Is Nuclear Energy Worth the Risk? The capability for nuclear energy has always existed. However, not until December 2, 1942, at the University of Chicago, did nuclear energy surface. Enrico Fermi made that discovery by making a chain reaction in a pile of uranium. How a nuclear reaction works is that a neutron is shot through a gram of uranium, which creates fission. This causes a chain reaction, thus creating a nuclear reaction or nuclear energy. This was the first man-made nuclear reaction. My argument is that nuclear power may be the so called safe and clean source of energy that we are looking for, but can we really afford to continue to use this source of energy. Is it clean? One problem with nuclear power is that currently we are unable to dispose of the waste that nuclear power plants produce. Furthermore, many of the power plants are unsafe and accidents do occur. They cause devastation to the environment and lives of people. I will provide you with evidence to illustrate that nuclear reactions have killed people. First, we might ask, How do we acquire nuclear energy? Uranium is a mineral mined primarily in Canada and is what we use to produce nuclear reactions. Canada plays a major role in this aspect of nuclear energy because Canada was the first to mine uranium and Canada is the largest producer and exporter. When Canada exports uranium, it tells countries that it exports to, that those countries should only be using the uranium in nuclear power stations and not in nuclear weapons. Canada, however, does not put many restrictions on the condition of the reactors where they send this uranium. Some argue that Canadians should put more conditions on the safety of the reactors not on whether or not use the uranium in nuclear weapons. Canadian miners of uranium were in immense danger in the early 50s, to the early 70s. Many uranium miners died from lung cancer. Ottawa and the US government knew of the heath effects of uranium i...
