Development Of Nuclear Energy For Commercial Use

Name: Institution: Course: Instructor: Date: Development of Nuclear Energy for Commercial Use In the recent past, some prominent environmental advocates have become advocates for nuclear power. People and organizations who once opposed nuclear power initiatives seem to have gradually changed their minds over time. Similar observations can be witnessed with the increasing number of countries that have implemented or are in the process of initiating nuclear power programs in the past few years. Most of the significant parties in nuclear energy have softened their attitudes and are now debating on whether nuclear energy should be developed for commercial purposes. But this comes alongside a tension in the environmental movement on whether nuclear energy could offer long-term solutions for climate change as a low-carbon energy source. A section of the debate focuses on the economic aspects of nuclear power with concerns about whether it will be brought into use at the expense of other sources of energy in the energy sector. The debate also questions whether energy infrastructure should be subsidized at all and whether construction of new nuclear plants is worth the effort. Historically, nuclear power has been a suspicious issue with allegation of high risks of health hazards and other life-threatening issues. Therefore, there are those who support the development of nuclear energy for commercial use today and those who feel that it is not a good time to develop nuclear energy for commercial use. The nuclear energy industry and governments have come out clear and open about nuclear installation policies. For example, Parsons (85) presents a case about the history of developing the United States nuclear energy policy and how the policy facilitated the development of nuclear energy in the U.S. and in other nations across the globe. According to the case history, countries use such industrial policies to protect and support their important industries as a way of enhancing their international competitiveness. In the United States, the use of nuclear power for commercial purposes began as early as in the 1950s after the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) through the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Among the six experimental reactors sponsored by the AEC is the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR) which generated its first electrical power on December 20, 1951(Parsons 86). At the same time, the AEC announced its aspiration on constructing its first large-scale reactor for electricity generating purpose, a move that revolutionized the industry. As a result, several other developed countries including USSR and Great Britain began their first attempts at developing nuclear energy. The achievements of AEC in nuclear power helped the U.S. in the aspects of national security and foreign policy in the development of nuclear energy programs in other countries and helped the electric utility industry meet an increasing electrical demand in the country. However, the nuclear energy policy led to the growth of a national environmental movement that reversed the achievement of the policy(Parsons 88). Such environmental movements raised various concerns about the negative consequences of commercializing nuclear power and resulted in the imposition of st...