[vindicatedxjin]

Benefits of Nuclear Energy

-It's environmental impact is very minimal because it doesn't contribute to air pollution. It throws out no emissions at all to the atmosphere. Compare that to fossil fuels whose emissions, known as greenhouse gases, are blamed for everything from global climate change to ozone problems and acid rain.

-The cost of producing the power... when compared to other energy types, nuclear is pretty cheap. The cost of the fuel and uranium is less than natural gas, oil, or coal. The costs of running the actual plant are similar to those of running a coal or gas plant. Lower costs combine to give consumers cheap electricity.

-Nuclear power plants produce a consistently large amount of power obviously.

-The nuclear industry points to good-paying jobs, contributions to the community’s tax base, and to their safety record as incentives for communities to let nuclear plants locate there


Not so Beneficial

-Waste of course, where do we store it?
"The Federal Government has decided to create a national repository for nuclear waste in Nevada. Yucca Mountain will be the long-term storage site for all nuclear waste in the US This means transporting the waste over long distances in order to dispose of it, a plan which concerns many Americans. Industry officials counter those concerns by stressing the safety precautions they take. The waste is in a solid form, and carried in extremely durable containers, making a "spill" highly unlikely. But, no one can say with certainty how safe a place Yucca Mountain is or how long storage containers could last. And they will need to last for 40,000 years."

-Radioactivity,it can be spread by the wind affecting large areas and it remains long after the reactor melts down.



In the end I'm thinking............whenever I have kids one day, am I going to want a reactor near my community? Would I want waste to be stored near my community??? Just so that myself and others don't have to pay as much for electricity?