The Simpsons portray nuclear power to be vile, green and mutant making. The radioactivity wreaks havoc in Springfield by causing harm to the townspeople. Over the years, nuclear power plants have taken on a bad reputation because of plant as an energy source. Today, 52% of the generating electricity in the United States is fueled by coal, and only 14.8% is nuclear energy A surprising fact is that studies have shown that coal power plants admit more radioactive material, and be more harmful, than nuclear power plants.
Those living near nuclear power plants should be cautious of waste and radioactivity, but should not worry near as much as those living around coal plants. Like The Simpsons, many movies and sitcoms show nuclear power plants as terrible and disgusting places. The word "nuclear" has a negative connotation due to its association with bombs and war craft. This causes many people to believe that anything containing "nuclear" would be just as dangerous. Some would find coal to be dangerous with its mining accidents, acid rain, and greenhouse emissions, but coal's popularity comes not from its potential harm to humankind, but from the controversy of unnatural energy sources. Over time, people blindly judged nuclear and coal waste, resulting in the continuous belief that nuclear power plants are more harmful than coal power plants.
Over the past years, studies have been made in order to judge these myths. Surprising results have shown that coal power plants actually admit more radioactive material than nuclear power plants. According to ORNL, studies also proved that coal ash leaks into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than nuclear waste causing food, water, animals, and humans to be negatively affected more often.
According to reports done by NCPR, as shown in an article of Scientific American, exposure from nuclear and coal power plants are 490 per year for coal and 4.8 people per year for nuclear plants. This means that coal power plants are 100 times more easily exposed to people than nuclear waste. In an article for Science magazine, J.P. McBride of Oak Ridge National Laboratory looked at the radioactivity of ash from coal power plants in Tennessee and Alabama. As a result, radiation doses taken in by people living near the coal power plants were higher than those for people living around the nuclear plants. They also discovered that, when food was grown in the area, radiation doses were 50 to 200 percent higher around the coal plants.
Nuclear power plants will always be stereotyped for spawning three-eyed fish and two-faced penguins, and coal power plants will remain a topic of controversy when discussing energy sources, when in reality, a coal power plant is more harmful than a nuclear power plant.
Pictures obtained from: Mothere Wordpress, Scientific American
I think you make a really good point by mentioning The Simpsons. I myself actually always had a bad image of nuclear power plants from that show and i bet many others do too like you stated. It was interesting to read that nuclear power emits less radiation than coal burning. I think it was also a good point when you talked about how the word "nuclear" has a negative connotation. I also would associate that word with bombs and nuclear warfare. This also made me think everything "nuclear" was bad. It was interesting to have some light shed on this myth. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gretchen, I've always thought that nuclear power is really dangerous because of shows like The Simpsons. If people knew that coal was more dangerous than nuclear power plants then maybe we could start using it more. I've also thought that unatural power sources are more dangerous but maybe, in some cases such as this, natural power isn't the safest. Nuclear does seem to be related to bombs and warfare which could be one of the biggest reasons it's not used. Over all I thought this was very informative, good job.
ReplyDeleteIf people know that coal is more dangerous than nuclear power, are they be looking for alternate materials to use?
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