Nuclear Energy?? Why should the US follow Frances lead and build more plants-One site could be the former Bethlehem Steel Facility on the shores of Lake Erie out side of Buffalo NY.

Best Answer

There are a number of pros and cons about nuclear energy. As noted by other answerers, nuclear plants create little conventional pollution and little carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) and they produce large amounts of energy reliably.

On the other side there are issues of:

-Safety - there is a risk of meltdown in conventional nuclear plants. Accidents at nuclear plants can expose large numbers of people to radiation, increasing cancer deaths. The technology exists to build nuclear plants that can not melt down, and France is building one now, but no plants in the US are built with that new technology.

and

-Waste disposal -The byproducts of the fissioning of uranium-235 remains radioactive for thousands of years, requiring safe disposal away from society until they lose their significant radiation values. In the United states, we have no sufficiently secure place to store the waste. In France and other countries, their nuclear plants are %26quot;breeder reactors%26quot;, so they create fuel that can be re-used. In the US we don%26#039;t allow reprocessing of spent fuel as the fuel created can also be used in nuclear weapons and we do not want to %26quot;proliferate%26quot; nuclear weaponry. This increases the cost of nuclear energy in the US significantly because we now need to safely store the fuel, and also to mine new fuel to a greater extent.

So the issue is not just whether to build nuclear plants, but what type.

Asker's Rating:

thanks

Other Answers (4)

• A Nuclear power plant produces no carbon. The only reason some governments are sceptical about Nuclear power is the set up cost and what to do with the nuclear waste, which is not that much compared to how many tonnes of CO2 a coal power plant can pump out in a year. A single nuclear power plant can produce alot more power than 2 or 3 other types of power station, and would take up less space than windfarms, and solar power plants (to produce the same Kilowatts a nuclear station would).
  The US has a huge carbon footprint and if it doesn%26#039;t do much about it and continues to tell developing countries they need to reduce their emissions. If it leads the way in emissions reduction it will benefit the world, potentially.
  The US can also avoid sanctions from the UN for not meeting targets such as those outlined in the Kyoto Protocol.
• We should build something, and soon. Or when someone flips on a light switch nothing will happen.
  
  What do the environmentalists have against building ANY kind of power plants.
  
  Don%26#039;t you think people come before animals, They are so screwed up in their thinking it is mind boggling.
• I think we do need the energy but with nuclear energy - arn%26#039;t there problems dealing with the nuclear waste?
  like the years of storage, potential threat of explosion and all that stuff
  - are there cleaner ways of obtaining energy in NY - like wind
• Of course we should build nuclear. Nuclear can generate millions of KWH of electricity without producing any green house gases.