Why Nuclear Energy Cannot Be Considered a Good Alternative Energy Resource

There's a lot of talk these days about nuclear energy. The subject has been discussed ad nauseam. So what's the truth? Is nuclear energy the magic formula that will save the world, or is it the evil power that will destroy it?

Nuclear power certainly has at least one very appealing feature: it isn't fossil fuel. It doesn't have to be pumped out of the ground. On the other hand, the source of nuclear energy is uranium, and uranium is not a renewable energy source. The largest known deposits are in Australia. It's easily mined and easily shipped to nuclear reactor sites around the world.

The two processes in producing nuclear energy are fission and fusion. Fission creates more than 10 million times the energy that is created in the burning of fossil fuels. That's the good part. Fusion, on the other hand (which is the process of joining nuclei), has not yet been safely controlled. Fusion happens naturally in stars and the sun and in nuclear reactors built by man.

And then there's the problem of what to do with all of that radioactive waste that is created when nuclear power is generated. Nobody wants the stuff. The old "not in my backyard" sentiment prevails. And nobody should want it. It's dangerous and deadly. Radiation accidents are one of the main concerns of producing energy in nuclear reactors.

The words "Chernobyl disaster" come to mind. The nuclear reactor plant near Pripyat in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic exploded on April 26, 1986 -23 YEARS ago - and the place is still a wasteland. We're told that "only" 30 people died in the initial explosion, but the number of deaths from cancer caused by the release of the radiation is more likely in the thousands.

So you can draw your own conclusions. There are both advantages and disadvantages to nuclear energy.