America is in a climate crisis and one of the major questions people are asking is how we can create renewable energy to reliably power the whole country with as little carbon emissions as possible.
This is where nuclear energy comes in. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), nuclear electric power accounted for 9% of America’s energy in 2020, while petroleum and natural gas accounted for 69% of America’s energy. Another 12% came from other forms of renewable energy, such as solar power, wind and others. The final 10% came from coal.
I believe the best thing America could do right now for the environment is switch to a system that uses nuclear energy supplemented with other renewable sources like solar power. The main reason being nuclear energy doesn’t produce carbon, unlike natural gas and petroleum. One of the most important things we can do right now regarding climate change is to reduce our carbon footprint, and this would be a huge step in doing so.
The major benefit to nuclear energy as opposed to other renewable options like solar, wind or hydropower is how often these sources of energy can be running. A major flaw of other renewables is that they need special circumstances to work. Solar power needs sun. Wind power needs wind. This means they can only run on certain days, so they have a pretty low limit on how much power they can produce. Nuclear energy, on the other hand, can work 92.3% of the time according to the EIA. This means it can operate at full power 336 out of 365 days a year. Wind turbines only run 34.5% days a year and solar electricity can only run 25.1% days a year. Nuclear power can also run more than natural gas plants, which can only run about 56% of the year, and coal plants that only run for about 40% of the year.
Like every energy source, nuclear isn’t perfect and has its flaws. One of the biggest flaws is the price. In 2017 two plants were being built by South Carolina companies but had to be scrapped. One reason was the cost, which was more than double the initial cost of the project, to cost upwards of $20 billion. The other flaw of nuclear energy is how dangerous it can be if there is an accident. If something happens to one of these plants, it could destroy an entire town and injure hundreds.
While there are some risks for switching to nuclear power, I believe the pros outweigh the cons. If we want to start dealing with the climate crisis, I think a good place to start is rethinking the energy infrastructure in America. Yes, it will cost money, but I think it’s worth it in the long run.
Mark
Right on. Better a nuke plant than a baseball stadium. We need jobs.