By Cathy Doodnauth
One would think humans would look for safe, sustainable ways
to continuously power our growing world. Instead, we go for the one main power
source that could blow up the entire planet in one big bang! Ironic,
isn’t it? Nuclear power plants are, in my opinion, the most ridiculous energy source our species
has gone after: big, radioactive power plants that (if one measly thing should
go wrong) will explode within minutes. A huge mushroom is created, a gigantic
blast that ruthlessly kills the people and the environment surrounding it
faster than they can evacuate. When you look at the idea in that certain
perspective, it’s clear how much of a bad idea
it was; yet, the world ignored their brains and followed the ideas of their
power-hungry, money-hungry hearts. There are over 435 nuclear power reactors worldwide, with more and more being
proposed every day. The bad idea was ignored. And since then, the bad idea has
been regretted day after day after the first few disasters.
When I first heard that the world had nuclear power plants
as a means to power the world, I was instantly angry. Immediately after my anger, confusion hit: was the world taking their nuclear
weapons and rewiring them to power the grid? Through this helpful site on nuclear power plants,
one can clear their confusion on how humans harvest energy from nuclear power.
I believe it is important to understand how nuclear power plants work and where
the danger lies before forming an opinion. Nuclear power sites are not created with half-assed
workers with bad intentions. There are strict rules and regulations that allow
these plants to run.
But sometimes, we are loose with rules and not on point
with regulations. Some believe this is what leads to nuclear meltdowns. On
March 11th, 2011, a staggering 49-foot tsunami
triggered by a deadly 9.0-magnitude earthquake
hit the Northeastern coast of Japan where two nuclear power plants are situated.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster was
a terrifying catastrophe that no one could stop. The world watched silently and
waited for the outcome as their hope for easy power dwindled. As I have
learned, these power plants split atoms and require cooling of the heat
created. Without that cooling water, a meltdown could occur. The tsunami took
out the cooling for 3 out of 6 nuclear reactors. Deadly explosions occurred, radioactive
matter leaked, the International Nuclear and Radiological Event
Scale even ruled it a stage 7,
major accident, out of 7 stages. Four years later, the Tokyo Electric
Power Company sent a robot probe inside the broken reactor in Fukushima to
check on radiation levels and damage. Four years, and the radiation levels are
at "9.7 sieverts per hour,
which is high enough to kill a human within an
hour.” Taking the regulations seriously as one should, lives could
have been saved and this aftermath avoided.
After the disaster at Fukushima, the world took a somber
look at what nuclear power could possibly do
to us in the future. Japan barely survived nuclear attacks decades ago, and scraped
by a modern day meltdown; but do we want to keep risking ourselves like this? Blind is a short film that shows what our future could look like if we
continue down this path, where we take things for granted and keep pushing past
the limit. This short film is worth the watch: the eeriness of the gas mask on the little girl, the loud, foreshadowing cry of the black
raven, and the flash of women in the infamous “speak
no evil, see no evil” poses create a look into the ominous, yet realistic
future we face. A future where gas masks
are necessary to go about normal life; where we personalize our
masks as we do our other belongings; where death
follows no matter how careful we are. We clearly refuse to
fight this oncoming storm, as we don’t follow our own rules. Is nuclear power
really worth the
consequences?
Rules are made to be followed, but are also to keep us safe. For people with one of the most dangerous
jobs, it seems like nuclear power workers don’t try as hard as they should. In Full Body Burden, author Kristen Iverson discusses the
drama of a nuclear testing site in nearby Rocky Flats. Similar to places today,
they didn’t respect their
own rules too much:
“There
is ‘little indication’ that work was performed according to federal
requirements. But
little has changed. And the government will continue to press Rocky Flats to
make bombs for at least
another decade.”
According to Iverson, a Depart of Energy worker walked into
a room on radioactive location, and is immediately contaminated.
He is instantaneously in danger simply because the signs to warn him of the
danger were not in sight, due to
another employee’s mistake. A mistake as nonsensical and silly as
that could cost this man his life. Iverson is effective in getting this point
across through the use of ethos;
she got intertwined with many things that happened in Rocky Flats, and knows
better than any other of the stories.
Fun fact about
nuclear power plants: they create nuclear, radioactive wastes that are
dangerous to every species on the planet. Apparently, this isn’t a good enough
reason to end the usage of this power as an energy source. So as we continue
creating more nuclear plants, we are found with the difficult task of finding a
place to store all the radioactive crap that won’t turn us all into superheroes. Currently, we store the
wastes in areas that no one cared about—deserts, abandoned plants, etc. But
more and more of these areas are breached,
and found unsuitable for their task, as decomposition of highly radioactive
wastes takes thousands of years.
In 2009, Into
Eternity was
created to inform the world about Onkalo, the underground nuclear waste
storage facility that has been in construction since 2004. The purpose of this film is to inform the audience of a potential
area to store harmful waste for good. This film is very effective due to what
they decide to shoot for the film. Including what the underground area looks
like appeals to the audience who will (hopefully)
never see it. Having specialists discuss that the aboveground world will change
shows that they believe in this project and in the future workers, despite what
may happen.
Nuclear power, in weapons or in plants, is unpredictable. Humans trick themselves into
thinking they can manipulate it
but in the end, the power always surprises us
in some way. An oceanographic institution’s scientist,
Ken Buesseler, has detected traces of the Fukushima radioactivity on North
American coastlines: ‘“Radioactivity can be dangerous, and we should be carefully monitoring the oceans
after what is certainly the largest accidental
release of radioactive contaminants to the oceans in history.”’ While the small traces aren’t a problem to
humans yet, they could bring forth changes in the environment that we won’t be
able to see for years. At the time of the incident, no one imagined
radioactivity reaching the opposite coasts. Four years down the line, and here
it is. The irregularity of
these plants definitely adds more onto the anti-nuclear list.
Nuclear power, of all energy sources, is the most dangerous. We’ve known that since the
first split atom was used in warfare all those years ago. And yet, we continue
to build on such a hazardous power,
pushing the limits and risking the safety of
the entire planet. Our initial curiosity has changed into an addiction—a fact
supported by a time-lapse of every nuclear explosion
since the first. We started, and never stopped, whether it is through warfare
or as a means to power the world, nuclear power is not the way to go. We have the chance and the means to
change this energy source now.
It’s time we acted on it, and put the earth in front of our own desires for the first time.
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