Atomic Bomb and Nuclear Power - Blessing Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 2794 words ( 9 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 9

Atomic Bomb and Nuclear Power - Blessing or Curse

DANNENBERG, Germany, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A force of 15,000 police sealed roads in part of northern Germany on Wednesday in a crackdown against protesters trying to disrupt the final leg of a shipment of nuclear waste. The security operation, one of Germany's biggest in peacetime and likely to cost at least 50 million marks ($22.52 million), entered its third day with the highly radioactive waste set to make a 20 km (12-mile) road trip to a storage site at Gorleben. (Blenkinsop, 2001)

Like fire, radiation should be respected but not feared. All life has evolved in a sea of radiation that existed from the start of time. To ensure the safety of the public and of workers, and to protect the environment, the federal government regulates the ELECTRICAL UTILITIES and the hospitals, universities and other institutions, which use nuclear energy and radioisotopes. The regulations are based on internationally agreed standards; in Canada the regulatory body is the Atomic Energy Control Board. In addition, more than 10 public inquiries have been held in Canada, dealing with various aspects of the nuclear industry, from uranium PROSPECTING and MINING, through reactor safety to the disposal of nuclear HAZARDOUS WASTES. The overwhelming conclusion of these examinations has been that it is in the public interest to continue with the exploitation of nuclear energy, subject to proper regulation." (ROBERTSON, 1997)

There have been numerous controversial issues in American history and throughout our society in the decades that followed after the end of World War II. Iraq was being staged as an attempt to stop a madman with the potential for creating weapons of mass destruction. North Korea recently announced that they have a fully functional nuclear bomb program. India and Pakistan are on the brink of nuclear war. The Atom bomb and nuclear energy can and often are called negative accomplishments -- simply a curse on mankind. "Nuclear power is madness. There are no plans to deal with the waste. It's like taking off in a plane, but having nowhere to land it," said protester Jens Hoffmann." (Blenkinsop, 2001) But, the atomic bombs and nuclear energy also have done positive things for our society. The two extremes are different views of the same thing. The atomic bomb and nuclear energy are both blessings and curses.

After World War II, we had been exposed to the potential devastating power of the Atomic bomb. But, in a sense, World War II had some positive effects on our society. "World War II ended the Great Depression of the 1930's. During the 1930's three totalitarian, militaristic powers had arisen in the world -- Germany, Italy, and Japan. Germany, under Adolph Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and Britain and France declared war upon Germany and its allies two days later.

Stuck Writing Your "Atomic Bomb and Nuclear Power - Blessing" Term Paper?

View All Our Example Atomic Bomb and Nuclear Power - Blessing Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

" (Schoenherr, 2003) It is funny that in Germany where it all began, the curse seems to be winning over the blessing. "Nuclear power is a controversial issue in Germany, where government and industry agreed last year to gradually to phase out all reactors by around 2025. (Blenkinsop, 2001)

The World War II was bloody and devastating affair so when it ended it was seen as blessing. It is believed that on May 5, 1945, Adolph Hitler committed suicide somewhere in an underground bunker in Berlin. Two days later on May 7th, the German military brain trust unconditionally surrendered to General Dwight Eisenhower in France. In the aftermath of the surrender, many assumed that the enemy as a hole gave up. But the United States and Britain were still officially at war with Japan.

The continuation of the pacific hostilities with the Japanese led to, on August 6, 1945, to the dropping of a Twenty-kiloton Atomic Bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb was euphemistically called 'Little Boy'. That one bomb caused an unprecedented eighty thousand fatalities in a single detonation. But, not to be out done, on August 9th, a second Twenty-two-kiloton bomb, nicknamed the 'Fat Man,' man was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Like its brother, this bomb was responsible for seventy thousand deaths. Less than one week later, on August 15, 1945, the Japanese Emperor formally surrendered.

Natural nuclear reactors predated the man-made variety by about 2 billion years." (ROBERTSON, 1997) Never once had nature create such a diversion. One may feel that one hundred and fifty thousand deaths in a three-day span may be considered a curse. In Japan, this is obviously true. However, in the United States, the newly employed citizens that suffered a long financial depression welcome the atomic power plants and bomb making plants. They were considered a blessing. "The Clinton Engineer Works was built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was renamed the Oak Ridge National Laboratory after World War II. The Clinton Pile, the first true plutonium production reactor, begins operation in November 1943. By March 1945, K-25 and other gaseous diffusion plants were in full operation. The Hanford Site is built in Richland, Washington by the Manhattan Project to produce plutonium. The first reactor began operation in September 1944." (Schoenherr, 2003)

Ironically, forty-four years later the blessing has become a curse. "In 1988, radioactive contamination was found in the drinking water wells of residences near the federal government's uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky. In response, the Department of Energy (DOE) connected local residences to municipal water supplies and began a cleanup program to identify and remove contamination in the groundwater, surface water, and soils located within and outside the plant's boundaries......

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Atomic Bomb And Nuclear Power - Blessing" (2003, May 09) Retrieved May 5, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/atomic-bomb-nuclear-power-blessing-148027

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Atomic Bomb And Nuclear Power - Blessing" 09 May 2003. Web.5 May. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/atomic-bomb-nuclear-power-blessing-148027>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Atomic Bomb And Nuclear Power - Blessing", 09 May 2003, Accessed.5 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/atomic-bomb-nuclear-power-blessing-148027
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example