Nuclear Power vs. Foreign and Domestic Oil

     Today, I'll be talking about two of what I think are the worst power sources in the world. You guessed it, oil and nuclear power. Right now, the US consumes almost 19 million barrels (bbl) per day. That's a lot of oil. In recent years, scientists have started to fear that the Earth may actually run out of oil. In retaliation to this fear, scientists and different countries began to promote nuclear power.
     Nuclear power is created by nuclear reactions. There are two ways to make these reactions. You can split the nucleus of an atom (fission), or you can fuse two atoms together (fusion). Both of these reactions produce a lot of heat energy, but nuclear fission, which is more widely used, creates significantly more amounts of radiation. So why use a power source that we know causes cancer-causing radiation? It's simple, higher energy output.

     Nuclear power is dangerous. Small amounts of radiation can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, and even the loss of white blood cells. These effects can last a lifetime. But that is just about a minute's worth of exposure. Three minutes can cause hair loss and nervous and digestive damage. Four and a half minutes can put a person in a coma. At eight minutes of exposure without protection, instant death. Leukemia, lung cancer, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer have all been proven to associated with some amounts of radiation.

     There was an incident at Chernobyl in April 1986. A nuclear reactor exploded when the cooling systems failed. Radiation spread 15-20 kilometers in every direction. This disaster will kill up to 25,000 people from radiation alone. 

    How does this new, state-of-the-art power source sound now? By the way, there are about 104 nuclear reactors in the US. It's only a matter of time before the US, as a country, is influenced by the destructive potential of nuclear power.