People around the world watched as the death and devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan were compounded by new fears of a possible nuclear meltdown that could kill, injure or damage the health of thousands of people and lay waste the local environment for decades. In every nation where nuclear reactors provide electricity, people asked the same question: Could it happen here? The answer: definitely. The United States has 104 operating nuclear reactors. Thirty-five are Boiling Water Reactors; 23 reactors and 16 nuclear power plants are the same design as the reactors involved in the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi complex in Japan. In conclusion, the U.S needs to be aware of the dangers the reactors may cause. In my opinion, we should be extra careful now since what happened to Japan. If a disaster happens, we need to be prepared.
http://environment.about.com/od/nuclearenergywaste/a/How-Safe-Are-U-S-Nuclear-Reactors.htm
I think this is a very scary situation. For some reason, we think that just because we are in America, things like that wont happen here. But they can, and if they do, it will be a real sad, scary and dangerous situation. I hope Americans take what happened in Japan as a warning sign and don't just ignore it.
ReplyDeleteSuch a disaster could happen just as easily in America as it did in Japan. America needs to and I believe has learned from the disaster that took place in Japan. Nuclear Power Plants are ordinarily very safe and have plans and backup plans if something unexpected were to happen. It seems like there would be only so much you could do to stop the plant from going into meltdown when a 9.0 earthquake is followed by a tsunami.
ReplyDeleteThis freaks me out, espically since we have a nuclear power plant so close to us. It wouldnt be as scary if we didnt, but since theres one so close, if something happened nobody would know what to do.
ReplyDeleteI live within walking distance of the nuclear power plant, and my bestfriends mom used to work there. She always said they are extremely safe and there is little chance anything could happen, but if anything does happen I live so close I have no chane of escaping haha.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of our nuclear plants are nowhere near fault lines, so they are safe from earthquakes. Nuclear power plants are much safer than we think.
ReplyDeleteNuclear power is overall extremely safe and efficient. It doesn't release any greenhouse gases, and is overall a green form of energy with the exception of the nuclear waste it produces. Nuclear meltdowns are extremely rare, and the last serious problem happened over 20 years ago with Chernobyl. Nuclear energy is very safe, and if something did happen, most people would probably have time to escape safely.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Luke and Ben. No matter how bad some may think Nuclear power is, it is really safe. But, if a disaster does happen, we are most likely already prepared, even if we do not know it (in my opinion.). Sadly, though, the even that happened in Japan probably strikes more worry. What if it does happen?
ReplyDeleteWell, with the tragedy of what happened in Japan, other places may have already started to be more cautions, and more prepared by the day.
I agree that nuclear power plants are extremely safe but I wouldn't say nuclear energy is safe. It produces radioactive waste which can be harmful to anything around it. While the possibility of a nuclear meltdown is not an immediate threat, and not likely to happen, more focus should be directed towards developing alternative energies that are safer and do not produce waste that we can not dispose of.
ReplyDelete