There is a gold rush going on right now. Man is breaking the earth, looking for natural gas. It’s a mad scene, with hucksters on every side of the issue. There is a lot going on underground and that process is called Fracking. The word alone can stir up controversy. The process of extracting natural gas through hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” might summon in someone’s imagination an environment and damaged communities. Natural gas hides from sight it is invisible. Perhaps envisioned a prettier picture—one that involves clean-burning fuel, job growth and affordable energy. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) states that fracking “is the process of injecting large volumes of water, sand and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to break up shale formation allowing more efficient recovery of oil and gas” (Walter). This practice has grown rapidly over the course of the last decade thanks to improved technologies, but it also has fostered debates concerning its environmental, health and safety impact along the way. The process of hydraulic fracturing – shooting water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into underground wells to release natural gas – is a divisive issue. Some say it dumps chemicals into ground water supplies; others argue it causes earthquakes, and still others think it can revolutionize America’s energy industry. Environmentalists argue that fracking contaminates ground and surface water – a charge the gas companies deny. Here’s the problem: the fracking process begins with a well drilled deep underground. Horizontal passages are then drilled outward from the bottom of the well. Water, sand and chemicals are pumped at high pressure through the water is insignificant, and it has never been proven that those chemicals rise ground water supplies. On the other hand, environmentalists say the downward drilling process, if done poorly, releases chemicals into both ground and…
Water is one of our important resources that were given to us by mother nature. We see water as a source for survival and many more advantages. It's fragile, and the smallest amount of contaminants could ruin it for a population, yet one of the major ingredients in fracking processes is the water. Reports of accidents involving water contamination are everywhere. The basic process of fracking is its uses of incredible amounts of gallons of water per drill and drilling so close to groundwater sources risk contamination. "Accidents have already been documented and citizen's well waters have been tainted with toxic chemicals", according to the Climate Progress. (Foster) Many of the chemicals used in the fracking process are proven toxins. These include benzene, ethyl-benzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene, and other hazardous chemicals that are harmful if any contact is made.…
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…
Nuclear power does not put out green house gasses, nuclear power does not pollute our water, and unlike some people believe nuclear power does not release toxic gasses into the air. Some people believe that it produces toxic gases into the air because they see the white clouds that come out of the top of the power plant cooling towers, but in fact those white clouds are actually just the water vapor that has been used to cool the systems, it is not toxic and therefore does not pollute the air. Nuclear energy uses either plutonium or uranium, depending on the type of the reactor. Nuclear reactors produce less waste than any other type of energy source. One pound of plutonium can produce the same amount of energy as 50,000 barrels of oil. The number of deaths caused by coal powered plants is about 24,000 a year. There were only 56 direct deaths caused by the Chernobyl reactor meltdown. Fukushima had no direct deaths, and the only other reported deaths were of the 3 men who were testing a portable reactor in Arco, Idaho. Arco was also the very first city in the world to be powered by nuclear…
The next two paragraphs she emphasizes several ways to spread the toxins into the shell of the earth. She classifies those into deep-well and shallow-well injections, and dumping. The deep-well injections are to "ensure that the earth is poisoned all the way to the core," while the shallow-well injections are to contaminate groundwater aquifers. In paragraph two she gives the reader examples of deep-well and shallow-well injections and how these will ensure that the core is poisoned. The third paragraph ties to the second by explaining that if humans place dumps by groundwater that this method and shallow-well injections will poison the water. Saukko sarcastically states that since there are only 50,000 dumps in the United States," they should be located in areas where they will leak to the surrounding ground and surface water."…
On average, a nuclear power plant annually generates 20 metric tons of used nuclear fuel, classified as high-level radioactive waste. When you take into account every nuclear plant on Earth, the combined total climbs to roughly 2,000 metric tons a year [source: NEI]. All of this waste emits radiation and heat, meaning that it will eventually corrode any container that holds it. It can also prove lethal to nearby life forms. As if this weren't bad enough, nuclear power plants produce a great deal of low-level radioactive waste in the form of radiated parts and equipment.…
Of the United States population, over 50% depend on groundwater for drinking water and so do other living organisms. We use groundwater to bathe, to cook food with, and to drink with. But, when groundwater contamination occurs which is when man-made products such as road salts, chemicals, gasoline and oil get into the groundwater, it causes the water to become unsafe and unfit for living organisms use. If the groundwater becomes contaminated, it has some serious health effects such as diseases like hepatitis and dysentery which is caused by contamination from septic tank waste. Poisoning can also be caused by toxins leached into well water supplies and other long term effects such as certain types of cancer can occur as well.…
