Environmentalists+Per+5-6


 * __ ENVIRONMENTALISTS __**

=__Pros of Nuclear Energy:__=

__It’s more cost efficient in the long run__
We understand that to build a nuclear power plant is very expensive but in the long run coal costs much more. __**One plant creates a big amount of energy**__ One nuclear reactor creates enough energy to power one million homes.

__**It emits relatively low amounts of CO2**__
A nuclear reactor will only give off 2% CO2 whereas coal gives off 5,685 pounds per short ton of coal.

__**No green house gases are emitted**__
Without the emission of green house gases there is no threat to the ozone and no contribution to global warming. =__Cons of Nuclear Energy:__=

__Waste__
The waste given off is extremely dangerous and has to be looked after for 10,000 years. It’s stored underground in large concrete contains but after so many years the radioactivity will corrode through the contain and could contaminate our soil and our air. Before this waste is put underground it has to be stored underwater for 10 years to cool. This is dangerous because if the radioactivity corrodes through it will contaminate the body of water it’s in and harm any animals in that body of water as well. The problem of waste disposal actually limit’s the amount of nuclear energy that can be used per year because storage facilities for nuclear waste are not sufficient enough to store the world’s nuclear waste hence limiting the amounts of nuclear fuel that can be produced per year.



__**High Security Risks**__
No building can be built so it’s completely secure. There will always be the risk of someone getting in and building more plants is just increasing the odds. Not only are there security risks of someone breaking in and stealing highly radioactive material but there are also risks of terrorist attacks. If they know a location of nuclear power plant that’s not too far away for a city they could decide to bomb it which will kill and injure many people. There is also always the possibility of a meltdown which can be deadly.



__**Limited Resources**__
Although nuclear power may be more cost efficient in the long run it won’t be around long enough to do us very much good. Uranium is not a renewable resource. Depending on demand it will only last between another 30-60 years. If we build more plants it will shorten our supplies even faster. There are many other sources of energy that are renewable like hydroelectricity, wind power, and solar energy.

__**Exposure to Harmful Radiation**__
Exposure to radiation can have many harmful effects on people, animals, and the environment in general. For radiation sickness to occur you must take in 200 rems of radiation at once. The average human takes in about 200 millirems per year. If all our power can from nuclear power plants our intake would increase by two-tenths of a millirem. The problem this cause is that if this little bit of radiation were to cause a genetic mutation it wouldn’t be able to be traced because any amount below 50 rems is nearly untraceable. An alteration of DNA occurs when ionization happens. This is when a high energy carrying particle or photon removes an electron within an atom’s nucleus from it’s orbit, hence changing the properties of the atom. If ionization happens in significantly large amounts this can result in permanent damage of tissue.

__**Efficient?**__
Yes. Nuclear energy is efficient but so are many other forms of energy. Actually any source of energy can be efficient as long as you use it efficiently. It’s not what form of energy we use it’s how we use it. If we were to continue to use oil, coal, and gas we could make it more efficient by finding ways of using it efficiently. Such as walking or car pooling instead of taking a car. So if efficiency is what you want we already have it each person just needs to take personal responsibility for how they use their energy sources.

__**Examples of Nuclear Plant Failures:**__ Chernobyl in Europe

1. The explosion occured in April 26,1986. The disaster occurred when reactor # 4 at the plant, near the town of Pripyat, during an unauthorized systems test. A sudden power output surge took place, and when an attempt was made at emergency shutdown, a more extreme spike in power output occurred which led to a reactor vessel rupture and a series of explosions.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS - Consequent fires that lasted for 10 days, led to huge amounts of radioactive materials being released into the environment and a radioactive cloud spreading over much of Europe -Since the accident, some 600 000 people have been involved in emergency, containment, cleaning, and recovery operations, although only few of them have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Those who received the highest doses of radiation were the emergency workers and personnel that were on-site during the first days of the accident

The second major plume of radiation released by the accident was carried directly over the "Red Forest." Radioactive particles settled on trees, killing approximately 400 hectares (or over 980 acres) of pine forest The Red Forest is now one of the most contaminated habitats on earth. The highly radioactive plume killed most of the Scotch Pines in the area
 * Redwood Forest**