Effects of a Nuclear-Powered World Essay Example

Increased globalization, as well as industrialization in the modern day, has led to the need for other energy options such as nuclear power thus explaining its essence in the present and future times. However, there are both positive as well as negative effects brought about by the nuclear power energy. Several campaigns against the use of fossil fuels as energy options have been made due to the dominant harmful effects, therefore, leaving the option for nuclear power accessible. Nuclear power poses minimal threat to the environment as there are no greenhouse gases that are produced in the process of energy production. Advanced technology has led to the increased access to the nuclear power where steam is used to turn the turbines that produce electricity. There are societal effects related to the use of nuclear power such as the medical, ethical as well as environmental concerns. There are many underutilized methods to counter nuclear waste management which means that the essence of nuclear power will remain in the days to come especially with the cost-effectiveness of the energy source which outweighs the uncontrollable rise of the outside expenses. The following discussion, therefore, looks into each of the concern with the aim of understanding the impacts of technology through the use of nuclear power.

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There are two distinct bases of ethics which are related to the nuclear power option which include the current generation as well as the future generation. As mentioned in the discussion above, the improved technology has brought with it the innovation of more energy options such as the nuclear energy ("Climate Impacts on Energy | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA", 2019). However, there are no distinct ways of nuclear waste disposal which exposes the people living near the plants to the radioactive pollution thus affecting their health and at the same time affecting the future generation in those areas. Nuclear power plants are at risk of leaking which means that there is the environmental threat that has been posted where the radioactive material among other pollutants are released into the atmosphere thus bringing up the after effects. Having the factors, the international organizations are able to deal with the power through the regulations that have been imposed to deal with the power production as well as the waste management. It is evident that the increased innovation will require an increased amount of energy consumption and therefore implying that fossil fuels might not be able to provide for the amount of energy required. Therefore, there will be much more reliance on nuclear power which is relatively efficient and clean in comparison to the fossil fuels in the near future. In addition, the innovations have led to the realization that there is the need to reduce the by-products of the energy production that is responsible for a big percentage of environmental pollution. This means that the nuclear power is the best alternative since there is no direct emission of carbon dioxide among other gases to the atmosphere ("Short-Term and Long-Term Health Risks of Nuclear-Power-Plant Accidents | NEJM", 2019). A very disturbing ethical issue that has been looked upon by the organizations responsible for controlling energy standards is the issue of reliability. It is important to understand that many of the energy sources that are currently used globally are at the risk of getting extinct such as the fossil fuel which means that they cannot be relied upon completely for the future. At a point and time, there will be the reduced usage of fossil fuel as it is a non-renewable source of energy. This means that the option of the nuclear power is more suitable for the developing world and according to the research that has been conducted; there is the possibility that the nuclear power will have relied upon more than the fossil fuels.

There are long term and short term health effects which are associated with the use of nuclear power. The discussion has outlaid that the concerns of the nuclear energy are based on the current generations and its influence a well as the future generation. The by-products of the nuclear power plants affect the populations which surround it directly and indirectly as it is with the case of the Japanese power plant that was substantially damaged by the high magnitude earthquake which took place in 2011 ("Nuclear Fusion: WNA - World Nuclear Association", 2019). Among the health effects of the power plants is the nuclear radiation which might be released to the atmosphere as a result of the damaged plant as in the case of the Japanese plant. The radiation causes the alteration of the human DNA thus resulting in diseases such as skin disease. There is also the DNA alteration which is basically the killing of human cells thus destroying the functionalities of the body organs. There are various factors involved with the exposure of the human body to the harmful radiations. First, there is the level of penetration by the radiations to the human body which then determines the level of effect it has on the exposed part. Also, there is the need to know the human organs that are exposed to the radiation. Some organs are way sensitive to the radiation than others as it is with 5he human tissues. Also, there is the type of exposure and the type of radiation that needs to be considered before rendering a clinical approach to the situation of the exposure ("Nuclear Fusion: WNA - World Nuclear Association", 2019). More than eight hundred patients have suffered the acute radiation sickness from the nuclear plants where the whole human body is subjected to the harmful rays which in many cases affect the workers at the nuclear plants. The long term health effects of radiation exposure include the high chances of having cancer as well as the generational genetic mutation. Scientists have associated the radioactive rays to the high chances of developing cancer. The effect might not be direct, but there is the chance that the effects are felt by the following generations for the affected populations. As seen from the Nagasaki and Hiroshima incidence, there is a change in the genetic patterns over the generations which have been felt to the present day. In addition, small amounts of the radioactive substances exposed to the human body are most likely to bring about Leukemia as well as the nonthyroid solid cancer.

Environmental concerns are very common especially in the areas where there is the presence of nuclear power plants. Production of energy through the use of nuclear power is influenced by the climatic factors such as precipitation, sea level, temperature as well as frequency ("What is Nuclear Power and Energy? | GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy", 2019). Therefore, the total amount of energy that is consumed, delivered as well as produced greatly depend on the climatic factors as seen from the survey conducted. InUSA, the temperature increase indicates that there is the possibility of the increased demand which therefore affect the production and delivery of the energy. The whole nuclear power process requires the right amount of water which is supposed to help in the fast movement of turbines which then result in the created energy. Therefore, the amount of precipitation, as well as the sea level, will affect the amount of power that is produc3ed by the plants. If there is very little water available in the country for the energy purpose, then there is the very high likelihood that less power will be generated and the vice versa is true. Another direct environmental concern is the number of pollutant substances which are produces by the plants to the atmosphere. The nuclear plants have nuclear-reactive by-products which when not taken good care of might lead to the gradual destruction of the environment. Harmful rays which might tend to escape might lead to very dangerous effects in the atmosphere and they do not fade away fast. This, therefore, means that the emissions made in the present time might be around for generations and if it builds up, there might be worse consequences.

Conclusion

According to the above discussion, it is clear that technology has brought about the increased use of nuclear power globally. The increase of the demand has definitely brought about several concerns which include the ethical, environmental as well as medical concerns. There are both positive and negative effects of the nuclear energy which have been discussed under the named concerns and which have impacts both on the current as well as the future generations. According to the discussion, it is clear that technology advances which have resulted to the nuclear power dependence in the developing world has created both harm and good globally and is set to bring more in the near future.

References

Nuclear Fusion: WNA - World Nuclear Association. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-fusion-power.aspx

Climate Impacts on Energy | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA. (2019). Retrieved from https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-energy_.html

What is Nuclear Power and Energy? | GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. (2019). Retrieved from https://nuclear.gepower.com/company-info/nuclear-power-basics

Short-Term and Long-Term Health Risks of Nuclear-Power-Plant Accidents | NEJM. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1103676