Term 2 Week 4 (Weekend Assignment)

Does nuclear energy still have a part to play in the world?

I believe that nuclear energy still plays a vital role in our world today. Recently, a crisis befell Japan. Several nuclear plants in Japan leaked, thus leading to radiation being released into the atmosphere and the environment. The radiation is harmful to both Man and nature. Although this has made many feel strongly against nuclear energy, I feel that we should first go into detail about what happened. It was the earthquake which caused the nuclear reactors in Japan to leak. Thus, this is caused by nature and not the nuclear energy itself. Also, in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, radiation was also leaked into the air, but it was caused by human err, not solely nuclear energy. From these examples, we should consider how it is nature and human err which caused these disasters.

Next, we should consider how much nuclear energy can benefit our world. As our natural resources are running low and our environment being harmed by CO2, we need alternative sources of energy. Even though hydro, solar and wind energy are being utilized, it is still hard to have a constant supply of energy as these things change with the environment. Therefore, we would need to look into nuclear energy. Although it is very dangerous, it is still very useful. It is able to produce large amounts of energy in a small area while other sources of energy require a large space to obtain the same amount of energy. We should not see nuclear energy as harmful as it is Man who has utilized and turned it into weapon of mass destruction. In conclusion, I feel that nuclear energy still has a part to play in the world.