NUCLEAR POWER

  Entering the twenty- first century, six billion people inhabit the earth. A number that is expected to double in a hundred and twenty years, yet only 4% of that world population lives in the Untied States. Even though the Untied States is only 4% of the population of the world, it still uses 25% of the world's resources. This statistic is most important with the argument of food consumption, with so many countries starving, but it also means that the United States uses 25% of the world's energy resources. Coal and oil are a major energy provider around the world, particularly in the US. (See figure 1) Many countries without these abundances have turned to nuclear energy, due to its supreme effectiveness. Nuclear energy produces more energy per unit weight than coal and oil, releases no pollutants into the atmosphere and is less cancer causing than the burning of coal and oil. Yet nuclear power has been attacked in the US since the day that it was instituted as being a non-safe and environmentally non-friendly form of energy.

             Right now the United States does not have to worry about running out of fossil fuels for a long time, even though they generate 51.7% of the US's power, and power almost all forms of modern transportation. But what happens down the road, when all of the natural resources are gone? In many countries, such as France, nuclear power is accepted and welcome. Why is this not the same way in the US? The media and all forms of entertainment have misconstrued the facts of nuclear energy. Most people are sacred of nuclear power, the word unsafe is synonymous with nuclear power in this country, but time has shown that there is so reason for this feeling. Americans do not hold the facts on this issue. They have the unwarranted fears of a mass and free speaking culture. Nuclear energy is safe, clean, and effective.