Eugene Robinson, author of “No Fail-Safe Option”, writes during the recent destruction of the Fukushima power plant, cautioning the use of nuclear power, and touching on the Chernobyl incident. He claims that the idea of nuclear energy, in spite of its benefits, is not worth the destruction and damage it could potentially cause.…
Richard A. Muller, an awardee of the MacArthur Fellowship and physics professor at UC Berkley, states in his 2008 essay “Nuclear Waste”, that Americans and the rest of the world are overly concerned with radioactive debris and the possibility of nuclear contamination. Muller first brings to light the most common fears of storing nuclear waste; volcanic activity in the Yucca Mountains, the area where the waste is stored, and the possibility of radioactive particles contaminating the water supply. Muller then goes on to entertain opposing viewpoints on how the waste should be disposed of. Muller then goes on to support his own claim by providing statistical data and explanations of radioactive…
Radioactive fallout eventually settles to earth and may contaminate land, water, and the food we eat.…
1. Is it safe to let Yucca Mountain store the nation's nuclear waste? Full credit will not be awarded to students who provide only their opinions. Cite references using the APA format.…
During the early 1900s, newly discovered radium was quite popular. People were awed by its mysterious properties rather than it lethal affects. Many uses were found for its luminescence when mixed with a phosphor. Initially, radium was widespread among everyday necessities such as toothpaste, hair tonic, ointments, elixir etc. Furthermore, radium was also one of the first cancer treatments; it was used as a radiation source. Limited quantities were implanted in tumors to eliminate cancerous cells; ironically, one of the reason radium was, for the most part, discontinued, was because it turned out to be a cancer carcinogen itself. Many people drank radium in hopes to…
Safe and permanent disposal of highly radioactive wastes in the United States has been sought after since radioactive materials first came about. In 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) created a procedure for establishing a lasting, underground repository for high-level radioactive waste. Congress assigned responsibility to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to site, construct, operate, and close a repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Ten sites were chosen by DOE for potential consideration and in 1987, Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada was selected as the lone site to be studied.…
In order to remain at the forefront of technological innovation and industrial prowess, the United States must become cognizant that the use of nuclear energy is by far the most efficient policy regarding the creation of power despite the possible risks. This is the belief of William Tucker, the author of the New York Times published article, “Why I Still Support Nuclear Power, Even after Fukushima”.…
The more nuclear power plants (and nuclear waste storage shelters) that are built, the higher is the probability of a disastrous failure somewhere in the world.…
After reading the story “The Radioactive Boy scout”, one could conclude that David Hahn messed with science an extraordinarily long amount of time and did not do so carefully. This action can and will lead to problems down the road. A young boy's love for science eventually turned into a dangerous set back in the life, restricting anything else to be allowed in it. This just proves to show, everything(especially radioactive activities and nuclear power) should be taken seriously and handled with…
This article impacts government as it brings to concern an investigation exposing the weaknesses of the government’s ability to prevent radioactive materials from falling into the wrong hands and brought to light the inherent risk of dirty bombs to be deployed in the United States. Likewise, the article is relevant because it illustrates that the federal and state governments should review their laws and regulation involving radioactive materials and make the needed change to maintain safety and security in the United…
Radium Girls was a chemical disaster that happened during the 1920’s. Women in watch making were being exposed to Radium all the time. These women worked painting wristwatches, and in order to get a fine point on their paintbrush they licked the brush, therefore swallowing the paint. Some of them also painted their teeth and nails with this paint since they were told that it wasn’t harmful. The paint had Radium in it, therefore exposing them to Radium.…
Darius spent his entire childhood in Harlem; his family owned a bakery on 125th Street, a neighborhood with an insignificant amount of small, black-owned businesses in the city, and he enjoyed the high school he attended. Saturday morning trips to the bakery were usually never full of unusual sights for Darius until he noticed the construction of a Panera Bread across the street from the bakery one morning. Unbeknownst to Darius, this would mark the beginning of the end of his family’s establishment. The once packed bakery began to lose its loyal customers to the new corporate-run bakery, prompting the family to shut it down after several years in business. Soon, his parents couldn’t afford to pay the apartment bills, forcing Darius and his…
that the release of radioactive materials from a nuclear power plant was a major concern…
With all the money, we spend on the nuclear industry they nor the government have come up with a plan to get rid of the waste that does not involve dumping it in the ocean or the desert. McKibben states, “Congress is being lobbied really, really hard to fork over billions of dollars to the nuclear industry” (333). One thing about nuclear energy that can never be forgotten is the fact it can be turned into a weapon. The destruction nuclear weapons can cause is and always will be horrifying. During World War 2 a nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The bomb destroyed most of their island, killed most of their population, and left the country filled with radiation. Nuclear weapons can cause radiation sickness, different forms of cancer, and malformations to children ("What's the Damage?"). Even factories that use nuclear energy are harmful they destroy soil used for farming and water sources. Nuclear energy contains elements such as uranium, strontium, benzene and many others ("What's the Damage?"). These are the materials that keep nuclear energy radioactive even after it is disposed of, plus it can cause birth…
In World War II only one nuclear weapon was tested. The Plutonium bomb was tested on the Tranity testing site. Two bombs were dropped on cities. The cities were Hiroshima on August 6th 1945 and Nagasaki on August 9th 1945. Around 220,000 people were killed or died within months of the explosion due to the radiation and about 60 million died over all in World War II. The radioactive material that each bomb used was the “Little Boy” used uranium and the “Fat Man” used plutonium to make each bomb explode. The nuclear reaction for each type of bomb was Plutonium Bomb (Nagasaki): Plutonium 239 goes through fission beginning a chain reaction creating enough power for the needed explosion. Uranium Bomb (Hiroshima): Uranium 238 underwent fission creating…