by Khoa Nguyen

Created on: December 03, 2009

Nuclear energy is like a duel edged sword; on one end, it can produce massive amounts of electricity for pennies on the dollar to power entire cities, and on the other hand, it leaves behind dangerous waste that can last for thousands of years. This causes a lot of debate upon the energy economy about whether we should focus more of our resources for development and research or wean ourselves off it to more sustainable energy techniques. Whether people believe nuclear energy is the key to energy independence or the trigger to a nuclear war, the risks are very real and can lead to massive amounts of damage that may even wipe out life forms even when we least expect it.

The main risk that many people around the world fear is "where do nuclear waste go?" Nuclear waste is radioactive, meaning it emits high energy particles while it is decaying. These high energy particles are like extremely tiny bullets that can shoot right through a human body, damaging organs, cells, and chromosomes. These damages can accumulate till the point where one has unstoppable internal bleeding, cancer, or physical defects. One example of radiation poisoning was after the Hiroshima bombing; a woman who was exposed to radiation gave birth months later to a baby born without eyes. This troubles many people around the world, because an atrocity like this should never hapen in public.

That is why managing nuclear waste is so important. If we do not manage it, it can spread into our atmosphere, water, and food, and all that will lead it back to our bodies and cause damage. Radioactive material is very corrosive to solids, therefore storing it needs the utmost technology, and cost. Also, because radioactive material, such as the spent fuel from uranium, can last for thousands of years, keeping it in isolation and sealed for that long seems almost impossible. It can one day slowly leak into our groundwater, and unknowingly, we can drink it and die. Radioactive particles cause massive amounts of damage and because it is hard to see it or detect it without high tech instruments, the general public is mostly at risk.

That is the major issue of nuclear power, the fact that all of it is radioactive and we have no place to store it. It is very corrosive and can leak into our world, where it cannot be contained because it could spread so quickly. This is a magnificent risk, and if we were to continue nuclear power, we must put more resources and energy into this field to perfect it before we can reap the benefits, because if anything were to go wrong, massive amounts of people will die.

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