Plutonium, Our Country's Only Feasible Solution

Abstract:


Should we begin to manufacture one of the most destructive and infamous


substances on the face on the Earth once again? The engineers say yes, but


the public says no. The United States stopped making this element with the


ban on manufacturing nuclear weapons. But with the continuing problem with


our ever diminishing energy sources, some want us to begin using more


nuclear energy and less energy from natural resources. This paper is going


to discuss what plutonium is, the advantages and disadvantages of its use,


and why we should think about restarting our production of this useful


element.




After the United States dropped "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" on Japan ending


World War II, the public has had some type of understanding about the


power of plutonium and its devastating properties, but that is all anyone


heard.


After WWII, Americans started to think about what the atomic bomb could do


to the U.S. and its people. When anyone mentioned plutonium or the word


"nuclear" the idea of Hiroshima or Nagasaki being destroyed was the first


thing people thought about. No one could even ponder the idea that it


could be used for other more constructive things like sources of energy or


to kept a person's heart beating. Then we started to build more reactors


and produce more of the substance but mostly for our nuclear weapons


programs.


Along with reactors, sometimes comes a meltdown which can produce harmful


effects if it isn't controlled quickly enough. After such instances as the


Hanford, Washington reactor meltdown and the accident in the U.S.S.R. at


the Chernobyl site, no one wanted to hear about the use of plutonium. The


United States government banned nuclear testing and also ended the


production of plutonium.(Ref. 5)   Now we are in a dilemma.


We are in need of...