Term 2 Week 4 (Weekend Assignment)

18 April 2011

Term 2 Week 4 (Weekend Assignment)

You have read about the nuclear crisis in Japan; you have also probably read about the nuclear crisis that happened in Chernobyl in 1985.

Does nuclear energy still have a part to play in the world?

Write a response of about 250 words in length. Post it on your blog.

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 Deadline: 18 April 2011 (Monday)

           

              

                Nuclear energy definitely has a part to play in this energy-based world. We mostly depend on fossil fuels for a majority of the earth’s energy. However, fossil fuel and coal is limited on our earth. If we continue to burn fossil fuels and coal, one day they would all run out. Though hydroelectric energy and solar energy is an alternate source for renewable energy, they are not constant unlike nuclear energy which has been for 40 years.

                With the recent incident in Japan in which the Fukushima Dai-Chi Power Plant exploded due to the earthquake and the tsunami definitely has once again started the debate whether nuclear energy is more harmful then good to the world that we are living in. In the case of the nuclear plant incident in Japan, radioactive substances such as radioactive iodine and cesium are being leaked all over the world. Though radioactive iodine those not last long in the environment, it may cause typhoid cancer if absorbed by typhoid gland.On the other hand, radioactive cesium will remain in our environment for a longer period of time.

                However in Chernobyl in the year 1986 the cause of the earthquake was due to a sudden surge in output which caused an explosion. The explosion caused released large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere, which spread over to Western Russia and Europe. The Chernobyl disaster was considered by many as the worst nuclear power plant accident in all history. The explosion cause the people living nearby to evacuated. An example of this incident is the city of Pripyat, after the evacuation, the town was left deserted till now.

In conclusion, I think that nuclear energy has its own advantages, however we should not bank on it as an alternate source unless we can have a fool-proof method of preventing any disastrous accidents. Therefore, I think that nuclear energy should not play a part in the current world due to its many risks, but I do not rule out the possibility of it becoming an alternate source in the future.