Like every other power source, there always a few drawbacks; however, before determine if a power source is not efficient due to its drawbacks, one must look into the benefits that this power source provide. Nuclear power had many benefits and advantages for a large and growing world population. It also has some major drawbacks that concern with potential for accidents, methods of nuclear waste disposal and the possibility of nuclear warfare.
First, let look at the environmental advantages of nuclear power. Many scientists believed that nuclear power is the best source of energy to provide a large amount of energy in a short period time and take up less land than other alternative energy. ...view middle of the document...
Burning coals, fossil fuels and other stuffs release a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, therefore, environmentalist encourage people to stop or lower the use of coal or fossil fuels to slow down global warming. Many claimed that the white cloud of smoke coming out of the nuclear power plant’s cooling system is smoke or CO2, but that white cloud is nothing more than steam from boiling water ( Burgess ).
Although nuclear energy is a non-renewable energy sources, the supply of uranium, fuel for nuclear power, is abundant in the earth’s crust. As for the argument about the supply of uranium is shortened, it is only true for some part. The resources of the earth are finite but there are still enough resources available in the meantime, while scientists research into a new alternative energy. The assertion that we are likely to run out of resources is a re-run of the "Limits to Growth" argument (Club of Rome 1972 popularized by Meadows et al in the Limits of Growth at that time. (A useful counter to it is W Berckerman, In Defense of Economic Growth, also Singer, M, Passage to a Human World, Hudson Inst. 1987). In the decade following its publication world bauxite reserves increased 35%, copper 25%, nickel 25%, uranium and coal doubled, gas increased 70% and even oil increased 6%) ( MacDonald ).
Resource predictions often not reliable because it is often seen with a short-term perspective. In Colin MacDonald’s paper “ Uranium: Sustainable resource or Limit to Growth?”, explain three observations that must be looked into before making a resource prediction. First, the limits of the supply of resources are so far away that the truism has no practical meaning. Second, many of the resources concerned are either renewable or recyclable . Third, available reserves of 'non-renewable' resources are constantly being reneweded, mostly faster than they are used ( MacDonald). Through my interpretation, first observation meant to address the exploration of mineral deposit vein and how it is not true that the amount of supply of uranium currently available is how much there is. The reason that many predicted that the supply of uranium will run short is because of the slow growth rate of nuclear industry due to controversial issues related to it. As safety , cost- effectiveness, catastrophe disasters, warfare and radiation are the main factors that kept the nuclear industry from growing; therefore the demand of exploring for uranium’s veins dropped which lead to faulty predictions of limited resource. Secondly, some economists do not look into the technologies used to harvest these resources. Technology played a big role in the development of mankind and it will continue to be ladder take humanity to a higher level of understanding the world around us. With new technologies, energy companies had discovered many more sources of mineral, fuel, etc. to keep up...
