Nuclear Warfare :: essays research papers fc

Nuclear Power Problems The effects caused by a nuclear power accident, on the scale of the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl accident, must override any inclination to side with advocates for nuclear power. Surely we have all heard the expression "I’m only human". If we are indeed only human, and consequently prone to error, we could never perfectly manage and contain an energy as potentially destructive as that of nuclear power, without the possibility of a nuclear accident. Furthermore, the wastes generated by nuclear power, when inadvertently released during a nuclear power accident, have been proven to cause malignant diseases and premature death to those who come into contact with them. Additionally, the vegetation threat we rely on for survival is severely affected when radioactive elements are released into the air and water supply during a nuclear accident. Most alarming, however, is the fact that the general public is vastly unaware of its governments’ use of nuclear waste in the development of nuclear weapon. Most of us can remember the bombing of Iwo Jima and the effects the bomb had on the lives of the millions of Japanese that lived within a twenty mile radius of the city. We can see what happened to the second generation: children born with severe informities such as sixteen fingers and three arms; children born with cancer; and children with mental and physical handicaps. The radiation of a bomb doesn’t always cause instant death, but it is a lingering experience. Japanese people, thought to be healthy, got cancer in later life, and had dis-formed children. Consequently, we must not be swayed by advocates urging us to further develop and expand nuclear power. We must, instead, examine the larger picture; the risks associated with this potentially devastating power. The potential for human error causing a nuclear accident can be ascertained by considering the causes and effects of accidents that have already occurred. In 1952 , at Chalk River’s Nuclear Reactor, four control pads were unintentionally removed, causing a partial meltdown of the reactor’s core. In 1957, a fire at the Windscale Pile No. 1 plant, just north of Liverpool, England, resulted in the contamination of 200 square miles of countryside when it was covered with radiation. In 1976, the core of the Lubmin nuclear plant in Greifswald, East Germany nearly melted down when safety systems failed during a fire. In 1979, the ever so famous, Three Mile Island reactor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania lost coolant in one of its two reactors and a partial meltdown occurred on March 28, 1979.