Nuclear power: Its benefits outweigh the risks

            Since 1896 when Henri Becquerel fortuitously discovered radioactivity of uranium, nuclear chemistry has nowadays become the essential components of the field of science and technology. Along with development of the times and progress of society, as the pace of people’s lifestyle speeds up, the resources demand is getting higher; in the last century, many nations gradually think over choosing nuclear energy as one of their energy production methods. In terms of nuclear fission, nuclear power actually generates clean energy by bombarding uranium with neutrons as opposed to burning fossil fuels. Many a study has revealed that as compared with ordinary chemical reaction, nuclear reaction can produce a great deal of energy, which indicates that nuclear power has higher energy efficiency. It is a common belief that nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy and its benefits outweigh the risks. In nature, nuclear power is considered as a low-cost energy and reliable resources as well as having high degree of safety. Hence, I’m absolutely certain that the benefits of nuclear power outweigh its risks.

From my point of view, there is no doubt that one nation can economize on energy production in the event of considering nuclear power as their selection. Even though building nuclear power plant has a higher initial cost, it incurs low operational costs because relies on relatively simple operations. Besides that, the average life expectancy of a nuclear reactor ranges from 4 to 60 years depending upon its usage whereas production of nuclear energy needs the only very less amount of raw material. This means that only about 28 gram of uranium releases as much energy as produced from 100 metric tons of coal. On account of small amount demanded of its raw materials, transportation costs less too. In addition, nuclear power does not experience the price fluctuation as traditional fossil fuel energy resources like coal and natural gas. By these facts, nuclear power is cheaper than other resources of energy like hydropower, solar power and so forth, even can be predicted well into the near future. Briefly, nuclear power is such an economically low-cost energy that it can effectively lower national expenditure on energy production to a degree.

On top of that, nuclear power, without any doubt, stands out as an environmentally friendly energy resource. In fact, it is estimated that the amount of energy released in a nuclear fission reaction is ten million times greater than the amount released when burning fossil fuels. It should be noticed that optimal utilization and high energy density of resources in energy production are the extremely thoughtful approach for any nation; thus, nuclear power currently become the major option of energy production method. On the other hand, nuclear power reactors do not produce carbon emissions directly. For instance, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), nuclear electricity production successfully prevents 528 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere every year which is the equivalent of removing 100 million cars from the road. Needless to say, this is a huge advantage over traditional energy resources like fossil fuels which release tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In short, one of the greatest benefits of nuclear power is that it is a reliable power generation resource, thereby preserves and conserves our mother nature from being polluted.

Last but not least, one of the obscure and implausible advantages of nuclear power is its stability and safety. After all the time, in spite of its extreme safety proved, many people are still not in favor of usage of nuclear power because of worries and anxiety. Surprisingly, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates said, “Nuclear energy, in terms of an overall safety record, is better than other energy.” For all intents and purposes, unless the condition of nuclear reactor is so deteriorating that it falls into disrepair, there is only negligible risk of occurrence of nuclear accidents. At present, as technology continues to advance, nuclear power is becoming an increasingly safe and stable option for energy production. Simultaneously, in order to prevent from nuclear accidents, now that safety is paramount at every nuclear power plant, and every facility incorporates a well-developed and much-tested set of safety procedures. Moreover, most nuclear waste has a fairly low level of radioactivity, which has detrimental impacts on the environment next to nothing. As a result, taking everything into account, it is clear that nuclear power is not only cheap and clean, but also safe energy.

In a nutshell, nuclear energy might be one of the most controversial energy resources we have. In this day and age, there is a hotly-debated topic that often divides opinion of both for and against nuclear power. Weighing up both sides of the argument, as far as I am concerned, nuclear power is an inexpensive, reliable and safe energy resource. Frankly speaking, notwithstanding being hotly debated, nuclear energy still makes up practically 20% of the total energy generation in United States. In my way of thinking, along with further technological advances, this zero-carbon energy resource could help us reach a clean energy world someday in the near future. From that day, our mother nature will be beautiful again. Before the end of this essay, I would like to send you a poem on nature:

Let's make her the best,

By polluting less and less,

And preserve her green dress,

For our kids and the rest.