We should not use nuclear power by Kyoko

Now, a number of nuclear power plants supply enormous amounts of electricity all around the world. Japan has 54 plants and ranks third in the number of plants. It can be said that we cannot do without nuclear power. However, we should not use nuclear energy anymore. There are two reasons why I think so.

The first reason is that the safety of nuclear power is not reliable. In Japan, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on 1^st March 2011. Since it occurred, people in Japan and other countries are wondering whether nuclear power is safe or not. Currently, there are many refugees and movers from Fukushima and other prefectures near there. Sixteen thousand four hundred and eighteen refugees and three hundred and eight thousand four hundred and forty movers are living at refuges, hotels, hospitals, temporary dwellings and so on, even now. The great earthquake has changed a safe and useful power plant into a dangerous one.

The second reason is that nuclear power is not clean. Certainly, the amount of emissions of toxic substances which cause environmental problems, for example CO₂ and NO₂, is small compared to other energy sources. However, it produces a lot of radioactive waste and they release radioactive materials which are bad for our health. In Japan, 1,300 tons of spent nuclear fuels, which are the fuel rods used in the nuclear reactor, were produced in 2011. Although those radioactive wastes are produced every year, the responsible way of dealing with them has still not been developed. They are buried in the soil deeply and sank in the sea after they were spent in the nuclear reactor and cooled from 30 to 50 years. The soil and sea water are polluted so that creatures including us are exposed to radiation. The nuclear power is not so much clean as dirty.

For the two reasons stated above, we should not use nuclear power. We should find an alternative way to make energy such as water power, geothermal power and wind power generation. In Japan, the rate of generated energy by the nuclear power was only 26 percent in 2010. We can do without nuclear energy by making the best of the technology in the near future.

References:

Nuclear power in Japan. (2013, January 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:50, 6^th February 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japan

Reconstruction Agency. (2012, November 7). A number of refugees all around Japan. Retrieved 9:40, 14^th February 2013 from http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/topics/20121107_hinansyasuusyuuseiban-2.pdf

Radioactive waste. (2013, January 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:50, 14^th February 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_waste