Here is a quick background on nuclear power, radiation, nuclear fission and the discovery of pitchblende.  Uranium was discovered in 1789 by the German chemist, Martin Klaproth who named the element after the planet Uranus.  By passing electrons through an empty glass tube producing x-rays, ionizing radiation was discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Rontgen.  In 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered that pitchblende (an ore that contained uranium and radium) caused a photographic pane to darken.  Becquerel then went on to show that this was caused by beta radiation (electrons) and alpha particles (helium nuclei) being emitted.  A third type of radiation from pitchblende was found by Paul Ulrich Villard in 1900 called gamma rays that were very similar to x-rays. In 1896 Pierre and Marie Curie gave the name ‘radioactivity’ to this occurrence, and in 1898 they isolated polonium (highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes) and radium from the pitchblende ore. Radium was then put to use in certain medical treatments. In 1898 Samuel Prescott demonstrated that radiation destroyed bacteria in foods.

Now, onto my point as to why we shouldn’t go nuclear….

Nuclear power has both advantages and disadvantages.  On the plus side, nuclear power is both very powerful and efficient.  It produces very little emissions and has a minimal CO₂ output which could slow global warming in the long term.  Nuclear plants only produce 2-3% as waste compared to the 97-98% it produces as energy.  Nuclear research and power has also led to provide very efficient problem solvers such as Fat Man and Little Boy.  Nuclear plants are also constantly running so they are always providing power no matter what the weather condition unlike power sources such as wind turbines or solar panels. So nuclear power is all fine and dandy and the way of moving forward right?

But wait….

Nuclear power also has quite a dark side.  The waste produced by nuclear plants is extremely dangerous and there is not enough area for it to be stored properly to become safe to handle. Yes, there are rumors that the radioactive waste could be stored in space but that would be very expensive and put the astronauts at a huge risk of exposure and radiation poison.  Another problem with nuclear power is that it lead to a very horrific event back in 1945 when two atomic bombs were dropped on japan killing 333,000 innocent Japanese lives and leaving over 15,000,000 more homeless.  These atomic bombs have also made the area a very hazardous place and have put the Japanese people at a higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer.  Since then, Japan had 3 nuclear power plant meltdowns which led the deaths of 30 of the people working within the plant.  Radioactive leaks from plants can also kill the environment and mutate cells in beings and plants causing cancer and contamination.  Maintaining nuclear plants is also very expensive (would slowly become less expensive over time) and mining the uranium puts the miners in danger.  Radiation poisoning in the ground can last upwards of 200,000 years and makes the land difficult to live on and can be the source of many health problems.

Currently there are 444 nuclear plants in the world and they provide 11% of the power used.  To provide sufficient power to the world there would need to be 14500 nuclear plants in the world and there aren’t enough sites to build those on.  The plant needs to be close to a water source and away from high developed civilization as to not put the people in the area at risk of sickness.  This would make it almost impossible to go nuclear without a nuclear war from some terror group taking over and creating weapons to target world figures.  The previous is why I am against going full nuclear power.