Nuclear Power
Nuclear power and hydropower, both are able to produce large amount of energy without releasing fossil fuels into the air. They are both inexpensive to run but they are expensive to build. When we think about these two energy sources, you also have to talk about the disadvantages of having them. Nuclear power plants have had some major disasters in the past, which make people hesitant of building more. You have to think about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and 20th century Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. We have to consider what is best for our environment and if the risk outweighs the benefits.
I will talk a little about the hydropower, the advantages, and disadvantages. The advantages are they are cheap to run, easy to maintain, easy to start and stop, has very little pollution, and produce a lot of energy.
The disadvantages “hydropower facilities can have large environmental impacts by changing the environment and affecting land use, homes, and natural habitats in the dam area.”(Turk & Bensel, 2011) This can affect the fish and their ability to migrate. Therefore, everything has its drawbacks we have to figure out if it is worth it.
Nuclear power plants have been around for years and have been getting bad reviews. Nuclear power is a good way to produce a great deal of energy at one time and it does not pollute the air. They are also cheap to run except for the uranium that can be hard to find.
The disadvantage is that the radioactive waste is hard to dispose of. There have been accidents at nuclear power plants that we should learned from. “We need to take this opportunity to make nuclear power better, more efficient, and safer than it already is for these once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters. And this problem is just that: one caused by a severe natural disaster, not the incompetence of engineers or operators.” (Turk & Bensel, 2011)
When think about Nuclear power plants you think about the two disasters that happened in Japan and Chernobyl. These are two accidents out of fifty years