Albert Einstein famously said, “Nuclear power is one hell of a way to boil water.” Nuclear power is also one hell of a way to fix climate change. The global climate has risen approximately one degree celsius in the past hundred years alone; that’s highest temperature increase the Earth has ever seen in its billions of years of existence. Animals are dying, sea levels are rising, and the planet is slowly deteriorating. The cause? Unreliable energy sources. The U.S. should not rely on nuclear power to fix climate change, because it is extremely dangerous, very costly, and discourages alternative energy sources.
Many might argue nuclear power is actually an excellent source of energy because it is carbon neutral, and easily accessible. While it is true nuclear reactors do not release any greenhouse gases, and uranium is easily mined in the Earth’s crust, we must remember nuclear power is not a renewable source of energy. It will not be able to sustain the energy demands of the Earth over a prolonged period of time. In addition, nuclear power has so many downsides, both environmentally and
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While it is true nuclear plant accidents don’t occur very often, when they do, the outcome is always catastrophic. When the Russian Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in 1896, an entire city was decimated and thousands of people were either killed, or injured from exposure to high levels of radiation. Though technology is improving the safety of nuclear reactors, “what do we do about high-level waste disposal?” (Kraft 2) Currently, there is no way to safely and securely store radioactive waste without the risk of another disaster like Fukushima, three consecutive nuclear meltdowns that sent thousands of tons of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Nuclear power is very unstable and dangerous; we cannot continue ignoring this fact and investing in this hazardous energy