Nuclear Power in the Backyard
Photograph by Chris Hamilton
Calvin Nolt (in mid flip) And Jonathen Whorf weren't born when one of the two
reactors at Pennsylvania's Three Mile IslAnd Generating Station partially
melted down in 1979, resulting in America's worst nuclear accident. To the boys,
the steam-spewing cooling tower that serves the plant's one active reactor is
nothing more than "a giant cloud maker." While environmentalists don't hold
quite as benign a view of nuclear reactors, some have been reconsidering their
benefits. Because they emit virtually no greenhouse gases, nuclear power plants
may offer a way to slow global warming. Today they generate one-fifth of
America's electricity, even though no new plants have been ordered in a quarter
century.
Dangerous Debris
Photograph by Chris Hamilton
Bristling with weapons And tactical gear, a guard stAnds ready to defend steel
And concrete casks holding spent fuel from a reactor in eastern Washington. The
103 power-generating nuclear reactors in the U.S. annually produce tons of
radioactive debris that must be stored—And secured from terrorists—for
millennia. A government plan to collect all the nation's nuclear waste in a
massive storage vault built within Yucca Mountain, about 80 miles (130
kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas, has encountered vehement opposition from
Nevada residents And politicians. New technology may help address the waste
problem, allowing future reactors to burn nuclear fuel more efficiently, And
leaving waste that is toxic for a shorter period of time.
A Coal-fired Future
Photograph by Michael Yama***a
At a mine in China's Qilian Mountains, laborers collect coal—the fuel that
provides roughly 80 percent of the nation's electricity. Many thousAnds of coal
mines crease the Chinese lAndscape, says Jonathan Sinton, a scientist And
energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. "Some of them [are]
merely collections of hAnd-dug crevices in mountainsides," he says. Even with
dozens of nuclear power plants proposed for construction, coal will remain a
critical power source for China—And many other nations, including the U.S.—
for decades to come.
发表于 2010-9-13 10:13:48