Need to Build More Reactors in the United Utates (Essay Sample)

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NEED TO BUILD MORE REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES
Introduction
Joe Barton once said, "No one in the United States has become seriously ill or has died because of any accident at a civilian nuclear power plant”. More nuclear power plants are not just economically beneficial; it is a moral responsibility to ensure an environmentally friendly source of energy. Global warming and climate change are some environmental concerns that most countries all over the world are struggling to manage. One of the best strategies towards the management of climate change is to reduce the amount of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Construction of more nuclear reactors and using them as sources of energy has proved to be one of the most convenient ways of managing global warming in the United States. Energy from nuclear reactors is clean, affordable and environmentally friendly and therefore, building more reactors poses no harm to the Americas citizens.
Need for More Reactors
The America’s growing population has caused a major growth of demand for energy and electricity. One of the major ways to counter this problem is to explore other sources of energy since other sources like hydroelectric power are already overstretched (Chu and Majumdar). Nuclear reactors, though not fully exploited have withstood the tests of reliability, safety and affordability. In term reliability, nuclear energy is produced from the radioactive Uranium, which exists in abundance, since the world reserves of uranium have the ability to supply energy for the whole world’s population for about 2 million years if properly managed (Daniel, Keller and Rosenthal).
Abraham Lincoln once said that the destruction of America will never come from outside. Failure to build more nuclear plants because of the dangers associated with the wastes is like destroying America. The advantages of nuclear energy outweigh the manageable risks which accompany it. If the government constructs more nuclear power plants, more electricity would be available for use by the America’s citizens. As a consequence, the fossil fuels are saved, and environmental degradation reduced at the same time. As compared to other sources of power, for example, coal, one nuclear power plant can serve about nine hundred thousand homes as one coal plant serve almost a third of the same number of homes. Again, when comparing these two sources regarding hazardous waste versus the amount and reliability of electricity produced, nuclear reactors produce about a cubic meter of the total and three times the amount of electricity generated by coal power plants (Moniz).
At the moment, better ways of coping up with the challenge of global warming are being sought by countries all over the world, building more nuclear reactor plants would put America a step ahead of the other states. The gradual climate change in the world has been proved to be a consequence of the accumulation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Daniel). Production of carbon-free energy is a step in ensuring that the accumulation of greenhouse gases reduces to a minimum. Compared to hydropower, nuclear power does not affect the lives of aquatic animals whatsoever. Also, construction of hydropower dams has forced people to migrate to other places to create space for the construction of power dams, a fact that has caused inconvenience as people are compelled to look for new places of residence; in contrast building of nuclear plants requires smaller space. Solar and wind sources are almost incomparable to nuclear energy as they produce a very limited amount of power. The environment is one the important aspect of life, if not well protected from the exploitation of poor ways to generate electricity, then many people may not be able to live long enough to see their offspring. One of the best steps is ensuring the use of an eco-friendly source of energy such as the construction of more nuclear power plants.
Some people argue that nuclear power plants are dangerous, but this is not true. Every source of energy is dangerous when poorly handled, and, therefore, this should not be a barrier to construction of more nuclear power plants. People have been as close as 100 meters to the core, but no casualties have ever been registered (Jasper), neither do we have others suffer from cancer because they visited a reactor plant. It is all about proper management and handling of nuclear wastes. For sure, the responsibility that management of harmful waste in a nuclear power plant comes with is taken by the government of the day. Production of electricity from nuclear reactors is, therefore, one of the safest energy harnessing methods.
The process of building a nuclear reactor plant in itself is a vehicle for economic development. Planning, construction and operations of a power plant, led to the creation of about 2000 well-paying jobs (Wiebe, Hughes and Pinch). Such jobs require both unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled manpower. Besides the jobs, revenues are also collected for both the construction materials and taxation of the income, this is indeed an economic engine. With the population growth rate of about 30% per year, construction of more power plant would play a massive role in ensuring that America is an energy independent nation. High capital costs usually accompany nuclear reactors, however, through technological advancement, new capital friendly reactors called small modular reactors (SMRs) are in their development stages to address this (Moniz). The smaller reactors can produce up to three hundred megawatts. What is more, the SMRs can be can be built in a factory and then transported to the fields for installation.
Conclusion
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