With the creation of Nuclear weapons, potentially the worst thing that has happened to humanity in it's history, came something with a lot of potential to do good. Nuclear energy is both very clean and very efficient. However there have been many tragic accidents regarding Nuclear energy. Chernobyl is the most notable disaster, currently however we are in the middle of a potential disaster unfolding at Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Facility. Nuclear Energy is relatively safe and incredibly efficient and clean, however when tragedy strikes, it strikes hard.
Pripyat, the city most affected by the Chernobyl disaster, will potentially never be inhabited by humans again. That said there have only been 3 major accidents in the cumulative 14,500 years of nuclear reactor service in 33 countries. With nuclear power generating over 12.4% of the worlds energy I believe nuclear power can be safely and successfully implemented. First, older reactors need to be inspected and need to meet stringent modern requirements. Those that do not meet the requirements need to be decommissioned and replaced with more modern, safer reactors. Once this happens the dark past of nuclear energy will be behind humanity and only the incredibly bright future will be ahead.
Nuclear power's future is too bright to give up on it. Fusion Reactors are a possibility in the near future and will result in far safer reactors with virtually no chance of a meltdown, also day to day operations don't require the transportation of radioactive materials. There is also no long lasting radioactive waste. In President Obama's presentation of the 2014 budget Nuclear research was cut by 14.7%. I believe this is a big mistake. The less money that Nuclear research receives the longer we are stuck with unsafe reactors and nuclear waste plaguing generations to come.
The goals of nuclear energy need to be a complete transition to fusion power within the next 100 years. This would completely solve the worlds energy concerns for millions of years to come. This can be achieved by bring the brightest minds together to accelerate the process of creating a functioning fusion reactor. More money needs to be put towards fusion research in order to achieve this. However the investment is worth it as it results in safe, clean energy production for many many years to come.
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