Pros And Cons Of North Carolina Nuclear Energy

After researching and studying several types of energy and thinking about North Carolina, it seem that the best option for North Carolina is nuclear energy for many reasons. There are pros and cons for nuclear energy. However, all of the energy sourced that were researched had pros and cons. Nuclear energy is already being used successfully in North Carolina. Also, it provides almost 32% of the state’s energy already. It is also a fairly clean energy source. This is especially important since many counties in North Carolina the Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly reported that several counties in North Carolina have poor air quality and pollution. There are no energy sources that are completely clean. Nuclear energy is clean in
some ways and does not deplete fossil fuels which are not renewable. Therefore, it is very important that North Carolina become less dependent in using the fossil fuels as out energy sources. However, it does require uranium. The uranium has to be shipped in and then there is the issue of nuclear waste which is radioactive. However, when compared to the burning of fossil fuels, nuclear energy is more renewable and safer for the environment. Other issue when choosing the best energy source for North Carolina is cost. Nuclear power plants are actually a cheaper option. They produce more kilowatts than wind, solar or coals for less money. There is also research that shows that nuclear energy is good for North Carolina’s economy. This is because it produces many jobs in order to build, support and run the nuclear power plants. However, the nuclear energy plants do cost more in the beginning to build. However, once they are built it is a much cheaper source of energy for North Carolina. The only drawback in the cost of dealing with the radioactive waste from the uranium needed to produce the nuclear energy. It is also important to look at the safety of nuclear power plants for energy. It the past there were nuclear disasters such as 3 mile island where a nuclear reactor almost melted down and then there is the Chernobyl accident where many were killed. However, that was in 1986, now with modern nuclear plants there are many more safety features. Now with nuclear power plants many say they are completely safe and even much safer than coal plants. For instance in modern nuclear power plants, the reactors have concrete walls that are four feet thick for safety. There is also the issue of health safety around nuclear power plants. Since radiation does cause cancer this is a serious concern and has been researched in great detail. The good news is that these studies have found that there is not a significant increase in cancer rates with people who live close to nuclear power plants. This shows that modern nuclear power plants are safe for health related to cancer and other illnesses when they are operating correctly. Nuclear power plants if used more in North Carolina can also impact global warming.
Nuclear power plants do not release harmful carbon dioxide into the environment like the fossil fuels that are mostly used. Therefore, it can actually help with the problem of global warming around the world and even here. Nuclear power plants are also considered more reliable since they do not depend on the wind or the sun in order to produce energy. This means that nuclear energy can provide a more reliable base load of energy even when the demand for energy is very high like during the summer months when everyone is using their air conditioners. In North Carolina currently, nuclear power plants produce 90 percent of the state’s emissions free power already. So if we expand nuclear power plants that makes a lot of sense for North Carolina. North Carolina already has 5 nuclear power plants making us a major producer of nuclear power compared to other states. North Carolina also ranked fifth in 2011 in producing nuclear energy. North Carolina was responsible for 5.1 percent of the nuclear energy generated in the United States. However, most of North Carolina’s energy is still coming from the use of coal which is a fossil
fuel. There are several challenges to nuclear energy in North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association those challenges are the waste product from nuclear energy, uranium, is radioactive. The next is the long term risk to the environment of contamination from the radioactive wastes. Finally, it is expensive to build new nuclear power plants and they cannot be built very quickly. Also, it is important to know that uranium that is needed to produce energy in a nuclear power plant is not a renewable source. However, even with all of the pros and cons, it seems that nuclear energy would be the best option for North Carolina. This is based on cost, impact on the environment and that is would make us less dependent of fossil fuels. North Carolina is also already using nuclear energy safely in several areas. That should be expanded as the need for energy increases.