People are not fond of hearing about nuclear power plants, or seeing one; ever heard of the famous nuclear power plant in Chernobyl? Yeah, that alone created fear of nuclear power plants and since then the fear still lingers as of today. People should realize that we shouldn’t fear something that happened 35 years ago. At the time I’m writing this, safety at nuclear power plants has drastically become better over the years, which makes nuclear meltdowns occur much less and more difficult to make happen. So, why should we use nuclear power plants? There are a lot of reasons and those reasons can heavily reduce the impacts of climate change.
For one, the power plants don’t use fossil fuels, oils, or coals; it is completely carbon free, meaning it can’t pollute carbon dioxide, which reduces greenhouse gases that changes the climate. It is said that nuclear power plants today saved the atmosphere from 506 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, which is an equivalent of 110 million passenger vehicles off the road in the United States. How nuclear power creates energy is by nuclear fission that heats up and uses water that turns into steam and then, the steam spin the turbines, which generates electricity; it is similar to locomotive steam engine, so those big smoke chimneys, which are called cooling towers, that are iconic to nuclear power plants are actually water evaporating out it.
Another best thing about nuclear power plants is how great the power efficiency is compared to solar and wind; it doesn’t rely on wind and the sun, so it will still generate electricity in the night, in low winds, and cloudy days; plus it doesn’t fluctuate power so the power plants will always be stable. We also have to consider the life cycles of producing energy, can’t use something that doesn’t work anymore; solar panels last about 30 years, and according to some sources, wind turbines last about a year. Nuclear power plants depend on what nuclear elements they use and a stable income, so they last about a century. Crazy right? We can have power for a very long time with zero emissions of carbon dioxide.
In conclusion, nuclear power plants proved to be useful and very resourceful that can power cities and homes for a century or longer since they’re building better power plants and better safety measures. I just wish the fear of nuclear power would stop and show how beneficial it can be.
image: https://pixy.org/5939419/
