Nuclear Power Must Not be Phased Out Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Nuclear Power Must Not be Phased Out - Essay Example The rest is either exaggerated or purely hypothetical. Despite the claims against it and despite the mass appeal of such claims, nuclear power must NOT be phased out for the simple reason that it is one very sustainable source of energy. Nuclear energy remains sustainable because it is an energy source which is almost free from greenhouse emissions and thus will not likely have a great impact on climate change. Anti-nuclear power activists argue that most of nuclear energy comes in the form of fossil fuels and that this will eventually contribute to the greenhouse effect.1 This stems from the fact that fossil fuels, although not a direct source of nuclear energy, is the energy source upon which various stages of nuclear power production are made possible. In fact, electricity is used for various stages of the nuclear process such as uranium enrichment, the building of power plants, and the processing and storage of nuclear waste. Moreover, the idea is that the goal of nuclear fission is still the production of electricity, which is a major source of greenhouse gases.2 All these are believed to generate a â€Å"relatively high† amount of greenhouse gas emissions.... go to the opposite extreme in claiming that nuclear energy is â€Å"the world’s largest source of emission-free energy,† it would suffice to humbly admit that nuclear energy still contributes to the greenhouse effect, but the point is that what it contributes is statistically negligible. Aside from the insignificant amount of emissions from nuclear energy, its sustainability also depends on the idea that its waste products are relatively manageable. Nuclear waste is something that remains dangerous even for thousands of years and that there is always a possibility of contaminating huge areas. Furthermore, it is a cold hard fact that â€Å"there is no completely safe way to store nuclear waste.†6 Moreover, there is no guarantee that research on nuclear waste management will turn out to be successful.7 Admittedly, the issue of nuclear waste disposal is a strong argument against the sustainability of nuclear energy. Nevertheless, the volumes of wastes from fossil fu els are relatively much greater in quantity compared to those produced by nuclear power plants and thus, potential environmental damage is greatly reduced.8 Volume of wastes produced may be a minor issue in the environmental sustainability of nuclear energy but it is not as important compared to the factor of waste management. It may be true that nuclear wastes proves to be a threat to the environment but the nuclear technical community is rather more optimistic in believing that nuclear wastes can be contained or isolated safely until radioactivity cannot anymore harm humans or the environment.9 The solution is research and as of the moment, efforts are being made by governments in order to minimize emissions such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.10 The issue of nuclear waste disposal, therefore,