Nuclear Power Nuclear energy: The Current Debate

Energy creation and consumption has been the primary driving force of political and military action since the Industrial Revolution, and arguably for centuries before this shift mechanization and the widespread use of fossil fuels. In the twentieth century, mankind acquired the ability to harness the power of atomic splitting and nuclear chain reactions seemed to many a promise of freedom form the problems of fossil fuels, including their expense and their unwanted effects on the world (i.e. pollution). Some were even so optimistic about nuclear energy's potential that they envisioned a world where electricity was free, and energy meets were easily, cheaply, and entirely met by nuclear means. Reality has not been so rosy, of course, and concerns regarding the environmental and health safety of nuclear energy -- especially in the light of recent seismic events in Japan -- are now a major...

2011). The nuclear disaster that occurred in Japan was the result of a massive tsunami, not simply an earthquake, but the result is the same -- failures to maintain control over the reactions led to dangerous levels of radiation that are difficult if not impossible to contain. Major expenditures of financial, labor, and material resources are needed by countries in order to make nuclear plants safer in light of such threats, and there will still be a potential for failure (Bommer et al. 2011).
It is possible to make nuclear energy safer, then, but only at tremendous expense and…