Intro: In 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying, "the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future." Even then, the potential to harness nuclear power as an energy was recognized. Six years later, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing an estimated two-hundred thousand people and forever linking the word 'nuclear' with death and destruction (Danzer 790). Since that day, nuclear power has been trying to throw off the shadow of it's _________ In many cases succeeding in convincing______ However, there are numerous people to this day that remain wary of this particular power source. Nuclear power is a safe, efficient, and effective …show more content…
The Smithsonian's web article Three Mile Island: The Inside Story tells the story of this event. Operators that were trying to unclog piping accidentally blocked the flow of water to the reactor. A valve above the pressurized tank opened automatically and allowed evaporated water to escape. Because there was no water going toward the reactor to cool it, and the water already there was escaping as steam, the control rods drove down into the reactor and nuclear fission halted. The operators misunderstood what was happening and turned off the emergency pumps that were intended to cool the reactor. This created a perilous situation; although nuclear fission had stopped and no heat was being produced by that means, the radioactive nature of the fuel caused it to generate a great deal of heat. Heat continued to rise in the reactor, and eventually part of the core melted; this would commonly be known as a nuclear meltdown. Fortunately, very little radiation was released and over a dozen independent studies have shown there were no increase in adverse health effects like cancer ("Three Mile Island"). However, the mishap at Three Mile Island is far less severe than the most famous nuclear accident: …show more content…
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake with a magnitude of nine on the Richter scale hit Japan ("Fukushima Accident"). In the book Age of Radiance, Craig Nelson mentions the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors; "the earthquake broke the reactor's cooling pumps, but the emergency sensors automatically shut down the station's six piles, and backup diesel generators powered up" (343). Akin to the Three Mile Island, fission stopped but a great deal of heat still lingered. This problem would have been easily fixable if it had stopped there, but the earthquake's epicenter was in the ocean, and that meant something else would follow: a tsunami. A colossal wave pounded the coastline, destroying everything in it's path. It crashed against the high concrete wall surrounding the power plant, specifically made for this purpose. Yet even this thirty-three foot high barrier could not stand up against the wave that followed. A massive forty foot wall of water surmounted the barrier and flooded the plant's basement, along with the emergency diesel generators installed to cool the reactor (Nelson 345). The power plant experienced a nuclear meltdown in three reactors in the three days following the natural disaster, and radioactive material escaped into the air and seawater. In the wake of a devastating natural disaster, and national tragedy,