During the last century, nuclear power has been established as a reliable source of energy in the major industrialized countries. Nuclear power plants provide about 17 percent of the world's electricity. In the United States, nuclear power supplies about 15 percent of the electricity overall. Although no new plants are scheduled to be built in the United States, nuclear power is growing to be a popular producer of power. It has recently enjoyed a revival in attention and research due to the environmental concerns surrounding current conventional energy sources. Issues of regulation and safety are at the forefront of all discussions involving nuclear power. (Lillington) One of the major concerns is the radioactive waste that is produced during the fission of uranium.…
Because of the discovery of plutonium is in 1940 and World War 2 is happening at that time, discovery of plutonium was kept as a secret. In order to produce plutonium, uranium atoms must absorb neurons and it will decay into plutonium. One example of neutron absorption is nuclear fission, which will be explained below. Back in the time when plutonium is discovered, the US had a scheme called the Manhattan project. They built facilities that are used to produce plutonium from uranium. They lower the fuel rod, which is basically containers containing uranium, and they release the neutrons and they starts to bombard the uranium. That 's one of the methods of plutonium production that is in use today still. Near the end of World War II, United states dropped 2 atomic bombs in Japan, one made from uranium and the other made from plutonium. The death toll was over 100,000 and there are even more that suffered from long-term diseases caused by the gamma radiation released. That 's when the world realized the destruction caused by uranium and plutonium, and they started to have restrictions for mining uranium and producing plutonium. An…
The waste leftover from nuclear power energy is certainly hazardous and it has to be cautiously looked after for numerous years. The Chernobyl disaster was a terrible nuclear accident which killed thousands of people, which occurred on 26 of April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Many children were suffered from thyroid cancer because they didn’t eat iodine medicine. An explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive contamination in the atmosphere. This situation was widely considered to have been the worst nuclear power plant in history. There is a danger of such a tragedies happening and abolishing everything. The manipulative and repairs of nuclear…
When the term Nuclear Power or Nuclear Energy gets used usually the first things that come to mind for most people are bombs, destruction, war, and deformed humans. Which in fact are four things that occur the least in the nuclear power field. Nuclear power is much more than just bombs and destruction, bombs barely even take up a percentage of the total amount of nuclear energy used in the world today. Most all of the nuclear energy used today comes in the form of production of electricity. Nuclear power plants are responsible for 16% of all of the worlds electricity production; which really may not sound like a lot, but when you think of the amount of electricity used in the world it really puts it into prospective how vital nuclear power is to us all. The reason nuclear power is such a vital role in our society is largely due to the global warming trend, and the fact that nuclear power is much cleaner and more “environmentally friendly” than other forms of energy production; which is just one of many reasons nuclear power is a growing trend. Nuclear power is not just a very simple energy source to come by. It is produced through a very tedious and meticulous process that if controlled is very powerful and if uncontrolled is extremely dangerous, which is why it is a much regulated energy source, but without it where would we be?…
On the one hand, nuclear has been providing us with energy used in every aspect of life for decades. It is not unreasonable for it to be in favor for a long period of time. First of all, on putting environment – the most concerned topic in the world into consideration, nuclear reactions do not produce harmful gases such as carbon dioxide and release them into the atmosphere. Thanks to nuclear power, we can help protect the Earth from pollution, which will affect hugely on our lives by causing illnesses and discomfort. Moreover, there is no comparison among nuclear power and other renewable energy sources like solar, wind or hydro energy in terms of productivity: only a small amount of uranium in a single nuclear plant can generate the quantity of electricity of millions times more than others. This source of energy will save a great deal of money as its fuel is not only cheap but also easy to transport.…
Intro Think about the generations and say we wanna make it a better place For our children and our children's children So that they know what's a better world for them And think they can make it a better place…
How may of you believe that waste management and reduction is very important? Would you feel the same way if you were informed that other than being an eyesore, waste directly impact on your life? I do not think so most of you who believe in waste reduction. But I am here purposefully to ask all of you on how to save our environment.…
Saving the environment or better said ‘going green’, a hot topic at the moment. It seems like everything is about ‘going green’. Protection of our environment has become really important in today's society. Environmental movements are doing what they can to let people realize that what we are doing now is bad. The real problem however is that we realize what we are doing and yet we proceed doing it: exploiting natural sources for raw materials, unnecessary usage of water and cutting trees, every person with at least a bit of sense would realize that this is wrong.…