Nuclear energy and energy alternatives?

Question

obviously, the world needs a new source of energy. what do you think about nuclear power? keep in mind that:

three-mile island was a nuclear power plant malfunction almost 30 years ago. it was an operating error- the plant itself did not fail. no people were hurt and the environment wasnt damaged either.

the chance of an attack on a nuclear power plant is (literally) 1 in 1,000,000.

*even if this did happen, the goverment provides nearby residents with pills that protect them from the radiation they would be exposed to

solar energy costs up to 11 times what fossil fuel does, and will be destroyed in snowstorms, hail storms, tornados, etc.

wind power blocks beautiful views, is extremely costly, and takes up lots of space. it kills almost 2 BILLION birds a year!

Answer 1

The only problem is what do you do with all the spent fuel rods. There is no way to dispose of them & they remain hot for millions of years.

Answer 2

Nothing wrong with nuclear except people run the reactors.   Like you said, it was an operational error.   The pills protect people from fallout hundreds of miles away where it is very dispersed, not right up next to the reactor.   Terrorist attacks are a mute point; they're just thrown in to scare people into voting for such and such group that says they'll protect us.   Solar voltaic power costs at least 11 times as much as fossil fuels but I was reading a 1989 popular mechanics magazine last week that had a cell phone for sale that was the size of a large wallet and cost $2995; they give the things away now.    I think windmills look much better than houses that block beautiful views.   It costs less than natural gas if they are built in the right locations and are very reliable.   The 5 megawatt turbines take up as much room as a small car since most of it is hundreds of feet in the air.    Cars, cats and building windows each kill almost 1000 times as many birds as wind turbines, so I'd guess your number is off greatly.

Answer 3

You are on the wright road my friend,I work at a coal fired power plant,and you are wright,Nuclear power needs to be the future,america is falling behind other countries in building new nuclear plants.

Answer 4

It takes a lot of time and money to build a nuclear power plant, and renewables like solar will be cost competetive without the numerous problems associated with nuclear power, such as:

* Byproduct of nuclear waste

* Increased production of enriched uranium which could be used in nuclear weapons if it fell into the wrong hands

* Constant threat (even if small) of a reactor meltdown

The smart thing to do would be to maintain our current nuclear power plants while building more renewable power stations.

Your claim that "wind power blocks beautiful views, is extremely costly, and takes up lots of space. it kills almost 2 BILLION birds a year" is simply incorrect.

"In the United States, cars and trucks wipe out millions of birds each year, while 100 million to 1 billion birds collide with windows. According to the 2001 National Wind Coordinating Committee study, “Avian Collisions with Wind Turbines: A Summary of Existing Studies and Comparisons to Other Sources of Avian Collision Mortality in the United States," these non-wind mortalities compare with 2.19 bird deaths per turbine per year. That's a long way from the sum mortality caused by the other sources."

Answer 5

Nuclear is the best source of energy! The left wing green whackos will never allow any more to be built though.No one in the U.S. has EVER died from a nuke plant.

Answer 6

Your first assumption is wrong. We do not need a new fuel source. The fossil fuel is recycling every day. It is the fossil plants not animal. Every year the plants live and store the C to produce oil ,gas,and coal. We need to be using the coal first as it is old enough it is starting to oxidize.

Answer 7

Nuclear Energy is the wave of the future! at least in the short/mid term. The possibility of a "hard" failure are slim to none, the only one being Chernobyl, which can be expected of a russian plant in east europe that's over capacity. 3 Mile Island was trivial, there was no threat, though the media reported a hydrogen bubble that didn't exist. and current safetly system eliminate the possibility of "The China Syndrome" what they where afraid about at 3 mile island. The Only obstacle is to find a place to put the waste.

Assuming good and safe engineering, a nuclear powerplant should have no safetly hazard, and they can be located out of the immediate area of population centers.

nuclear power can at least buy enough time until other power sources (wind, geothermal, biomass, solar, etc) become more advanced

Another area in terms of alternative energy that is not nearly talked about enough is increasing everyday efficiency. switching to led or compact flourecent light bulbs save tons of energy, as does efficient building design, And it SAVES MONEY the people who implement it

Nuclear power is safe, clean, and powerfull