A minor earthquake occurred in Chernobyl, a place famous for its huge nuclear power plant. It was the worst nuclear power plant disaster to have ever happened. 4,000 workers died and thousands more died shortly after from radiation poisoning (World Nuclear Organization). They are about 400 nuclear power plants and another 70 under construction in the world. Imagine if accidents like Chernobyl take place, but on a more massive scale. Nuclear energy can also change human DNA. According to the Greenpeace Organization, when living organisms are exposed to gamma rays (ultra concentrated radioactive rays), their DNAs are either destroyed or go under massive mutations. The mutation of living cells may cause cancer, radiation poisoning, other ailments and ultimately death. A far bigger problem happens when nuclear power is used to produce bombs. Nuclear bomb’s destructive force can spread over 160 kilometers from its epicenter in all directions (United Nations). Nuclear energy, a destructive industry, endanger economies and people by creating bombs, damage natural ecosystems by mining and creates large amounts of radioactive waste.
Hard-working economies have been reduced to rubble because of the calamitous use of nuclear bombs. It only takes one nuclear bomb to make a whole civilization be turned to dust. World history carries the scars of nuclear destruction caused by America when it dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during a World War II conflict. The human casualties were horrifically high. According to CNN, over 100,000 people died and thousands of more experienced radiation poisoning. The bombing had been so bad that almost all of the structures in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nothing more than debris. As I mentioned before, that was only two nuclear bombs. That is not where it ended. According to John B. Alexander in his article Bombs Away: The Disconcerting Common Factors, there are about 30,000 nuclear bombs in the world, a person can only imagine what would happen if all of those were dropped. That was a nuclear bomb that was dropped about 70 years ago. Technology is advancing every day and the nuclear bombs that are being made today are highly more advanced than that bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. If a nuclear bomb was dropped today, the casualties would be extremely worse. Millions of people would die, millions more would be left homeless with nothing more than the clothes on their back. People are always living in fear of being bombed by nuclear weapons. A CNN poll taken in 2017 showed that 86% of Americans are in fear of being bombed by nuclear weapons. North Korea, brandishing their nuclear weapon reserves causes fear in countries all around the world. Even the idea of nuclear weapons is unnecessary and should not be used, even in war. Nuclear bombs are also insanely expensive. According to Vittana Organization, the United States spends $30 billion on nuclear weapons. That much money is enough to provide 75 billion meals for those living in poverty. It is simply saddening to see people put such a big amount of money into destruction and annihilation. Nuclear energy has no place in our future because it creates the most dangerous and destructive bombs on the planet. Hundreds and thousands of innocent citizens have died and hard-working economies have been destroyed due to nuclear bombs, this portrays why nuclear energy is a destructive global issue.
Ecosystems all around the world have been turned to dust because of mining for resources to fuel the destructive industry of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is not a renewable energy, it is fueled by uranium and plutonium. It is by far the dirtiest practice of making energy. Not just mining destroys the ecosystem, it scars the land with the radioactive materials that people leave behind. According to BBC, for every ton of uranium produced, thousands of tons of radioactive waste and materials are left behind. Contaminated rainwater left behind after mining enters the soil, making contaminated plants, eventually the food chain, endangering the health of animals, people, and the planet. In Chernobyl for example, there has been a sharp increase in cancer, severe mental health problems, genetic damage to humans, animals and plant life due to a massive amount of radioactive exposure (Greenpeace Organization). In Africa, four children died because of bathing in radioactive contaminated groundwater (Dianuke Organization). Nuclear mining has devastated local communities and environments in almost every continent in the world. Now after the mining, you have to transport the radioactive materials to a refinery. Now picture this in your mind, imagine bees, pollinating flowers all around the world, spreading seeds for more plants to grow. Nuclear material transportation is the same exact practice, except it spreads radioactive dust. The wind carries radon gas and radioactive dust from vehicles of transportation for many miles damaging the natural ecosystems in many ways (Reaching Critical Will Organization). According to Wise International Organization, three uranium miners died in India due to kidney failure. This incident occurred because of the extensive amount of exposure the workers had to the uranium. According to Greenpeace Organization, if there was a clean up to the amount of radioactive waste we have made, it would cost more than an American $300 billion. Ecosystems all around the world have been uprooted due to the unhealthy practice of uranium mining, this illustrates why nuclear energy is truly a destructive industry.
There is currently no option of getting rid of nuclear waste making.