Nuclear Energy As the population in the world is getting larger, the demand of energy is getting higher. With advanced technology today, people started to use nuclear energy in their lives instead of using other natural resources to generate power. When we are sitting in our home, enjoying the benefit from using nuclear energy, have we thought about the disadvantage and the effect on different aspect of using nuclear power? Have we thought that the problems are not only about ourselves but also our children, our country and even the world?
Using nuclear energy has been a controversial problem for many years, because there are a lot of issues come along when we are using nuclear. The ideas of “reducing carbon emissions”, “energy crisis” and “sustainable energy” may already be planted into our mind deeply, and we just know that the “only” disadvantage of nuclear power are unsafe and unclean. Therefore we are blind by these small part of truth. The fact is there are much more than that. When we think about nuclear energy, the question everyone should think about is does nuclear energy derived from our energy needs? We have been taught that we need nuclear energy, but do we really need it? When we understand the risk of nuclear power, we will know that the cost we need to pay is much more than we can imagine and we may be unable to afford it. There are three main issues of nuclear energy that we should be aware of. The first issue which the world pays the most attention to is about accidents and safety, that is what people are terrified of. The other two issues are sequels of nuclear energy use and misusing of nuclear power. After we know the issues and the fact about nuclear power, we will know that nuclear energy is a crisis instead of hope, and it is unnecessary for us. We should not use nuclear power because it will harm the earth our living place, our heath and our children, also bring the economics burden to the countries and trepidation to the world. The discovery of nuclear energy happened when the world started to seek to generate power by using radioactive elements in the early 20th century. In 1956, the first nuclear power station, Calder Hall was opened in Sellafield England. After the first nuclear power plant was built, many of nuclear stations were built in different countries gradually. The consequences with that are more and more nuclear accidents in the world. And using nuclear power became the hottest issue about.
Nuclear energy is very different from other energies. The fusion of nuclear can produce a large amount of energy, is a very efficient way to generate power. But there have a great risk belong with that, because nuclear is a radioactive element, very different than other energy, it will emit powerful radiation that is deadly for humans. That is why people are against the government build nuclear plants nearby their living place, also because they know that if the nuclear plant has an accident, they cannot escape from it. We have seen many great disasters of nuclear stations, and it causes so many deaths. One of the most well-known nuclear disasters is the Chernobyl disaster. It happened on 26 April 1986. Reactor four exploded because its catastrophic power increased. It caused a large amount of radioactive fuel and core materials to be dispersed into the air. Around 4000 civilian deaths, not including the cleanup workers were reported by World Health Organization. The scientists from TORCH Report estimated that there will have been 30000 to 60000 deaths for cancer because of the Chernobyl disaster. After the disaster, the areas that extend 19 miles was called the “zone of alienation.” Except for the few residents who refused to leave, basically no one lives there anymore. Ukrainian officials estimate that the area won’t be safe for humans for the next 20000 years. It also indirectly infected the radiation into the body by the water and the food we may eat in daily life. David J. Brenner,