America Needs Nuclear Power Essay -- Argumentative Essays, Persuasive

atomic power plants are a safe, clean and reliable source of competency production. They are uniquely qualified to meet the growing demand for nil in the USA. It is estimated that the demand for power will grow two and a half percent per year. Even if the demand for capacity didnt make up in the future but stayed where it is nuclear would still be the stovepipe choice for power production. Nuclear costs less and is environmentally spick-and-span than coal, which currently supplies approximately fifty percent of the power in the U.S. (Loewen 53). In addition nuclear has an exemplary golosh record. The group of people who correct nuclear and promote renewable power sources, hereafter termed environmentalists, do so for very sound reasons. However, they fail to translate that renewables, wind and solar power, can non bring out the base-load electricity needed for the power grid. They also dont realize that of the five power sources that can supply base-load electricity, c oal, oil, hydroelectric dams, nuclear and born(p) gas, nuclear outranks the others either in cost or environmental safety or both. To understand nuclear power we need to have a public understanding of how it is generated in most nuclear plants. This is a general description only and makes no claim to encompass all the antithetical variations possible for the design of nuclear power plants. Nuclear energy is produced from the nuclear fission reply of a heavy nucleus such as uranium absorbing a neutron after which it splits into two fragments of nearly touch mass. This releases a substantial amount of energy and several more neutrons. The neutrons are then able to strike other heavy nuclei and cause them to fission, let go more energy. This process occurring continuously results in a chain reaction in which many billions of nuclei may fission in a splendid fraction of second. In a nuclear reactor the self-sustaining serial publication of fissions is carefully controlled. Th e enormous amount of energy released occurs in the form of shaft and the kinetic energy of the fission products expelled at high speeds. Most of the energy becomes thermal and is used to heat water and convert it to high-pressure steamer. The steam is then used to drive a turbine and the mechanical energy of the turbine is reborn to electricity by means of a generator (Britannica). Environmentalists argue against nuclear power ... ...t problem of nuclear power and it is probably the most well-managed thieve in the history of the United States. This essay is not attempting to present nuclear as the perfect answer to the increased demand for power. Nuclear is not perfect, however, of the options available it comes the closest.Works CitedCohen, Bernard L., The Nuclear Energy Option An Alternative for the 90s. freshly York Plenum Press, 1990.Lake, James A., Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins. Symposium Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power. Insight on the News 27 marvellous 2001 40 45.Loewen, Eric P. Nuclear Power Can Help exculpate Energy Crisis. National Defense August 2001 52 55. nuclear energy. cyclopaedia Britannica. CD-ROM. Chicago Encyclopedia Britannica, 1997.Norsen, Travis. The Enemies of Nuclear Power. The Business Journal Milwaukee 17 August 2001 43 - 44Oliver, Mike and John Hospers. Alternative Fuels? American opening move September 2001 20 29.Wardell, Charles. Nuclear Energy Comes Full Circle. Popular acquirement August 2001 38 42. Yelverton, Jerry. Nuclear Engineering. Vital Speeches of the Day 67 (2001) 655 659.