Why hasnt america utilized nuclear energy?

Question

they are the cleanest way to make energy...... japan has them........europe has them........america doesnt have a lot of them

Answer 1

locally for me, most of my town's power comes from a near by nuclear power plant, but it is quite scary living by one especially during the hurricanes. but i have to say, there has never been a major problem with them. But i also know that one of the greatest concerns is having something either flown or another way to blow them up my terrorists. which i can see as a valid concern. We do not want another Chernobyl, Russia. but i do agree with you nuclear power is a smart alternative energy and is should be used, but the only down side it creates waste that is radio active.

Also another fact to consider is the cost of a reactor, millions to billions. some states may not have that in the budget.

Answer 2

Three Mile Island has a lot to do with it.  After TMI's accident, the US virtually halted all new nuclear power plant construction.  We didn't have a new plant completed for nearly two decades.  It wasn't until the early 90s we opened new ones (6 between 1990 and 1996).  Although, the one in 1996 is still our most recent.

Answer 3

we only generate about 20% of our energy from nuclear be cause our legal system makes it cheap & easy for the anti nuclear environmentalists to stop the construction of plants.

in addition liberal politicians (starting with president Carter in the 70s) are opposed to nuclear energy & pass new & constantly changing regulations to prevent the construction of such facilities. whenever they are in power.

in the U.S. the legal preparations & environmental compliance proposals for a nuke plant cost MORE & take more years to complete than the actual construction of the plant itself.

after the plant is constructed any special interest group can prevent it from going into operation with legal challenges.

no one wants to invest the money necessary to build such a plant when all the regulations concerning its operation may be changed after any election cycle because of petty politics.

Answer 4

because environmentalists are stupid and are to emotional.

Answer 5

Three mile island had a lot to do with it.

Answer 6

There are several reasons:

1) Nuclear technology is extremely expensive to develop and maintain.

2) The United States has a great abundance of natural resources that are cheaper to harvest and exploit: coal, natural gas, oil, wind and hydro. And, compared to nuclear energy, all of these are more energy efficient (that is, they will output more power than it takes to harvest them).

3) There is an ever-present fear of a nuclear accident happening, such as Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, even though these are isolated incidents that will most likely never be able to occur again.

4) Constant battles between environmentalists, NIMBAs ("Not  in My Back Yard"), and government agencies have not only discouraged the further development of building and operating nuclear power plants, but there is almost no infrastructure on how to deal with the nuclear waste properly.

Answer 7

Because "It creates dangerous waste that harms the environment.  It doesn't matter how efficient and it is we will ban it omgomgomg"

One word.

Liberals.

Answer 8

American voters are hella scared. Too bad.

Answer 9

Bear, Tiger, Loin oh my!! look at nuclear explode!!

that why

Answer 10

There are two main reason:

The Nuclear Waste

               &

Possible Meltdown

Chernobyl is a great example of why the public is afraid of nuclear power plants, and right now with our government we aren't exactly very trusting of federal employees.

Also the nuclear waste is a very large problem, although probably much less of a hazard than todays current level of pollution. Nuclear waste takes thousands of years to deteriorate and obviously there are only so many places you can store hazardous radioactive material.

Answer 11

cus they they are ******* busy helping irag i would say that we just throw a nuclear bomb on al queda and its over they are wasting over billions of dollars just gettign there it takes them days and then al queda is gon

(excuse my language)

Answer 12

Because of environmentalist morons who think its unsafe.

Answer 13

Because America is not ran by voters its ran by oil companies and Bush which owns oil companies so we need someone in office that has no ownership in oil companies

Answer 14

irrational fear

Answer 15

North America (US and Canada) are only slightly behind Western Europe in the total amount of electricity generated by nuclear.   Of course we use so much electricity a much smaller percentage of total electricity generation comes from nuclear.

As stated by so many others here, while nuclear has the advantage of not producing CO2 or other air borne pollutants, nuclear power plants create highly radioactive spent fuel.  This will be radioactive for tens of thousands of years and we don't know what to do with it.  Right now it sits in temporary pools at the reactor.  The plan is to bury the US waste in a salt mine in Nevada, although the folks in Nevada don't like that idea very much.

Three Mile Island and Chernobyl also raise the spector of accidental radiation release due to accident or terrorist attack, although next generation plants promise to be much safer.

Perhaps the best hope is the next generation of higher efficiency solar power generation that can lead us to highly distributed power generation - a solar panel on every house.

Answer 16

WE DO!

There are nuclear power stations all over the U.S. We get between 10%  and  20% percent of our electricity from nuclear power.

We should have many more but the people who oppose it aren't rational. They are VERY VOCAL, however.

Answer 17

becuz in america if we hade nuclear energy we will make bombs becuz so we run are energy useing charcocl

Answer 18

Nuclear energy is not the cleanest form of energy.  Solar, wind and hydro are.  

What about the waste that is left over after the nuclear fuel is spent?  Do you want it stored in your back yard?  Not mine.

Answer 19

The mushroom cloud interferes with my home value.

Answer 20

Many people don't feel as you do in there over the years it has become safer and more efficient .

Answer 21

Environmentalists and fear over Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.