Nuclear

Learning Journal
Sources: CNN news
Topic: Why Japan relies on nuclear power?
Date: 14 / 3 / 2011
Content:
  After earthquake and tsunami in Japan, three of the plant’s six reactors had already been shut down for inspection at the time of the quake, but the other three are now having cooling problems. Once the core reactor exploded, large amount of radioactive substances may release. Exposure under these substances for a long period of time may lead to cancer, brain damage or even death. If this is the case, why Japanese government still insists to generate electricity through nuclear energy?
  This passage states mainly few reasons. Firstly, Japan is resource poor. It had no oil. It was running out of coal and there was no liquefied natural gas in the 1950s. Lack of resources will definitely limit the development of Japan and affect its economy. Secondly, the economy was getting uncorked and ramped up at unprecedented speed. And they needed energy. So nuclear power was very attractive for that reason. Thirdly, it represents an enormous business opportunity, particularly for the power reactor vendors: Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and Hitachi. It was also great for the construction industry as building of nuclear power plant provides lots of working opportunities. Owing to these reasons, japan relies mainly on nuclear power which then poses many potential dangers in this incident.
Reflection:
  First of all, I don’t think we, human, should generate electricity through nuclear power as this is not something that we could control properly. Once the reactor exploded, radio material in it would release to the outside environment which may cause damage to the ecosystem and people. This does not only affect the regions around the nuclear plant, but also to the countries far away as radio materials released would be brought to those countries through sea water and wind. Therefore, we should not only focus on how nuclear power benefits us but also consider the possible...