Nuclear Power and Hydropower

Nuclear power and hydropower, both are able to produce energy without releasing fossil fuels into the air. They are both inexpensive to run but they are expensive to build. Both of these clean air options have advantages and disadvantages. Nuclear power plants have had some major disasters in the past, which make people hesitant of building more. You have to think about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and 20th century Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. We have to consider what is best for our environment and if the risk outweighs the benefits.

Hydropower was developed many years ago by the "1900's it accounted for more than 40 percent of United States electricity." (BOR, 2009) Hydropower produces clean renewable energy that does not release any greenhouse gases and the water evaporates back into the atmosphere. Cost of running hydropower plant is not expensive and can work for years without needing repairs. They provide recreational area, tourist attraction, and controls flooding.

The disadvantages "hydropower facilities can have large environmental impacts by changing the environment and affecting land use, homes, and natural habitats in the dam area."(Turk & Bensel, 2011) There are high investment costs to build a hydropower plant. Hydropower plants can damage the ecosystem by killing off fish and plants. This can affect the fish and their ability to migrate. Therefore, everything has its drawbacks we have to figure out if it is worth it.

Nuclear power plants have been around for years and have been getting bad reviews. Nuclear power is a good way to produce a great deal of energy at one time and it does not pollute the air. They are also cheap to run except for the uranium that can be hard to find.

The disadvantage is that the radioactive waste is hard to dispose of. There have been accidents at nuclear power plants that we should learned from. "We need to take this opportunity to make nuclear power better, more efficient, and safer than it already is for these once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters. And this problem is just that: one caused by a severe natural disaster, not the incompetence of engineers or operators." (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

When think about Nuclear power plants you think about the two disasters that happened in Japan and Chernobyl. These are two accidents out of fifty years of nuclear power plants. In the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster caused by an earthquake and tsunami, which really was not the fault of the plant and people, running it. I do not think anything could of withstood the tsunami that happened in Japan can caused the nuclear disaster. Before the Fukushima Daiichi, nuclear disaster in 1986 there was the 20th century Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. This is disaster was not as big as the one in Japan. The disaster in Ukraine was not caused by a natural disaster but by the operators shutting down the safety system to run