Nuclear Energy and the Environment In our society, nuclear energy has become one of the most criticized forms of energy by the environmentalists. Thus, a look at nuclear energy and theenvironment and its impact on economic growth. Lewis Munford, an analyst, once wrote, "Too much energy is as fatal as toolittle, hence the regulation of energy input and output not its unlimitedexpansion, is in fact one of the main laws of life." This is true when dealingwith nuclear power. Because our societies structure and processes both dependupon energy, man is searching for the most efficient and cheapest form of energythat can be used on a long term basis. And because we equate power with growth,the more energy that a country uses, - the greater their expected economicgrowth. The problem is that energy is considered to have two facets or parts:it is a major source of man-made repercussions as well as being the basis oflife support systems. Therefore, we are between two sections in which one is thesection of "resource availability and waste", and the other "the continuity oflife support systems pertinent to survival." Thus, the environmentalists believe that nuclear energy should not be usedfor various reasons. First of all, the waste product, i.e. plutonium, isextremely radioactive, which may cause the people who are working or living inor around the area of storage or use, to acquire leukemia and other cancers.They also show how billions of dollars are spent yearly on safety devices for asingle reactor, and this still doesn't ensure the impossibility of a "meltdown." Two examples were then given of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, in 1979,when thousands of people were killed and incapacitated. Finally, theenvironmentalists claim that if society wastes less energy, and develops themeans to use the energy more efficiency, then there would be a definite decreasein the requirement for more energy producing plants. On the other ...
