever uses these lands.====
 * ====The effects of Radiation may cause serious illness or even death====
 * ====Transportation of the spent fuel is especially dangerous because if terrorist decide to attack and capture the trucks transporting the spent fuel, they have basically a dirty "atomic bomb" at their disposal====

Areas Surrounding nuclear sites have shown up to 400% increases in diseases linked to radiation (cancer, stillborns, genetic mutations, and in some cases, degenerative diseases )


====A fatal accident at Three Mile Island occurred in 1979 due to a malfunctioning pump and valve, in combination with multiple operational errors. Millions of curies (3.7 X 1010 disintegrations per second ) of radiation were released during the incident.==== ====In 1986, a design flaw caused the coolant to increase the power output from the fission process which destroyed the reactor and started a fire. In result with the fire and radiation given off, 56 people have died so far in close association to Chernobyl and more then 6,000 of the 130,000 that were exposed to radiation have died due to the release of radiation which isn’t surprising because after the first couple days of the incident, radiation levels were 2,000 times higher then they should have been.====

=**__Effects On Our Environment__**=

=__**Effects On Our Animals**__=


 * ==== If animals get overexposure to radiation it can alter their DNA by ionizing the effect it brings and it can permanently damage the animal's tissues. ====
 * ==== If the animals were to eat something that had radiation in it then that would mean that it gets into their system and if they were pregnant it would affect their offspring. ====
 * ==== What if our animals had radiation in their system and we got meat or milk from them what would happen? ====
 * ==== We would then become sick because the radiation would be in our system because it got passed from theirs to our by simply drinking some milk from a cow or eating an egg. ====
 * ==== also some things that will effect us are gamma rays found in Cs-137 which can be considered a very serious type of radiation and very dangerous for animals and also the human body. ====
 * ==== If a pregnant woman has radiation in her system it will then be passed off the offspring and it will cause them to have permanent brain damge due to the radiation bring passed down to them ====
 * as you can see radiation can do a lot not only to animals but to humans as well

=**__Conclusion __**=

====**Designing a new nuclear reactor would not be a good idea in any region, though the energy produced is cheaper than that of coal it won’t be once most of the uranium is used, supply is low and demand is high. With the supply of uranium declining at a rapid pace there will be no more uranium to keep these reactors open and a large quantity of radioactive waste with nowhere to put it. The cons clearly outweigh the pros in every way, and the effects that this would have on our beautiful environment and our livestock that we make our living off of would be devastating. I agree that we need to find an alternative solution to producing energy, but I don’t think nuclear reactors are the way to do it. I’m no scientist, but would you really want to put your future and your children’s future in jeopardy? There are many alternatives to coal or oil for energy such as solar energy, more energy in the form of sunlight falls on the earth in one hour than the entire world uses in one year! If we could find a way to harness some of that energy we could eliminate the need for these other forms of producing energy, the downfall of solar energy is overcast days or during night when there is no sun to harvest its energy, but if we can develop a charging system to store unused energy for these rainy days we can overcome the boundaries of solar power. Geothermal energy could also be a solution, using the same principals of nuclear energy, geothermal power plants use the earth’s heat from the mantle to reach waters flash point to harvest energy. Wind energy can be used as an aid to reducing the energy consumed, the reason it is simply an aid is because you can’t control the wind, and on days when the wind is not very strong the wind turbines are simply a waste of space even though they don’t take up near as much room as nuclear reactors do. Remember, there are more choices than coal, oil, and nuclear energy, it is not all cut and dry, and I believe that with a combination of many different forms for producing energy we can reduce emissions, and become a cleaner planet for everyone to share. **====



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